The Dehli University Academic Council decided to scrap a controversial essay on the Hindu epic Ramayana, amid protests from religious groups on its blasphemous content.
The essay, ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and Three Thoughts on Translation’ by scholar A K Ramanujan forms part of the syllabus for BA (Hons) History students.
The article recounts 300 different retellings of the story found in India and other Asian countries.
However, the essay has been labelled as “offensive” by protesters who say that it insults Hindu beliefs.
After three years of disputes from Hindu groups, the Supreme Court gathered an expert committee to examine the issue.
Earlier this month, three out of four committee members agreed that the essay should stay on the syllabus.
But despite this, the university’s academic council voted to drop the text.
Teachers, including the head of the History Department at the Delhi University, have defended the article and hope that the council will reassess the move.
“The department has prepared a letter informing the council about its position and also asked the council to reconsider its decision,” Mail Today newspaper quoted Professor Sunil Kumar as saying.
The essay includes a version which suggests that Rama and Sita were siblings in an incestuous relationship and Ravana was their disapproving father.
According to the Indian Express newspaper, the text also makes references to sexual organs, which objectors say would make a female faculty member feel uncomfortable.
But the most well-know account of the myth, written by Hindu sage Valmiki, is the core of the Diwali celebrations for those who practise the oldest religion.
It tells the story of Rama and his wife Sita, who were banished out of their kingdom by the former’s jealous stepmother.
Demon king Ravana, it says, wanted Sita for himself, then kidnapped and held her hostage, before Rama rescued her and reclaimed his kingdom.
