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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Hinduism
The Ramayana, one of the two pre-eminent Hindu epics, has played a
foundational role in many aspects of India's arts and social norms.
For centuries, people learned this narrative by watching,
listening, and participating in enactments of it. Although the
Ramayana's first extant telling in Sanskrit dates back to ancient
times, the story has continued to be retold and rethought through
the centuries in many of India's regional languages, such as Hindi,
Tamil, and Bengali. The narrative has provided the basis for
enactments of its episodes in recitation, musical renditions,
dance, and avant-garde performances. This volume introduces
non-specialists to the Ramayana's major themes and complexities, as
well as to the highly nuanced terms in Indian languages used to
represent theater and performance. Two introductions orient readers
to the history of Ramayana texts by Tulsidas, Valmiki, Kamban,
Sankaradeva, and others, as well as to the dramaturgy and
aesthetics of their enactments. The contributed essays provide
context-specific analyses of diverse Ramayana performance
traditions and the narratives from which they draw. The essays are
clustered around the shared themes of the politics of caste and
gender; the representation of the anti-hero; contemporary
re-interpretations of traditional narratives; and the presence of
Ramayana discourse in daily life.
The fifth and most popular book of the Ramayana of Valmiki, the
Sundarakanda, recounts the adventures of the monkey hero Hanuman in
leaping across the ocean to the island citadel of Lanka. Once
there, he scours the city for the abducted Princess Siti. The poet
vividly describes the opulence of the court of the demon king,
Ravana, the beauty of his harem, and the hideous deformity of
Sita's wardresses. After witnessing Sita's stern rejection of
Ravana's blandishments, Hanuman reveals himself to the princess and
restores her hope of rescue. The great monkey then wreaks havoc on
the royal park and fights a series of hair-raising battles with
Ravana's generals. Permitting himself to be captured by the warrior
Indrajit, Hanuman is led into the presence of Ravana, whom he
admonishes for his lechery. His tail is set ablaze, but he escapes
his bonds and leaping from rooftop to rooftop, sets fire to the
city. Taking leave of Sita, Hanuman once more leaps the ocean to
rejoin his monkey companions. This is the fifth volume translated
from the critical edition of the Valmiki Ramayana. It contains an
extensive introduction, exhaustive notes, and a comprehensive
bibliography.
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