Noted Kannada writer and rationalist KS Bhagwan courted controversy by claiming that Valmiki’s Ramayana states Lord Ram would sit with his wife Sita and drink wine in the afternoon. Addressing an event in Karnataka’s Mandya on Friday, Bhagwan said that Lord Rama “was not ideal” as he didn’t bother about his wife after sending her to the forest and chopped off the head of a Shudra who was sitting in penance under a tree.
“There is talk about building a Rama Rajya…If one reads the Uttara Kanda of Valmiki’s Ramayana, it will become evident that (Lord) Ram was not ideal. He did not rule for 11,000 years, but only for 11 years,” ANI quoted KS Bhagawan as saying.
“Ram would sit with Sita in the afternoon and spend the rest of the day drinking…He sent his wife Sita into the forest and didn’t bother about her…He chopped off the head of Shambuka, a Shudra, who was sitting in penance under a tree. How can he be ideal?” he reportedly said.
This is not the first time that Bhagwan made controversial remarks on Lord Ram. In 2019, he made similar claims saying Lord Ram used to consume ‘intoxicants’ and made Sita also drink them. The rationalist has been the target of right-wing groups due to his controversial statements and allegedly received death threat after the murder of Prof MM Kalburgi, a noted epigraphist of Kannada and National Sahitya Akademi Award winner.
“I want to say this to the people who killed Prof Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar, and are now threatening to kill me: You can attack us and tear us to pieces but our works will live on. They can kill me but that won’t change my stand,” Bhagwan told in 2015.
