Bengaluru :There was despicable denigration of ‘Ramayana’ in a program called ‘Comedy Circle’ telecast on E-TV Kannada’ channel on 8th March 2014 at 10.00 p.m. It was shown that few persons were rehearsing for the play ‘Ramayana’; making mockery of Sriram, Lakshman, Seeta and Shabari; even Ravana was shown in comic manner.
Few denigrating scenes from the play
1. Seeta keeps her head on Ravana’s shoulder and somebody is shooting Sriram with arrow.
2. Master says to Rama, “Address Seeta as ‘Priye’, ‘Priyatame’. On this Ravana says, “I am her lover. Why should he (Rama) address her like that ?” Rama says, “It’s only a play.” Seeta says, “If you abuse him (Ravana), I will beat you with shoes.”
3. Shabari gives Rama, seeds of jackfruit instead of berries and says that she was tired of waiting; therefore, she ate all jackfruit.
4. When Ravana comes to take Seeta, she comes with her suitcase, giving explanation as, “When you kidnap me and keep me in Ashoka- Vana, don’t I need change of clothes? So it will serve both the purposes i.e. kidnapping and costume-change’. On this Lakshmana says to master, “If Ravana carries suitcase, wouldn’t people think that he was a dry-cleaner?”