It was only a matter of time till Hanuman, the devoted daas (servant) and the veer vaanar (brave monkey), acquired a more combative image to suit the newly muscular Hindutva. Soon Sita sang the blues and turned into the warrior princess of Mithila, thanks to a retelling of India’s many Ramayanas by bestselling writer Amish Tripathi. That was before Hindutva iconography, reflecting the militant Ram Janmabhoomi movement, transformed Ram into a lean, keen Kshatriya warrior, with an angry ( ugra) visage, which scholar Anuradha Kapur noted, did not address the viewer, but looked away. ![]() THERE WAS A time, not so long ago, when Ram’s bow and arrow were ornamental, when Sita stood demurely by his side, and Hanuman sat at their feet, his head bowed, hands in prayer.
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