Myth, Memory, and Placemaking

Abstract

The contested site of Ramjanmabhoomi in Ayodhya, India, has been reclaimed for building a Hindu temple following years of litigation and occupation of the site by Babri Mosque for more than three centuries. This temple is projected to be a monumental complex, a grand statement of Hindu faith in the divine king Rama. The site, while of immense significance as his birthplace, is projected to be a theme park designed as a visual spectacle. The article outlines an alternative conceptual framework for site design predicated on the idea of placemaking as a process for memory retrieval in the present and encoding memories for the future. Place images in literary and pictorial narratives depicting Rama’s life are building blocks of collective memory and have shaped actual landscapes in their likeness in the past. They are integral to memory formation and recall, and as such they have a significant role in reclaiming Ramjanmabhoomi as the legendary place of his birth and domicile. The temple is proposed to be situated in a narrative landscape that can speak of Rama’s person and deeds, its design language inspired by place images and ritual practices. Collective memory of Rama’s story can be recalled and reconstituted with the amplification of memory traces in site design, anchoring the emergent landscape narrative. The mnemonic landscape of Ramjanmabhoomi can be sustainably managed and become a model for reclaiming other sites across India that are associated with Rama’s story and help communicate the lost environmental ethos of living in harmony with nature.