Thread by @shrikanth_krish

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan is often ridiculed for its excessive melodrama

But was watching Episode 1 - Struck by the thoughtfulness of some of the dialogue

Early on in the episode, all the dEvas along with mahAdeva himself approach Vishnu to seek his help

(Contd..)

They beseech him to liberate earth from the clutches of the evil Ravana, if necessary by taking incarnation in human form

Mahadeva presents the argument by mentioning the two types of order

Karmic order (karm ka vidhAn)
Divine order (IshvarI vidhAn)

His view is -

Under ordinary circumstances, there is no need for theistic intervention, as the law of karma will ensure order naturally

Good actions lead to desirable outcomes and evil actions the opposite

Karma ensures fairness prevails

But there are situations, where in the "short run" at the very least, the "Karmic order" can come under stress. When power is accumulated in a few hands, admittedly due to good karma. But this power can be used to "oppress" the less powerful

Causing suffering in short run

That's when mahAdeva claims -

There arises the need for theistic intervention - the divine order to override the kArmic order

To ensure a certain "resetting" and reestablishment of order

Divine incarnation here becomes an essential safeguard against the possibility of Karmic order going haywire

mahAviShNu sees the merit in the argument, and agrees that Ravana's tyranny merits a theistic intervention, and agrees to take birth in Dasharatha's household

I found this very interesting.

A fairly sophisticated exchange between two supreme beings, presented in reasonably simple Hindi, in the very first episode of what was supposedly a populist TV soap opera

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan is underrated

This argument in Episode 1 slipped in by Ramayan serial's script writer is very closely linked to a verse in the Gita -

"paritrANAya sAdhUnAm vinAshAya cha DushkritAM
Dharma samsthApanAthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE"

Essentially the same argument

I did a piece on India facts on this very shloka a year ago, leveraging the commentaries of Shankara and Ramanuja in particular

Linking to the same

indiafacts.org/interpreting-t…