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S I X I he lext In a Changing Society THE PARADOXICAL PARADIGM An implicit theme of this study has been the inseparability,for the North Indian audience, of the Manas text from its realization in performance —a relationship anticipated in the structure of the text and endlessly celebrated in the dialectic of its performance traditions. The focus in preceding chapters has been on the stage of epic performance, but we must now turn to the surrounding arena—what was earlier termed the outermost frame of the performance system. Having observed how the text instructs, entertains, and inspires its audiences, we must now grapple with the more difficult question of what it means to them and how its meanings are reflected in their lives and institutions. Two levelsof meaning come to rnind: one that pertains to society and may be termed "moral" or "ethical," and one that pertains to the individual and is best termed "spiritual." These can be related to the two dimensions of performance, termed "formal" and "affective," discussed in Chapter 1. In its self-presentation to an audience, a text, like a living performer, may be said to "assume accountability" for an act of communication , and this assumption necessarily situates it within a social context. At the same time, it offers its audience the possibility of enhanced experience—a gratificationthat, especiallyin the context of religious performance, points beyond this world to that other, transcendent realm wherein ultimate meaning is felt to reside. I suggest that the relationship between the social world and the tran340 Only that fame, poetry, or power is good which, like the holy Ganga, is good for all. 1.14.9 The Paradoxical Paradigm 341 scendent other is the fundamental theme of the Manas but that the Hindi epic's formulation of this relationship contains a significant element of paradox. This paradox is not experienced as confusing but rather as productive of peace (santi), understood as a state of equilibrium within the framework of a dilemma that is ultimately irresolvable, at least in this world. Tulsidas's treatment of this dilemma, I argue, has been vital to his poem's enduring appeal. The problematic relationship between social ethics and spiritual transcendence is explored in a variety of contexts. The remainder of this section considers some implications of the poet's choice of the Ramayan story, and of his idealization of familial and social relationships. The second and third sections focus on the historical context of the epic's rise to prominence, with an emphasis on the use of the story in recent times by religiopolitical movements. The fourth section examines a continuing controversy over the social and religious teachings of the epic, and the last two sections reconsider the current vitality and speculate on the future viability of the performance genres treated in this study. This chapter does not, however, attempt an ethical study of the epic's contents or seek to identify what Tulsidas may have believed or intended to teach on such now-controversial subjects as the hierarchical ordering of society, the position of women, and the role of the state. Studies exist that undertake such an agenda, and the assumption of their authors usually seems to be that Tulsidas held a consistent position on every such topic—a position that, once identified, they proceed to attack or defend.1 In fact, the words of the Manas can be used to support diverse and indeed contradictory positions, and even were it possible for us to question its author as to what he meant by certain passages, we might still reserve the right to favor other readings, since texts have a way of growing beyond the limitations of their authors.2 The contradictions and inconsistencies in the Manas are not simply a reflection of our faulty perception of its message, but rather signifiers of a dimension of paradox that is as close to the heart of the epic as it was to the heart of the society for which Tulsi so artfully and successfully crafted it. Some questions , as Levi-Strauss pointed out, are too important, culturally speak1 . See, for example, Ramdat Bharadwaj, The Philosophy of Tulsidas, and the essays in Nagendra, ed., Tulasidasa: His Mind and Art; other works dealing with specific issues are cited below. 2. Members of the 1947 Hindu Law Commission in the Punjab found local pandits insisting on their right to interpret scripture as they chose; "Even if the author himself were to reappear and assure us of...

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