JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS

ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 EFFECTS OF RETELECAST OF TV SERIAL ON INDIAN AUDIENCE DURING LOCKDOWN: A SURVEY-BASED STUDY

Ashutosh Kumar Pandey1 , Prof. Amitabh Srivastava2

1Research Scholar, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Manipal University Jaipur, Director, School of Media and Communication, Manipal University Jaipur 2Raghunath Singh, Research Scholar, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Manipal University Jaipur

Received: 14 March 2020 Revised and Accepted: 8 July 2020

ABSTRACT: The Ramayan, one of the oldest epics of , has influenced the psyche of this country for centuries. Its various written version, written in regional languages extended its reach to almost every nook and corner of the country. But, in the modern age, electronic media has converted readers into the audience to a great extent. Experiments conducted in Latin America, by Al Sabido has shown the impact of soap operas on social change, long ago. It remains to be seen, how the audience feel affected, especially when a religious serial like Ramayan is retelecasted, especially during lockdown situation due to pandemic caused by Coronavirus? To analyze this, researchers conducted a survey, covering eight states of India. The study dealt with social, economic, cultural and political inferences drawn by the audience of the said serial. The results burst many myths, especially about the younger generation.

KEYWORDS: Retelecast of Ramayan, Impact of Ramayan, Ramayan during a pandemic, Religion Vs. Stress, Impact of TV. Serials on the modern generation.

I. INTRODUCTION

Yavat sthasyanti girayah saritah cha mahi tale, tavad Rnmayana katha lokesu pracarisyati. “The time till when the mountains and rivers remain on the earth, the tale of Ramayana will flourish in this world” – Ramayana, Book 1 (Bala Kanda), Chapter 2, Verse 36

Sanskrit, the oldest existing language of India witnesses the development of Indian literature for centuries. Valmiki Ramayan is recognized as Adikavya in the literature. The author, of the Valmiki Ramayan, Sage Valmiki is considered as Adikavi (The first poet). There are 24000 verses in this epic poetry divided into 6 Kandas (sections). The Kandas are, Bal Kanda, Kanda, Aranya Kanda, Kiskindha Kanda, Sundar Kanda, and Yuddha Kanda. The Uttar Kanda is the seventh Kanda of this epic and it is kshepak (Added later) to the original text. (Tapasyananda, 1991).

Many other popular are inspired from Valmiki Ramayana. Among them, Adhyatms Ramayana (Sanskrit), Ramcharit Manas (Written by Goswami Tulsidas in Awadhi), and Kamb Ramayan (Tamil) are popular versions of Ramkatha.

The verses of this epic poetry have been sung in every royal court and in villages the country for centuries. Even in the 18th century, when British missionaries were trying to spread their culture in India, they were surprised to see the countrymen were discussing Ramayana in their routine life. (Vikasa, cited in Muniapan 2007). For the people of India, the tale of Ramayana has always been the source of spiritual, cultural, social, political and artistic inspiration for centuries. Apart from Indians, the people of southeast Asian countries also had a deep impression of the literature of Ramayana. They found their sociological, political and cultural affection towards this epic poetry. This epic poetry is been given credit to enrich the national literature of these countries. (Subramaniam, 2003). The Ramayana is called in , Serat in , Hikayat Seri Rama in , the Pwe in Myanmar and the Maharadia Lawana in the Philippines (Rosen, 2002 cited in Muniapan, 2007)

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Ram, the warrior-prince of Ayodhya, is all set to be crowned as Yuvraj (Crown Prince) but has to go for banishment as his father King Dasrath is been tricked by his wife . His wife and brother Laxman insist to be his companion for exile. In the forest, the ten-headed evil abducts her to take revenge for her sister, who was willing to Marry Ram. In the journey of searching his wife Sita, Ram meets , minister of the monkey‟s king Sugreev. With the help of Hanuman, Ram gets the address of Sita. After futile attempts of peace, He invades and the deadly battle is fought. Killing , Victorious Ram brings his wife back. He crowns Vibhishan, brother of Ravan, as kind of Golden Country Lanka and prefers to return back to his motherland.

This poetry is sung in India for centuries. With its fantastical characters ranging from monster to apes, a human warrior as a hero, and his morality, it is one of the greatest tales of India.

Although Ramayana‟s verses are sung and portrayed (Ramleela) across the country since ages, a milestone in the dissemination of this epic in the modern era is the television show Ramayana. The serial Ramayana is produced in 1987 for Doordarshan, India‟s state-run television channel. The serial is directed by Ramanand Sagar. The serial had a viewership of 82 %, a record high for any Indian television series. The serial is again telecast from 28 March 2020 to 18 April 2020 on DD National during lockdown due to lockdown due to pandemic, caused by Covid-19 in India. The popularity of the show even after 32 years made researchers conduct a study to find the audience's perception related to it.

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Kaushik, N. (2019), in his paper „Ramarajya in Ramayana and Mahatma Gandhi‟s writings‟ throws light on the concept of Rama Rajya which had been promoted by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi‟s affection towards Ramkatha can be understood by the fact that the only film he watched in his lifetime was Vijay Bhatt‟s Rama Rajya. The author states, “The father of the Nation drew his inspiration from Ramayana.”

Sanil, M. (2017), in his paper „From Gods to superheroes: an analysis of Indian comics through a mythological lens‟, conceptualized Indian superheroes, through mythological- religious perspective. This study was an attempt to find an explanation of why Indian comic superheroes (even drawn from Indian mythology) failed to gain popularities as their western counterparts enjoy. The second point of his study was to examine the character arch of Indian mythological heroes according to the standards of Campbell‟s model of mythology and heroes.

Bosmia, A. N., Zimmermann, T. M., Griessenauer, C. J., Tubbs, R. S., & Rosenthal, E. L. (2017), in their paper, „Nasal Myiasis in and Contemporary Otorhinolaryngology‟, examined the medical literature that was written in the period of nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to spot Hindu content supposed to contribute in the belief system of some that a nasal myiasis is a form of divine punishment. The study was also aimed to provides a synopsis of the contemporary treatment of nasal myiasis.

Simmons, C. (2015), in the paper „Greening the Goddess: Sacred Landscape, History and Legislation on the Camundi Hills of Mysore‟ stated the importance of the Indian landscape in . The Indian subcontinent becomes the battlefield of the wars which were fought between deities and demons for grabbing dominancy over others. In this study, the researcher explores the landscape of Camundi Hills of Mysore with its mythological importance and present popularity.

Mohan, C. R. (2012), in his paper, Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific, takes the reference of a famous tale Manthan ( to churn the ocean) of Hindu Mythology to discuss the Sino-Indian rivalry scattering from the Mountain Himalaya to Indian and pacific ocean. He examines the scope of molding the tensions and forming a permanent Indo-Pacific order. Although there is a remarkable difference in the naval power of China, India, and America, Mohan believes that the three nations might be stuck into a triangular struggle over the future of Indo-Pacific. Devdutt Pattanaik (2003) states, “The character of Rama is changed according to the treatment of the epic. When the epic is treated as a quasi-historical document, Rama loses his legendary powers and remains a mere king. When the epic is narrated as literature, Rama losses his spiritual excellence and turns out to be a figment of poetic thought.”

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Rose, C. (2000), in his book „Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth‟, described many extraordinary beings from Hindu mythology, Russian folklore, Lithuanian tales, and American tall tales. He described Baku, a kind-hearted Japanese monster with a body of horse and head of a lion having legs of a tiger. This monster helps people by swallowing their nightmare. He also discussed , the giant from Hindu mythology who helps for Samudra Manthan (to churn the ocean) by keeping Mandar mountain on its cell.

III. RESEARCH DESIGN

Objectives of the research are as follows:  To find out the impact of Ramayana Serial over the language of its audience of different age groups.  To find out the political goal behind the re-telecast of Ramayana and political inclination of its audience.  To check out the audience's perception about divine astras and Pushpak shown in Ramayana serial.  To check out the impact of watching Ramayana on Corona related tension of the audience of different backgrounds.  To find out the association between gender of the respondents, and belief that the Character of Sita is still relevant in the era of feminism.  To find out the association between background of respondents, and belief that the character of Ram reflects the value of Indian culture.

The hypothesis for the research are I. H(0): There is no significant relationship between gender of the respondents, and belief that the Character of Sita is still relevant in the era of feminism. II. H(0): There is no association between the background of respondents and the belief that the character of Ram REFLECTS the value of Indian culture.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

The study is descriptive and exploratory. A structured questionnaire with close-ended questions is used to collect responses related to the Serial Ramayan which has been shown on DD National during the coronavirus lockdown in India. The questionnaire (google form) is circulated through social media. The area covered for the survey is the Hindi speaking states ( Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Rajsthan, Haryana, and Delhi) of India. From these eight states, a total of 200 participants, who admitted that they are watching the said serials on DD National during Lockdown. The Pearson Chi-Square Test is used in the study to find the association between demographic characteristics and responses of the audience of Ramayana Serial.

IV.ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

1. DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE This section provides a demographic profile of the respondents. The questionnaire is distributed through Google form on Social Media. The study area is restricted to Hindi Speaking States (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi) of India. A total of 200 responses selected for the study. Figure-1 Age-wise Profile of Respondents

Source: Researcher's Compilation 3472

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Figure-1 brings to view the age-wise demographic profile of the respondents. The maximum respondents are from the age group of 20-40 years (54 %), followed by 40-60 years (22 %) and 0-20 years (20%). The age group of more than 60 years has the least respondents just 4%.

Figure-2. Gender-wise Profile of Respondents

Source: Researcher's Compilation

Figure-2 shows the Gender wise demographic profile of the respondents. It can be observed that 24 % of the respondents are female, and 76 % of the respondents are male in the total respondents. Figure 3- Background-wise Profile of Respondents

Source: Researcher's Compilation

Figure-3 shows that 61 % of the respondents belong to the urban background while 39 % of respondents reside in rural areas. Figure 4. Educational Qualification-wise Profile of Respondents

Source: Researcher's Compilation

Figure-4 shows that the graduate respondents are maximum in the count with 53 %, while 27% of the respondents are either Ph.D. or PG. The rest of the respondents belong to Sr. Secondary (14%) and Secondary (6%).

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Figure 5. Occupation-wise Profile of Respondents

Source: Researcher's Compilation

It is obvious from the Figure-5 that 38 % of the respondents are doing a job, followed by students with 33%. The number of respondents belongs to business and farming is 13% and 2 % respectively, while 14 % of the respondents have other occupations.

V. CROSS TABULATION

In this section, Cross Tabulation is conducted with the responses to different questions answered by respondents in the due process of the survey. Table- 1. Cross Table of Impact of Ramayana on Language in the contest with different age groups.

Impact of watching Ramayana on Language yes, to a great yes, to some extent extent Certainly not can't say Total Age 0-20 18 13 3 6 40 20-40 32 45 19 12 108 40-60 14 20 8 2 44 >60 2 1 3 2 8

Total 66 79 33 22 200 Source: Researcher's Compilation

It can be seen from Table- 1 that there are 145 (out of 200) respondents who believe that there is an impact of watching Ramayana on their language. The respondents who affirm the impact of Ramayana on language include 31 from 0-20 age group, 77 from the age group of 20-40, 34 from the age group of 40-60 and 3 from the age group of more than 60 years. It is obvious from this data that the age group of 20-40, which represents the youth, finds the maximum impact of Ramayana over its language. It is also obvious from the table that only 33 respondents (out of 200) believe that there is no impact of watching Ramayana over language.

Table-2. Cross Tabulation of Political Goal behind the re-telecast of Ramayana and Political inclination after watching Ramayana.

Political inclination after watching Ramayana Yes No Can't say Total Political Goal behind re- Yes, to a great extent 10 5 1 16 telecast of Yes, to some extent 13 23 1 37 Ramayana Not at All 6 103 5 114 Can't say 3 26 4 33 Total 32 157 11 200 Source: Researcher's Compilation 3474

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From the Table-2, it can be seen that 114 respondents (out of 200) believe that there is no any political goal behind the re-telecast of Ramayana on DD National during coronavirus Lockdown in India. On the other hand, 157 respondents (out of 200) feel that they did not get any inclination towards political parties. It is also obvious from the table that although 53 respondents (out of 200) feel that there is some political goal behind the re-telecast of Ramayana during coronavirus lockdown, 28 of them don‟t have any inclination towards any political parties.

Table-3. Cross Tabulation of the belief that the divine astras and Pushpak are scientific to the education level of respondents. Education

Up to Sr. Secondary Secondary Graduation PG/PhD Total The divine Yes 8 15 66 31 120 astra and No 5 6 21 10 42 Pushpak Can't say 1 5 18 13 37 shown in Ramayana are scientific Total 14 26 105 54 199 Source: Researcher's Compilation The above table-3 shows that almost 60% (120 out of 199) of respondents have a belief that the divine astras and Pushpak showed in Ramayana were scientific. The table shows one more aspect of this belief. Out of 54 PG/Ph.D. respondents, 31(57%) are in a view that the divine astras and Pushpak were scientific. 62 % of graduate respondents have the same belief. The percentage of the respondents with secondary level education have the same above belief is 57%. This suggests that persons with less education have the same belief system with the person having the highest education as far as divine astras and Puspak is concerned.

Table-4. Cross Tabulation of Background and Impact of watching Ramayana on Corona related tension. Impact of watching Ramayana on Corona related tension

Get relaxed a lot Get relaxed a bit Can't say Total Background Rural 49 25 4 78 Urban 56 51 15 122 Total 105 76 19 200 Source: Researcher's Compilation It is clear from the table -4 that 94 % of rural respondents (74 out of 78) are in a belief that there is an impact of watching Ramayana over corona related tension. They agree with the point that watching Ramayana has lessened their tension. It is also obvious from the above table that almost 88% (107 out of 122) of urban respondents are in a belief that there is an impact of watching Ramayana over corona related tension. They agree with the point that watching Ramayana has lessened their tension. The table suggests that there is a huge percentage (>90%) of people, irrespective of their residential background ( Rural or Urban) who believe that watching Ramayana has lessened their corona related tension.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING

This segment presents the testing of hypotheses: We have the following Null Hypothesis. i. H(0): There is no significant relationship between gender of the respondents, and belief that the Character of Sita is still relevant in the era of feminism. ii. H(0): There is no association between the background of respondents and the belief that the character of Ram reflects the value of Indian culture.

Table- 5. Cross-tabulation of Gender and relevancy of character of Sita in today’s feminism era. Relevancy of the Character of Sita in the era of feminism

Yes, completely Yes, a bit No, not at all Can‟t say Total Gender Male 76 42 18 16 152

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Female 34 9 4 1 48 Total 110 51 22 17 200 Source: Researcher's Compilation Table- 6. Cross-tabulation of Background and, belief that the character of Ram is an ideal representation of Indian values.

The character of Ram is an ideal representation of Indian value Yes, to a great extent Yes, to some extent No Can't say Total Background Rural 64 8 2 3 77 Urban 96 16 3 7 122 Total 160 24 5 10 199 Source: Researcher's Compilation Table-7. Result of the Chi-Square Test Hypothesis (Null) Test D.F. Result ( P-value)

There is no significant relationship between Pearson Chi- 3 Insignificant gender of the respondents and the belief that the Square Test (0.07157) Character of Sita is still relevant in the era of feminism. There is no association between background of Pearson Chi- 3 Insignificant respondents, and belief that the character of Ram Square Test (0.8666 ) is an ideal representation if Indian values.

It is obvious from the above result that there is no significant relationship between gender of the respondents and belief that the Character of Sita is still relevant in the era of feminism, as the p-value (.07157) is greater than the significance level (.05). Hence the Null Hypothesis „that there is no significant relationship between gender of the respondents and belief that the Character of Sita is still relevant in the era of feminism‟ can‟t be rejected. Similarly, for the 2nd hypothesis test, the Chi-Square Test result suggests that there is no association between the background of respondents, and belief that the character of Ram is an ideal representation if Indian values because p-value (.8666) is greater than the significance level (.05). Hence the Null Hypothesis „there is no association between background of respondents, and belief that the character of Ram is ideal representation if Indian values‟ can‟t be rejected.

VI. FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Result states that there is no significant relationship between gender of the respondents and the belief that the Character of Sita is still relevant in the epoch of feminism. It simply states that men and women both believe that the characterization of Sita is still relevant to society.

Research also proves that there is no association between background of respondents, and belief that the character of Ram is an ideal representation of Indian values. It simply means that urban and rural respondents both belive that Ram represents Indian values.

Most of the respondents believe that there was no political intent (57%) behind the retelecast of Ramayan during the lockdown. However, 26% believe that chances are here for political intention. Rest are indecisive about the political intent. 50 percent of the audience believe there will not be any political gain to any party due to the retelecast of a religious serial.

60 percent of respondents believe that the „divine instruments and weapons‟ were scientific realities of the past. Approximately 80% of these respondents were graduate, postgraduate or Ph.D. About 20 percent don‟t believe in the scientificness of this sky chariots. The rest are indecisive.

After watching a religious serial, 52.5 percent audience felt very relaxed from stress caused by Coronavirus pandemic. 38 percent felt relaxed a bit while almost 10 percent were not clear about it. No candidate stated that watching serial anyhow augmented his/her stress.

It is well-proved fact that language is closely associated with culture, as every word carries some sort of cultural values. Research finds that the audience themselves believe that the language of Ramayan is refining their 3476

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 language. Especially youth between the age group 20-40 admits (71.29%) that the serial poured a positive effect on their language. VII. REFERENCES

[1]. Muniapan, B. A. L. (2007). Transformational leadership style demonstrated by Sri Rama in Valmiki Ramayana. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 1(1-2), 104-115. [2]. Khan, B. (1965). The concept of dharma in Valmiki Ramayana. Munshi Ram Manohar Lal. [3]. Buck, W. (1981). Ramayana. Univ of California Press. [4]. Bose, M. (Ed.). (2004). The Ramayana Revisited. Oxford University Press. [5]. Narayan, R. K. (2006). The Ramayana: a shortened modern prose version of the Indian epic. Penguin. [6]. Dutt, M. N. (Ed.). (1891). The Ramayana (Vol. 1). Girish Chackravarti. [7]. Muniapan, B., & Satpathy, B. (2010). Ancient Indian wisdom for managers: the relevance of Valmiki Ramayana in developing managerial effectiveness. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 3(6), 645-668. [8]. Pattanaik, D. (2013). Sita: An illustrated retelling of the Ramayana. Penguin UK. [9]. Castillo, J. A. S. (1992). Death the Maiden: girls initation rites in Greek mytology. Minerva: Revista de filología clásica, (6), 317-321. [10]. Krech, S. (1999). The Ecological Indian: Myth and History. [11]. Fordoński, K. A Personal Olympus. Ancient Greek and Roman Mythology as a Source of Symbolism in EM Forster's Fiction. [12]. Hard, R. (2019). The Routledge handbook of Greek mythology. Routledge. [13]. Nagy, G. (2019). Thinking comparatively about Greek mythology I, H rakl s as athlete. Classical Inquiries. [14]. Martin, T. B. (2019). Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore: From Medieval Times to the Present Day. [15]. Martin, T. B. (2019). Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore: From Medieval Times to Present Day by Juliette Wood. Mythlore: A Journal of JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature, 38(1), 16. [16]. Martimianakis, M. A., Tilburt, J., Michalec, B., & Hafferty, F. W. (2020). Myths and social structure: The unbearable necessity of mythology in medical education. Medical education, 54(1), 15-21. [17]. Broderick, M., & Ellis, K. (2019). Mythology. In Trauma and Disability in Mad Max (pp. 75-92). Palgrave Pivot, Cham. [18]. Martin, T. B. (2019). Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore: From Medieval Times to the Present Day. [19]. Mohan, C. R. (2012). Samudra Manthan: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific. [20]. Sanil, M. (2017). From Gods to superheroes: an analysis of Indian comics through a mythological lens. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 31(2), 285–295. [21]. Bosmia, A. N., Zimmermann, T. M., Griessenauer, C. J., Tubbs, R. S., & Rosenthal, E. L. (2017). Nasal Myiasis in Hinduism and Contemporary Otorhinolaryngology. Journal of Religion & Health, 56(4), 1263– 1281. [22]. Rose, C. (2000). Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. [23]. Brockington, J. L., Brockington, M., & Vālmīki. (2006). Rama the steadfast: an early form of the Ramayana. [24]. Arni, S., Chitrakar, M., & Vālmīki. (2011). Sita‟s Ramayana. [25]. Meenakshi, T. (2016). Sita- The Protected Threat: A reading of Torru Dutt‟s Poem „Lakshman‟. [26]. Srivastava, N., & Chowdhury, P.D. (2018) Mythsand Mythical Narrative based on Indian Epic the Ramayana and the : A study through the revisionist texts.

Web references https://web.archive.org/web/20180215133830/https://www.hindustantimes.com/tv/30-years-of-dd-s-ramayana- the-back-story-of-the-show-that-changed-indian-tv-forever/story-og0vbfSYwK75Zl7mQmdsjN.html (retrieved on 20/4/2020)

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