Shabari

Published on 11th January, 2016, on www.dailyo.in . In a recent TV show, the story of Shabari, the aged tribal devotee of Ram, was retold. In it, she feeds Ram grapes, not berries. This upset a lot of people, who felt too many liberties were being taken by the channel. There were complaints on Twitter and sarcastic comments on Facebook. What most people do not realise is that the story of Shabari has gone through dramatic changes in the past 2,000 years. The tale of her feeding Ram berries, and that too after "tasting" them, is probably only about 300 years old, at best 500, ..