I have turned to the Ramayana of Valmiki in difficult times for over 40 years. When I was unable to sleep for months after the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, waking up in a sweat every night on hearing gunshots in my nightmares, my father’s aunt, a Sanskrit scholar and tennis player who played and won a match or two at Wimbledon in the 1930s, taught me half a verse from the Ramayana which, she told me, had been the mantra she recited before matches, during phases of debilitating illness, and indeed, every day. She assured me it would help me fight fear. Since then, yatra ramo bhayam natra nasti tatra parabhavah (where there is Rama, there is neither fear nor defeat) has been my mantra, too.The Ramayana‘s poetry has captivated me, and I have a quote from the text for all occasions – even earthquakes, for those occur, the Ramayana tells us, when the mighty elephants Virupaksha, Mahapadma, Saumanasa and Bhadra, who support the earth, get tired and shake their heads for a moment to relieve their weariness.So, does the Valmiki Ramayana contain insights on the burning issues of our time – the dharma of those who rule a realm and the character of those who lead religious establishments? It does.Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.For these insights, we need to turn to the Uttarakanda, the seventh and last book of the Valmiki Ramayana. The sixth book, the Yuddhakanda, culminates in Rama’s long-delayed ascension to the throne of Kosala, and contains a few verses about the perfection of Rama’s reign. We are told that there was no fear of disease or poisonous snakes, the old never had to perform the funeral rites of their children. No one heard the wailing of widows. Everyone lived for a thousand years. Everyone was content. Trees yielded fruit and flowers all year. The rains always came at the right time, and the touch of the wind was always pleasant. Everyone was devoted to dharma. Rama’s subjects adhered to their own occupations and were satisfied with their own duties. People followed Rama’s example and did not harm one other.But we learn virtually nothing of what Rama actually did as ruler. What, for instance, were his judicial acts as king that make us long for the re-establishment of Ramarajya?We learn something about the administration of justice during Rama’s rule in the Uttarakanda. This book contains the controversial Shambuka-vadha episode. When a brahman boy died in childhood during Rama’s reign, the boy’s grieving father accused the king of a transgression that resulted in his son’s untimely death. When the sage Narada informed Rama that the child’s death was the result of a shudra performing austerities, Rama immediately swung into action – he went in search of the culprit, located Shambuka and cut off his head.Shudras were not entitled to practise austerities, and Shambuka’s tapas was a threat to the dharma of Rama’s kingdom. The beheading of Shambuka restored dharma and the brahman boy came back to life.This episode has shaped the reception of the Uttarakanda, and indeed, the Valmiki Ramayana as a whole, from pre-modern times, and its story has been repeatedly challenged by low-caste groups who have criticised the upper-caste ethics that allow Rama to kill Shambuka. Justice for the brahman and maintenance of the varna hierarchy trump Shambuka getting a full and fair hearing.But another episode of the Valmiki Ramayana suggests that even the lowliest creature was treated fairly during Rama’s reign. Two prakshipta sargas or interpolated cantos of the Uttarakanda can be cited here. The two sargas do not appear in some editions of the text or are explicitly marked in them as interpolations, but they are well known, and versions of the episode they recount feature in later Ramayanas, such as the medieval Sanskrit Ananda Ramayana.In these prakshipta sargas of the Valmiki Ramayana, the absence of grievances among Rama’s subjects is highlighted, for Ramarajya meant that there was no adharma anywhere, and no one was discontent. People did not suffer from mental and physical ailments. Everyone lived long, happy lives. Everything was governed in accordance with dharma, so the king had no complaints to deal with. Rama sent Lakshmana again and again to find someone, anyone, with a matter that needed adjudication by the king.Finally, Lakshmana located a crying, injured dog with a grievance – he had been beaten without reason by a brahman mendicant. The dog entered Rama’s assembly hall hesitantly, for dogs are degraded creatures and he did not wish to do anything above his station. Once in the assembly hall, he spoke eloquently of the duties of the king – protection of his subjects and protection of dharma. Then he told Rama that he had been thrashed mercilessly by a brahman named Sarvarthasiddha.Sarvarthasiddha was summoned and admitted that he had committed an offence. The aggrieved dog suggested that the culprit be made the head of a religious establishment in Kalanjara as punishment, and Rama appointed Sarvarthasiddha to the position. Sarvarthasiddha was delighted, and Rama’s ministers were astonished by the judgment, which seemed like an honour rather than a punishment.The dog then explained that leadership of a religious establishment is a curse rather than a boon. In his past life, he had headed one. He had been righteous, pious and devoted to the welfare of all beings, he had guarded the wealth of the gods scrupulously, yet he had been reborn as a dog.Sarvarthasiddha, on the other hand, had already abandoned dharma, was cruel and violent, and his conduct would surely lead several generations of his family to hell. The dog concluded that a position of authority with respect to gods, cows and brahmans has dire consequences. And whoever siphons off donations to gods falls into hell after hell. The wise dog, who had been defiled merely by leading a religious sect, then fasted unto death in Varanasi.In Rama’s realm, therefore, a dog got a fair hearing, though a shudra did not. Heading a religious establishment resulted in a low birth. Misappropriating the property of deities could keep one in hell indefinitely. But that was the Tretayuga.What of the Kaliyuga? Who is entitled to justice in our times? Humans of all kinds? Dogs and other creatures? And which Rama should we choose? The one who helps us fight fear, or one whose name instills fear?Naina Dayal teaches history at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire – and has been republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.