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ŚABARĪ EPISODE OF THE RĀMAKATHA : AN ILLUSTRATION OF RE-WORDING; A REFLECTION OF
THE CHANGING WORLDS
VIJAY PANDYA
Rāmakathā is not only one of the most transparent stories reflecting the changing worlds of the times, it has continued to exercise a tremendous influence upon a considerable segment of humanity which the world consists of. Thus Rāmakathā works both ways. In essence, the Rāmakathā is a word and a world. World influences Rāma story and Rāma story makes an impact upon the world. So the Rāmakathā is perhaps one of the closest texts in any version which fits in the theme of Re-wording/Reworlding the canon.
To substantiate, a minor episode of Śabarī, a tribal woman in the Rāmastory is taken up here.
To begin with in the first poem Ādikāvya, in the Sanskrit language, the Vālmīki--Rāmāyana', Vālmiki is very sparse in this episode.
In the Aranyakānda, the third book of the Vālmīki-Rāmāyana, the two brothers princes Rāma and Laksamana in exile slew Kabandha, a headless monster. The monster, as he lay dying, informed the brothers of a woman ascetic, a tribal woman sabarī, who was living in the hermitage of the sage Matanga.
Thereupon Rāma and Laksamana came to the hermitage where Sabarī, a tribal woman was eagerly waiting for long to have a darśana of Rāma. At the sight of the princes, Sabarī, in her reverence, clasped the feet of Rāma in devotion.
Śabarī told Rāma of the long vigil she was keeping. She also recounted how the great seers had told her that one day she would receive Rāma and Laksamana as her guests and as she would behold the princes, she would go to the highest imperishable worlds.
She also told Rāma that she had collected different sorts of forest food
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