Ramayana Through the Ages : Rama-Gatha in Different Versions

Contents: Preface. Acknowledgement. 1. Rama, his Carita, Manasa and Katha/Avadhesh Kumar Singh. 2. Valmiki Ramayana: the Sanskrit Epic/Nagindas Sanghavi. 3. Valmiki, the Sage and Kamban, the Artist/D. Gnanasundaram. 4. The Ramavatara and the Valmiki Ramayana: a comparative study/Subhash Chander Sachdeva. 5. Ranganatha Ramayanam: Telugu Ramayana/K. Malayavasini. 6. The Bengali Ramayana of Krttivasa/Indra Nath Choudhuri. 7. Madhava Kandali\'s Ramayana and Contemporary Society/Indira Goswami. 8. Jagamohana Ramayana of Balarama Dasa: Inheritance and innovation/Sitakant Mahapatra. 9. Ezhuthaccan\'s Adhyatma Ramayana and the Ramayana Tradition/K. Satchidanandan. 10. Eknath\'s Bhavarth Ramayana/Aruna Dhere. 11. Rom-Sitma ni Varta : The Ramayana of the Bhils/Bhagvandas Patel. 12. The Girdhara Ramayana: a critical study/Upendra N. Dave. 13. Tulsidasa\'s Rama-carita-manasa: an overview/Ambashankar Nagar. 14. Rama and His Kathas: The Endless Saga/Poojya Shri Morari Bapuji. The contributors. Index.

"The long and continuous tradition of Rama-Katha existed in many folk and oral forms before Adikavi Valmiki composed it in Sanskrit in written form as the Ramayana, "a book of divine harmony..... a bottomless and shoreless ocean of love, piety and clemency". The subsequent centuries witnessed composition of Ramayana in many Indian languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Assamese, Hindi, Kashmiri, Gujarati and Marathi among others. These versions share many similarities and some dissimilarities among them, though their epicentral concerns remain the same.

The present volume comprising more than a dozen articles by distinguished scholars discuss Ramayana in different Indian languages. The volume, it is hoped, would lead to mutual illumination of Rama-Katha in different Indian languages and facilitate greater understanding of its timeless appeal and journey through ages." (jacket)