Indian Myths, legends and Folklore : A Study of Raja Rao’s The Serpent and the Rope

Abstract

Human culture and society have the beginnings in myth and not in the history. This symbolizes a conflict between the inner world of spirit and the ideals of truth. As myth presents the ultimate triumph of good over evil as if it had already happened. So, what has happened in myth will happen in history. In the Indian myths, like all other myths has a significant time because of their universal appeal. So we can therefore, get an insight into the aesthetic as well as ethical philosophy of Indian culture. Explaining the mythical matrix of Raja Rao novels, he says, "The book that has filled my imagination and come to me for years at every crucial point of my life, to interpret and to help, is the Ramayana... Buddhist texts have deeply stirred me ...They did influence me at one time, with their poetry and rich humanity...but there is something of the Kshatriya in me and I always go back to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Serpent and the Rope is full of myths, legends and folklore which establish the identity of Ramaswamy, Savithri, Madeleine, Lakshmi and a host of other characters, highlighting their situations as well as their relationships. In this novel, he has heavily drawn on the Mahabharata, the Ramayana; and his method of weaving stories within a story reminds one of the Puranas. In the novel, myths and legends not only establish a link between the contemporary and antiquity but also substantiate and concretize the spiritual probing of Ramaswamy. The myths of Radha-Krishna, Savitri-Satyavan play a dominant role in establishing a spiritual relationship between Savithri and Ramaswamy. These mythic figures has a human relationship which is elevated to the spiritual heights. Though the main myth presented in the novel is that of Radha and Krishna but there are references to the myth of Buddha also which symbolize Ramaswamy's quest for self-realization.