Life in Forest Exile

Banishment to the forest gives me an opportunity to discuss the forest setting in this story, which is a part of our focus in the Society and Identity Discovery Unit.    In order to understand the forest archetypal scene, I turned to Thomas Parkhill’s The Forest Setting in Hindu Epics.  Parkhill offers many explanations as to the meaning of these forest settings.  He explains that “going to the forest” can mean many things, but primary it means in Indian culture

 “renouncing the world”.    Parkhill explains that in Hindu epics, the forest, as opposed to the city-states, is where sages, demons and talking animals coexist.   It can also be understood as a place to “come of age”.   It is this environment which Rama his brother Lakshmana and wife Sita are sent to exile.   I interpreted Parkhill’s work as presenting the forest scene as a preparation place for Rama’s quest.  It reminded me of the Christian story of Jesus being led to the desert to be tempted by the devil for forty days, prior to his ministry.   Perhaps exiles in these settings express the idea that we need to remove ourselves from society in preparation for our quests.  In other words, the cares of society, culture, and civil duty could impede Rama’s duty to destroy evil.  Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East writer Stefan Sperl expresses Rama’s duty as “Righteousness,’ as the Sanskrit word dharma is translated here, means the unquestioning acceptance of the fate that destiny has reserved for one, even if it involves renunciation of all one’s privileges and rights. Thus Rama departs into exile to face fourteen years of hardship ,deprivation, and, eventually, war”.