The Srimad Valmiki Ramayan
(two lithographs by [
Odilon Redon] on successive
pages of "Modern Prints and Drawings" by
Paul J. Sacahs;
w/a bit of help from
Alfred H. Barr, Jr)
Ramayan
(main stuff)
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Srimad Valmiki Ramayana is an epic poem of India which
narrates the journey of Virtue to annihilate vice.
Sri Rama is the Hero and aayana His journey. We in
India believe that Sri Rama lived in Treta Yug,
millennia BC and we are presently concerned with
what Srimad Valmiki Ramayana tells us, rather
than when it was told.
This epic poem Ramayana is a smriti which is translated
as "from memory". Given the antiquity of Srimad Valmiki
Ramayana, there have been some interjected verses.
Sometimes these verses can be contradicting. However,
scholars, grammarians, historians have put lot of effort
to standardize the original text, by verifying various
manuscripts available from various parts of India, thus
trying to stabilize and save the text from further
contradictions. An example of this effort is the
critical edition of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana. This
site aims to study various versions of Srimad Valmiki
Ramayana and arrive at a version of Ramayana that is
most relevant to modern times.
Srimad Valmiki Ramayana is composed of verses called
Sloka, in Sanskrit language, which is an ancient
language from India and a complex meter called -[Anustup. ]-
These verses are grouped into individual chapters called
Sargas, wherein a specific event or intent is told.
These chapters or sargas are grouped into books called
Kaandas where Kaanda means the inter-node stem of sugar
cane, or also a particular phase of the story or an
event in the course of story telling.
Thus the structure of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana is arranged
into six Kaandas or Books, and they are:
Bala Kanda ( Book of Youth) [77 chapters]
Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) [119 chapters]
Aranya Kanda (Book of Forest ) [75 chapters]
Kishkindha Kanda (The Empire of Holy Monkeys) [67 chapters]
Sundara Kanda ( Book of Beauty ) [68 chapters]
Yuddha Kanda ( Book of War ) [131 chapters]
While stabilizing the original text of Ramayana, historians
surmised that portions of two Books [Kaandas], namely Book I,
Bala Kaanda and Book VII, Uttara Ramayana (not listed above)
are later additions - "The first and the last Books of the
Ramayana are later additions. The bulk, consisting of
Books II--VI, represents Rama as an ideal hero.
In Books I and VII, however Rama is made an avatara or
incarnation of Vishnu, and the epic poem is transformed
into a Vaishnava text. The reference to the Greeks,
Parthians, and Sakas show that these Books cannot be
earlier than the second century B.C......"
quoted src: [ The cultural Heritage of India,
Vol. IV, The Religions,
The Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture ].
Ramayan
(continued)...
[Following historical stabilisation (ie, sorting thru
various versions/revisions/acretions) of the text]...
However Book I, Balakanda is considered to be an original
version except for some injected stories. Story starts
from the fifth chapter of Book I, and tradition demands
it to be read with the others. This stipulation is not
obligatory to Uttara Kaanda, a later kaanda, wherein
Sita's expulsion to forest takes place. Theologists
worship Sri Rama as a God incarnate, philosophers make
him the philosophical Absolute, while at the same time,
materialists, condemning the above, appreciate the
lyrical values of Ramayana, but as a great devotee-singer
said "Whoever calls you in whatever way, you are that One".
Ramayana contains 24,000 verses [sloka] arranged into
numerous cantos [sarga] which are contained in 6 books
as mentioned earlier. Each chapter, sarga, will be given
briefly in english prose at its start and each verse will
be rendered into Anglo-Sanskrit transliteration using
ITRANS transliteration scheme developed by Avinash Chopde.
A table mapping Romanized Sanskrit and ITRANS is also
available at Avinash Chopde's web site. Each verse will
be followed by the Word by Word meaning followed by its
gist and explained based on theism, culture, literature
as appropriate. The numbering of each verse will be in
the format Book-Canto-Verse. We are also providing
Verses in Devanagari and Roman fonts for easier
readability. These true-type fonts have been developed
by Omkarananda Ashram, Himalayas. The authors would
like to express their deep gratitude and appreciation
to Omkarananda Ashram for coming up with these beautiful
fonts and also to Avinash Chopde for developing ITRANS
scheme.
This Valmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit is being translated
and presented by Sri Desiraju Hanumanta Rao (Bala,
Aranya and Kishkindha Kanda ) and Sri K. M. K. Murthy
(Ayodhya and Yuddha Kanda) with contributions from
Durga Naaga Devi and Vaasudeva Kishore (Sundara Kanda);
Smt. Desiraju Kumari; Smt. K. Rajeswari, with all
nthusiasm and devotion to classical literature of
India, with humble and due respect to elders,
pundits and to all those who respect
Srimad Valmiki Ramayana the epic poem.
aapadaam apahartaaram daataaram sarvasaMpadaam.h .
lokaabhiraamam shriiraamam bhuuyo bhuuyo namaamyaham.h ..
"I bow again and again to Sree Rama who removes (all)
obstacles and grants all wealth and pleases all. "
This is a salutation offered at the start of reading any
scripture as per tradition. This prayer is for removing
all obstacles encountered. The prefix Sri to Rama indicates
that Rama is always accompanied by Sri, His consort Seetha
in the form of goddess Sri Maha Lakshmi.
[beauty, beauty-squared!]