Ricerc@Sapienza

As the perfect epitome of a narrative that aims at circumscribing the perimeters of the identity of “Self ” and “Other”, the perennial “story of Rāma” (Rāma-kathā) has been subject to innumerable re-makings, whose communicative contents usually represented a function of the current social and political circumstances and of the related dynamics of power. The Rām-caritmānas of the Avadhī poet Tul’sī Dās (1532-1623) is characterized by the same features, although with a radical innovation: instead of simply marking the border between “Self ” and “Other”, it also shows for the first time how the “Other”, in spite of the huge cultural distance, is fully entitled to become “Self ” – which, from the opposite perspective, also paves the way for interpreting the “Other” as an alternate, conflicting form of “Self ”. Although the main objective of the present paper is to highlight Tul’sī’s project of giving life to
a reformed, inclusive Hinduism through a specific process of “Othering”, the analysis it provides contributes also, in a broader perspective, to legitimizing literature as a source of reliable sociohistorical information gathered through an emic process of investigation. This in turn amounts to restoring the historicity of works that are often dealt with as literary mūrtis – i.e. narratives whose relations with history and society are not seen as important as the perennial values that inspire them and of which they are considered, at best, cultural manifestations.