1. These readings show how the Ramayana story has been used to bolster Hindu nationalists and suppress Muslims in India. Udayakumar describes how the figure of Ram, specifically, has been used to advance this political agenda. He notes that “the Hindu communal forces’ invocation of Ram and Ramayana along the lines of Eurocentered taxonomies facilitates not just the evocation of monolithic Hinduism and homogenous ‘Hindu’ samaj but also the eradication of the Other, Islam and Muslims” (18). The political leaders use Hindus reverence towards Ram to spark nationalist sentiments and make Hindus view Muslims as second class citizens. Both articles discuss the way that youth have been indoctrinated with these ideas. Jain and Lasseter discuss how this use of Ramayana tradition will ultimately find its way into “school textbooks and academic research.” Udayakumar highlights the experience of the Hindu youth saying that they “are made to feel intensely the need for shunning ‘impotence’ and ‘weakness’” (17). Ultimately, this is problematic because the rise of Hindu nationalism combined with the idea of religious obligation to these beliefs creates a culture in which Muslims can easily become marginalized.
2. Although there is tension surrounding the Ramayana tradition and Muslims in northern India, “the Tamil speaking region of India has sustained for many decades a long tradition of Muslim scholarship on major Tamil version of the Ramayana” (265). Many of these Muslims “view Tamil literature and language as their heritage” and Narayanan notes that “some of the greatest scholars of Kamban’s Ramayana have been Muslims” (267). The article goes on to describe the similarities between Muslim and Hindu texts (269-273). Acknowledging Muslim contribution to the Ramayana tradition disrupts the narrative of Hindu nationalism and superiority. The Ramayana is sacred and studied by both Hindus and Muslims which inherently challenges the political motives of those using the Ramayana against Muslims.