Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia / Edition 1

by Paula Richman

Overview

Throughout Indian history, many authors and performers have produced, and many patrons have supported, diverse tellings of the story of the exiled prince Rama, who rescues his abducted wife by battling the demon king who has imprisoned her. The contributors to this volume focus on these "many" Ramayanas.

While most scholars continue to rely on Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana as the authoritative version of the tale, the contributors to this volume do not. Their essays demonstrate the multivocal nature of the Ramayana by highlighting its variations according to historical period, political context, regional literary tradition, religious affiliation, intended audience, and genre. Socially marginal groups in Indian society—Telugu women, for example, or Untouchables from Madhya Pradesh—have recast the Rama story to reflect their own views of the world, while in other hands the epic has become the basis for teachings about spiritual liberation or the demand for political separatism. Historians of religion, scholars of South Asia, folklorists, cultural anthropologists—all will find here refreshing perspectives on this tale.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520075894
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	08/29/1991
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Paula Richman is Associate Professor of South Asian Religions at Oberlin College. She is the author of Gender and Religion: On the Complexity of Symbols (Beacon 1986).

Table of Contents

PREFACE
A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION

PART ONE· LARGER PATTERNS

1. Introduction: The Diversity of the Ramayana Tradition
Paula Richman
2. Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and
Three Thoughts on Translation
A. K. Ramanujan
3. Ramayana, Rama Jataka, and Ramakien: A Comparative Study of
Hindu and Buddhist Traditions
Frank E. Reynolds

PART TWO· TELLINGS AS
REFASHIONING AND OPPOSITION

4. The Mutilation of Surpanakha
Kathleen M. Emdl
5. Fire and Flood: The Testing of Sita in Kampans Iramavataram
David Shulman
6. A Ramayana of Their Own: Women's Oral Tradition in Telugu
Velcheru Narayana Rao
7. The Raja's New Clothes: Redressing Ravana in Meghaniidavadha Kavya
Clinton Seely
8. Creating Conversations: The Rama Story as Puppet Play in Kerala
Stuart H. Blackburn

PART THREE· TELLINGS AS COMMENTARY AND
PROGRAMS FOR ACTION

9. E.V. Ramasami's Reading of the Ramayana
Paula Richman
10. Ramayana Exegesis in Tenkalai Srivaisnavism
Patricia Y. Mumme
11. The Secret Life of Ramcandra of Ayodhya
Philip Lutgendorf
12. Personalizing the Ramayanan Ramnamis and
Their Use of the Ramcaritmanas
Ramdas Lamb

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX