Author: Paula Richman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 432
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0 195664639
Description
Now available in paper back edition, this volume expands our understanding of Ramkatha by focusing upon tellings –for example from the regional languages, dialects, and tribal versions –that question aspects of such dominant texts.
The essays demonstrate how questioning safeguards the diversity of the Ramayana tradition. This unique study will be indispensable to those in the fields of literature, religion, and folklore.
Although the story of Rama (Ramkatha) has generated many tellings, most people are familiar with a few dominant texts such as those by Valmiki and Tulsidas, or the television serial by Ramanand Sagar.
The volume includes contributions from Bina Agarwal; Vidyut Aklujkar; Edward C Dimock, Robert P Goldman; Sally J Sutherland Goldman; Linda Hess; John Kelly; Madhu Kishwar; Philip Lutgendorf; Vasudha Narayana; Usha Nilsson; Velcheru Narayana Rao; Paula Richman; David Shulman; Tony K Stewart; and Romila Thapar.
REVIEWS
A stimulating book and a useful sequel to Many Ramayanas. Not only have various aspects of questioning in the Ramayana tradition been explored in this volume, a range of sources – written and oral narrative, exegesis, plays, songs and ritual- have been analyzed.
-The Book Review
It is not important to determine the historicity of any of the so-called authentic Ram Katha; what is important is to understand the social, political and cultural contexts of each of these versions.
-The Tribune
Contents
Foreword
A Note on Transliteration
ONE
Questioning and Multiplicity Within the Ramayana tradition
FORMS OF QUESTIONING
TWO
Lovers’ Doubts: Questioning the Tulsi Ramayan
THREE
Bhavabhuti on Cruelty and Compassion
FOUR
Crying Dogs and Laughing Trees in Rama’s Kingdom:
Self-reflexivity in Ananda Ramayana
FIVE
Ravana’s Kitchen: A Testimony of Desire and the Other
ASSERTIONS OF SOCIAL RANK
SIX
Dining Out at Lake Pampa: The Shabari Episode in Multiple Ramayanas
SEVEN
Grinding Millet But Singing of Sita.
Power and Domination in Awadhi and Bhojpuri Women’s Songs
EIGHT
The Politics of Telugu Ramayanas: Colonialism, Print Culture, and Literary Moments
NINE
Thereupon Hangs a Tail: The Deification of Vali in the Teyyam Worship of Malabar
MODALITIES OF SAYING
TEN
The Voice of Sita in Valmiki’s Sundarakanda
ELEVEN
Two Poems on Sita
TWELVE
Krttibasa’s Apophatic Critique of Rama’s Kingship
THIRTEEN
The Ramayana and its Muslim Interpreters
APPLIED RAMAYANAS
FOURTEEN
Yes to Sita, No to Ram: The Continuing
Hold of Sita on Popular Imagination in India
FIFTEEN
The Ramlila Migrates to Southall
SIXTEEN
Fiji’s Fifth Veda: Exile, Sanatan Dharm, and Countercolonial Initiatives in Diaspora
Appendix
Notes
Contributors
Copyright Statement
Index