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46 Translating Medieval Orissaof the Brahminical discourse around Rama can be gleaned from suchtexts as Yogabasistha Ramayana or Adhyathma Ramayana. Rama isrepresented here either as “all knowledge” or as “divine incarnation”depending on the philosophical or spiritual thrust of the composition.The subversive treatises like Adbhuta Ramayana and Bimal Suri’sPauma Chariya belong to the third type of discourse. While theformer represents sectarian or cult allegiance, the latter is heterodoxin nature. In subversive texts, the character of Rama is subordinate toother higher forces like Shakti in the character of Sita or Ravana, theevil character in other traditional texts. Apart from these three, thereare various kinds of recycling of the Ramayana tale in folktraditions. This multiplicity of representations performs severalfunctions like spiritual and intellectual heightening, subversion orpopularization of the ‘original’ text within a given episteme. Thus, itcan be clearly seen that the domain of the original text was neverauthoritarian in the Indian translation tradition. This denial of theauthority of the original or authorship is not only true of the Ramamyth but of the entire tradition of Indian philosophy and itsideological underpinnings. Although narratives like those ofDr.S.Radhakrishnan have tried to create an impression that Indianphilosophy is idealistic by concentrating on its orthodox traditions,later historians like S.N.Dasgupta and D.P.Chattopadhyaya giveequal importance to all the four major philosophical strands i.e. theVedas, post-Vedic systems, heterodox systems like Jainism andBuddhism and the Lokayata schools, including popular traditions.They counter the notion that the Vedic and post-Vedic knowledgeunder Brahmin hegemony constitute the only Indian method ofphilosophical discourse. The knowledge under the Brahminhegemony is primarily metaphysical and exclusionary. It excludesthe common people and their material location. They turn to theheterodox systems and popular experience across generations for acoherent worldview. Both the orthodox systems under Brahminhegemony and the heterodox and Lokayata systems of popularparticipation have together given rise to complex textual practices in