The heart of the pamphlet is its long middle section, which enumerates and critically evaluates the deeds performed by most of the major characters in the epic. EVR begins with a brief rationale for writing the text, pointing to the pamphlet’s crucial role in enlightening Tamils about the “real” message of the Ramayana. The structure of Characters in the Ramayana is tripartite. Reversing the conventional understandings of villain and hero, he also calls upon readers to abandon their “superstitious” beliefs and embrace a desacralised view of the world. In Characters in the Ramayana EVR vehemently attacks the respect with which Tamilians have traditionally viewed the Ramayana, arguing that the story is both an account of and a continuing vehicle for northern cultural domination. For EVR “northern” means brahmanical, caste-ridden, and Sanskritic, while “southern” means non-brahmanical, egalitarian, and Tamil value judgements that are embedded in his interpretation.

The motivating force behind EVR ’s exegesis of the Ramayana remains the desire to see in it a struggle between North and South India.