Depending on one's caste, the Ramayana will be read differently. Women in higher caste were focused on their obedient roles, such as when Rao referenced a Brahmin woman song saying, "As a proper wife she does not even mention the name of her husband" (124). These upper-caste songs allude to how a woman of that particular rank should act. For example, Rao says, “Women in these songs never openly defy propriety: they behave properly even giving themselves advice that the male masters of the household would accept and appreciate” (128). These songs depict their duties. Rao says, "Another point repeatedly stressed in the songs is the auspicious role women have in Brahmin households as the protectors of family prosperity....it is a well-known belief that the women of a household bring prosperity to the family by their proper behavior and ruin it by improper behavior" (120).
On the other hand, non-Brahmin or “low- caste women are not as dependent on their husbands as are Brahmin women. Widows are not treated as inauspicious….The Ramayana songs sung by non-Brahmin women reflect this difference” (131). This “difference” alludes to the distinction to upper and lower caste women songs. Lower caste women even perceive Sita as independent, describing how she will shoot the golden deer herself (132) and detest Rama. This is quite different than the songs of the dependent upper caste women.
Additionally, anti-Brahmanical Hinduism advocate, E.V.R., also despises Rama and praises Ravana. Apparently, “From the late 1920s through to the end of his life, he developed a serious and thorough critique of the characters and values of the Ramayana (176). EVR didn’t support the caste system, either. Furthermore, E.V.R believes “that his study of the Ramayana should reveal to Tamilians that have been deluded by northern propaganda into believing that Rama was exemplary as well as divine, when in fact…he was neither” (181). Upper caste, lower caste, or no caste, the interpretations of the Ramayana will vary. Like said Paula Richman said, “For E.V.R., the story provides the framework for a deeply political telling” (194).