Alumni Profile: Ruchir Gupta '01

Bringing ancient parables new life

Ruchir Gupta '01, a political science major as an undergraduate and now a medical student at SUNY Upstate Medical University, recently served a rotation at Binghamton General Hospital under Al Wolkoff '61, PsyD. His favorite class at BU was "World Religions," then taught by Professor and Rabbi Lance Sussman. Gupta's translation of the Ramayan is available through Global Scholarly Publications at www.gsp-online.org.

Born in Queens to Indian Hindu parents, as a child Ruchir Gupta was familiar with the story of the Ramayan, one of the many sacred texts in the Hindu religion. But "I didn't appreciate it," he said. "It was taught as a fairy tale."

That changed at about age 12, when Gupta spent two months in India and was swept away -- along with the rest of the country -- by Ramanand Sagar's phenomenally popular TV series of the ancient Hindu epic. "I was amazed at how interesting it was," said Gupta. "It was intriguing, all about evil demons, kings, sacrifices and rewards." It made him and millions of other Hindus proud of their culture and history.

When Gupta returned to Queens, he got the entire series on video, and, for the first of many times, watched it from beginning to end. Later, in high school, and looking for meaning and direction in life, he gained a new appreciation for the Ramayan and the messages and insights it offered. He began to look on it as a guide for living.

The stories in the Ramayan continued to inspire and captivate Gupta, and in the summer of 2001, he began to write his own version of it. "In India, people love to write their own versions of the Ramayan," he said. "When you write, your mind becomes so focused, ultimately it's a form of prayer."

Before he knew it, Gupta had completed 60 to 70 pages of verse.

One goal of Gupta's translation was to follow the same poetic form in English that the Sanskrit poet Valmiki employed in the original Hindu scripture: quatrains in which the second and fourth lines rhyme. "In ancient India, stories were written only in poetic form, because that way, they were easier to pass down orally," he said. "Also, poetry is a median between song and prose." Gupta wanted to give American Hindus -- many of whom, like him, speak Hindi, but don't read it -- the same joy of rhyme that the original Hindi offers. In his opinion, other English translations (none of which attempt rhyme) suffer from being too academic, too childish or simply inaccurate. He believes that his is true to the spirit of the Ramayan.

Gupta also wanted to make the Ramayan and the lessons it offers more accessible to the many Hindus living outside India. Consequently, his translation places emphasis on the philosophical messages the Ramayan offers regarding family, loyalty, duty, purpose in life, respect for elders and service to community. "It has many good messages for today," he said.

For example, Gupta cites the story about an evil demon and his two brothers: One brother remains loyal to the demon, even though he's disturbed by his wickedness. The other brother rejects his demon brother and fights against him. The most important aspect of this tale, in Gupta's view, is the dialog these brothers have: One believes family loyalty supersedes all else, and the other believes goodness and social justice trump evil every time. Both brothers make points worth considering when faced with similar moral dilemmas.

"Life is very confusing in America for many," Gupta said. "Religion can be very powerful; it can make people do wonderful things, and a strong faith will get you through a lot of difficult situations. But that's lacking in Hindus of my age."

Although Gupta grew up in a Hindu family that observed many cultural aspects of the religion, ultimately he's found that he's "more tuned in to Hindu philosophy than to observing all the festivals," as he put it. "It's a tragedy to go through the motions of our religion, and not understand the philosophy." He believes the religion must and will change to become more responsive and relevant to Hindus who live outside India, and he sees his book as a stepping stone in that direction.