Values through Ram Lilas

Sir,
Ram Lilas, the venerated art forms performed on the stage to depict the main events of the life of Lord Rama including his birth, marriage, exile, abduction of Ma Sita by Ravana, sorrow of Lord Rama and Laxman and war culminating in the death of the Demon king Ravana,are believed to have started hundreds of years ago in northern India and were funded by the Mughal kings are now shrinking in size and number thanks to the invasion of social media and fast life.During the Navratras the Ram Lilas are being performed in the nook and corners of India.Gone are the days when the Ram Lilas used to attract huge crowds and people would reach the venues much earlier to reserve a seat for them.The actors performing the role of Lord Rama, Laxman, Ma Sita etc were revered and people would touch their feet out of love and respect for them.After the conclusion of  the days of Ram Lila, a day was reserved for the special shows, which was eagerly awaited.I recall having travelled about eight Kilometres daily to watch four five scenes of Ram Lila.Then came Rama Nand Sagar’s serial Ramayana in the eighties which ushered in a revolution in the no of TV viewers.The cities presented a deserted look when it was time for this serial and as there were few TVs, People would trudge miles to watch this popular serial, the young would carry their elders on their backs to the house which had TV sets.On auspicious days such marriage, mundans,birthdays, the celebrations would invariably end with playing CDs of Ramayana on the hired VCR/VCP throughout the night, with a large no of people from the neighbourhood  converging  to watch the Ramayana.But now a days, though some people are trying to keep alive the tradition of holding Ram Lilas, they face acute shortage of funds and audience to appreciate their efforts. People, in general, don’t have much time and patience to watch Ram Lilas.They like to be busy with their phones and electronic gadgets rather than watching Ram Lila.It is generally thought that Ram Lilas are a show to be watched by the commoners.But the scenes depicted in Ram Lilas have a great impact on the minds of the young and help in teaching them the values such as triumph of good over evil, dangers of lust, importance of loyalty etc and thud,moulding their values of life.Therefore, parents ought to take their children to watch Ram Lila and  Dussehra celebrations etc to give them a glimpse of our rich culture and develop higher moral values in them.
Yours etc….
Ashok Sharma,
Housing Colony, Udhampur.

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