ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the Rām Rās aims to create ethical subjects. Preempting this question, though, is another: given the performance-oriented nature of the genre, who would have watched such a performance; what was the audience of a rās? Drawing on historical and ethnographic accounts of identity formation in South Asia, the chapter argues against limiting the anticipated audience of a rās work to only Jains and, further, that the rās genre encourages quotidian ethical conduct that transcends religious identity, including surrounding oneself with good people and living congenially in community. The chapter also demonstrates that the occasion of public performance is itself a form of moral edification, as the intentional coming together of individuals reaffirms community belonging and participation.
