Versions of Ramayana
Encyclopedia
Depending on the methods of counting, as many as three hundred versions of the Indian epic poem
, the Ramayana
, are known to exist. The oldest version is generally recognized to be the Sanskrit
version attributed to the sage Valmiki
.
The Ramayana has spread to many Asian countries outside of India, including Burma, Indonesia
, Cambodia
, Laos
, Philippines
, and China
. The original Valmiki version has been adapted or translated into various regional languages, which have often been marked more or less by plot twists and thematic adaptations. Some of the important adaptations of the classic tale include the 12th century Tamil language
Ramavataram, the Khmer
Reamker
, the Old Javanese Kakawin Ramayana, and the Thai
Ramakien
and the Laos
Phra Lak Phra Lam
.
The manifestation of the core themes of the original Ramayana is far broader even than can be understood from a consideration of the different languages in which it appears, as its essence has been expressed in a diverse array of regional cultures and artistic mediums. For instance, the Ramayana has been expressed or interpreted in Lkhaon Khmer dance theatre, in the Mappila Songs
of the Muslim
s of Kerala
and Lakshadweep
, in the Indian opera
tic tradition of Yakshagana
, and in the epic paintings still extant on, for instance, the walls of Thailand
's Wat Phra Kaew
palace temple. In Indonesia, the tales of the Ramayana appear reflected in ballet performances, masked danced drama, and Wayang
shadow puppetry. Angkor Wat
in Siem Reap
also has mural scenes from the epic Battle of Lanka on one of its outer walls.
Champu ramayan,Anand rayaman,Mantra ramayan,Girdhar ramayan,Shree ramayan mangeri,Shree rang nath ramayan, Bhaskar ramayan,Gobind ramayan written by guru gobind shingh ji,in samvat 1655 radhey shyam ramayan
Contemporary prose versions of the epic Ramayana include Sri Ramayana Darshanam
by Dr. K. V. Puttappa in Kannada
and Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu by Viswanatha Satyanarayana
in Telugu
, both of which have been awarded the Jnanpith Award
. A prose version called Geet Ramayan in Marathi by G.D. Madgulkar was rendered in music by Sudhir Phadke
and is considered to be a masterpiece of Marathi literature. The popular Indian author R. K. Narayan
wrote a shortened prose interpretation of the epic, and another modern Indian author, Ashok Banker
, has so far written a series of six English-language novels based on the Ramayana. In addition, Ramesh Menon
wrote a single-volume edition of the Ramayana, which has received praise from scholars. A short version with a somewhat contemporary feel, influenced, according to the author, by contemporary representations of guerrilla warfare, appeared in Martin Buckley's Ramayana-based travelogue, An Indian Odyssey (Random House London, 2008). C Rajgopalachari, India's only Indian Governor General, also wrote a single volume Ramayana, published by Bhavans in 1957.
In September 2006, the first issue of Ramayan 3392 A.D. was published by Virgin Comics, featuring the Ramayana as re-envisioned by author Deepak Chopra
and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur
.
by producer Ramanand Sagar
, which is based primarily on the Ramcharitmanas and Valmiki's Ramayana and, at the time, was the most popular series in Indian television history. In the late 1990s, Sanjay Khan
made a series called Jai Hanuman, recounting tales from the life of Hanuman and related characters from the Ramayana.
A Japanese animated film called Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama was released in the early 1990s. US animation artist Nina Paley
retold the Ramayana from Sita's point of view (with a secondary story about Paley's own marriage) in the animated musical Sita Sings the Blues
. An Indian animated film called Ramayana: The Epic
was released in October 2010. The Stories Without Borders Production Company has a documentary in production about different versions of the Ramayana and a second India epic, the Mahabharata, across South and Southeast Asia that is slated to film begin filming in 2014.
that presents the story of Ramayana from Ravana's perspective.
Indian epic poetry
Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called Kavya . The Ramayana and Mahabharata, originally composed in Sanskrit and translated thereafter into many other Indian languages, are some of the oldest surviving epic poems on earth and form part of...
, the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
, are known to exist. The oldest version is generally recognized to be the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
version attributed to the sage Valmiki
Valmiki
Valmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e...
.
The Ramayana has spread to many Asian countries outside of India, including Burma, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The original Valmiki version has been adapted or translated into various regional languages, which have often been marked more or less by plot twists and thematic adaptations. Some of the important adaptations of the classic tale include the 12th century Tamil language
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
Ramavataram, the Khmer
Khmer language
Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language , with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious...
Reamker
Reamker
Reamker is a Cambodian epic poem, based on the Sanskrit's Ramayana epic. The name means "Glory of Rama". It adapts the Hindu ideas to Buddhist themes and shows the balance of good and evil in the world. More than just a reordering of the epic tale, the Reamker is a mainstay of the royal ballet's...
, the Old Javanese Kakawin Ramayana, and the Thai
Thai language
Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
Ramakien
Ramakien
The Ramakian is Thailand's national epic, derived from the Hindu epic Ramayana....
and the Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
Phra Lak Phra Lam
Phra Lak Phra Lam
Phra Lak Phra Lam is the national epic of the Lao people, and is adapted from Valmiki's Hindu epic, the Ramayana. Similar to some Malay versions of the Hikayat Seri Rama, the epic has lost the association with Hinduism and is instead considered a Jataka Story, a previous lifetime of the Buddha...
.
The manifestation of the core themes of the original Ramayana is far broader even than can be understood from a consideration of the different languages in which it appears, as its essence has been expressed in a diverse array of regional cultures and artistic mediums. For instance, the Ramayana has been expressed or interpreted in Lkhaon Khmer dance theatre, in the Mappila Songs
Mappila Songs
Mappila Paattu or Mappila Song is a folklore Muslim song genre rendered to lyrics in colloquial Mappila dialect of Malayalam laced with Arabic, by the Mappilas of Malabar. Mappila songs have a distinct cultural identity, while at the same time, remain closely linked to the cultural practices of...
of the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
and Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep , formerly known as the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands, is a group of islands in the Laccadive Sea, 200 to 440 km off the coast of the South West Indian state of Kerala...
, in the Indian opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tradition of Yakshagana
Yakshagana
Yakshagana is a musical theater popular in the coastal and Malenadu regions of Karnataka, India. Yakshagana is the recent scholastic name for what are known as kēḷike, āṭa, bayalāṭa, bayalāṭa, daśāvatāra . It is believed to have evolved from pre-classical music and theatre during Bhakti movement...
, and in the epic paintings still extant on, for instance, the walls of Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
's Wat Phra Kaew
Wat Phra Kaew
The Wat Phra Kaew is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is a "potent religio-political symbol and the palladium of Thai society". It is located in the historic centre of Bangkok , within the precincts of the Grand Palace.The main building is the central ubosoth, which...
palace temple. In Indonesia, the tales of the Ramayana appear reflected in ballet performances, masked danced drama, and Wayang
Wayang
Wayang is a Javanese word for theatre . When the term is used to refer to kinds of puppet theatre, sometimes the puppet itself is referred to as wayang...
shadow puppetry. Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu,...
in Siem Reap
Siem Reap
Siem Reap is the capital city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia, and is the gateway to Angkor region.Siem Reap has colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter, and around the Old Market...
also has mural scenes from the epic Battle of Lanka on one of its outer walls.
Sanskrit Versions
Below are a few of the most prominent Sanskrit versions of the Ramayana. Some primarily recount Valmiki’s narrative, while others focus more on peripheral stories and/or philosophical expositions:- Adhyatma RamayanaAdhyatma RamayanaAdhyatma Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit work extolling the spiritual virtues of the story of Ramayana. It comprises around 4200 double verses embedded in the latter portion of Brahmānda Purana and is traditionally believed to be authored by Vyasa...
is extracted from the Brahmananda Purana, traditionally ascribed to VyasaVyasaVyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
. It is thought to be the inspiration for Tulsidass’ Ramcharitmanas in awadhi. While the Valmiki Ramayana emphasizes Rama’s human nature, the Adhyatam Ramayana tells the story from the perspective of his divinity. It is organized into seven Kandas, parallel to Valmiki’s.
- Vasistha Ramayana (more commonly known as Yoga VasisthaYoga VasisthaYoga Vasistha is a Hindu spiritual text traditionally attributed to Valmiki. It recounts a discourse of the sage Vasistha to a young Prince Rama, during a period when the latter is in a dejected state...
) is traditionally attributed to ValmikiValmikiValmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e...
. It is principally a dialogue between VasisthaVasisthaVashist in the seventh, i.e the present Manvantara, and the Rajpurohit / Rajguru of the Suryavansha or Solar Dynasty. He was the mānasaputra of Brahma. He had in his possession the divine cow Kamadhenu, and Nandini her child, who could grant anything to their owners...
and RamaRamaRama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
in which Vasistha advances many of the principle tenets of Advaita VedantaAdvaita VedantaAdvaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
. It includes many anecdotes and illustrative stories, but does not recount Valmiki’s story of Rama in detail.
- Laghu Yoga Vasishtha, by Abhinanda of Kashmir, is an abbreviated version of the Yoga Vasistha.
- Ananda RamayanaAnanda RamayanaAnanda Ramayana is a Sanskrit text traditionally ascribed to the sage Valmiki, who is also credited with the Adbhuta Ramayana, Valmiki Ramayana, and the Yoga Vasishta...
is traditionally attributed to Valmiki. While it briefly recounts the traditional story of Rama, it is composed primarily of stories peripheral, though related, to Valmiki’s narrative. These include Ravana’s abduction of Kausalya and Rama’s installment of the Shiva LingamLingamThe Lingam is a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva used for worship in temples....
at Rameswaram.
- Agastya Ramayana is also traditionally attributed to Valmiki.
- Adbhuta RamayanaAdbhuta RamayanaAdbhuta Ramayana a Sanskrit work traditionally attributed to the sage Valmiki. It is considerably more obscure than both the Valmiki Ramayana—generally considered the original version—as well as Tulsidas’ awadhi version entitled Ramacharitamanasa, northern India’s most popular version of the...
, traditionally attributed to Valmiki, includes related stories of Rama. It's emphasis is on the role of Sita, and includes an expanded story of the circumstances of her birth as well as an account of her defeat of Ravana's older brother, also known as Ravana but with 1000 heads.
- The Ramayana story is also recounted within other Sanskrit texts, including: the MahabharataMahabharataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
(in the Ramokhyana Parva of the Vana Parva); Bhagavata PuranaBhagavata puranaThe Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
contains a concise account of Rama’s story in its ninth skandha; brief versions also appear in the Vishnu PuranaVishnu PuranaThe Vishnu Purana is a religious Hindu text and one of the eighteen Mahapuranas. It is considered one of the most important Puranas and has been given the name Puranaratna...
as well as in the Agni PuranaAgni PuranaThe Agni Purana, one of the 18 Mahapuranas, a genre of Hindu religious texts, contains descriptions and details of various incarnations of Vishnu. It also has details account about Rama, Krishna, Prithvi, and the stars...
.
- An eleventh century Sanskrit play entitled Mahanataka by Hanumat relates the story of Rama in nine, ten, or fourteen acts, depending on recension.
Regional Versions
Some noteworthy examples of these additional renderings of the Ramayana tale include:- North IndiaNorth IndiaNorth India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
- The "Ramacharitamanasa" written by TulsidasTulsidasTulsidas , was a Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion for the god Rama...
in the 16th century is the Ramayana version popular in North India. - JammuJammuJammu , also known as Duggar, is one of the three administrative divisions within Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state in India.Jammu city is the largest city in Jammu and the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir...
and KashmirKashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
- The Kashmiri "Ramavatara Charita" was written in 19th century. - Gujarat - The Tulsi-Krita Ramayana is a Gujarati adaptation of Tulisdas' Ramayana in 17th century by the poet Premanand SwamiPremanand SwamiPremanand Swami was a saint of the Swaminarayan Sampraday and one of Swaminarayan's paramhansas.- Biography :...
. - MaharashtraMaharashtraMaharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
- The MarathiMarathi languageMarathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
"Bhavartha Ramayana" written by EknathEknathEknath was a prominent Marathi scholar and religious poet. He is called a "sant" in the Marathi tradition as are most other religious poets...
in the 16th century. There is also reference of a Ramayana being translated into old Marathi during the 12th or 13th century. - AssamAssamAssam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
- The Assamese "Katha Ramayana" or "Kotha RamayanaKotha RamayanaKotha Ramayana is a poem written by the powerful Assamese poet Madhava Kandali during the 14th century and is one of many versions of Ramayana in a regional Indian language other than Valmiki's Ramayana in Sanskrit...
" in 14th century by Madhava KandaliMadhava KandaliKaviraja Madhava Kandali was an Assamese poet of India, notable for the earliest rendering of the Valmiki Ramayana into Assamese verse . His another work is a narrative poem, Devajit on superiority of Krishna over the other avatars of Vishnu...
. - BengalBengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
- The Bengali "Krittivasi RamayanKrittivasi RamayanKrittivasi Ramayan or Krittibasi Ramayan or Sri Ram Panchali , composed by 15th century Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha, is a translation of the Ramayana into Bengali, which represents the first translation of the Ramayana into any North Indian language other than Sanskrit...
" written by poet KrittibasKrittibasKrittibas is a Bengali poetry magazine that first appeared in Kolkata in 1953. It played a highly influential role in the Kolkata literary scene in the decades after Indian independence, and provided a platform for young, experimental poets, many of whom went on to become luminaries of modern...
in 15th century. - OrissaOrissaOrissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
- The Oriya Dandi Ramayana or Jagamohan Ramayana was adapted by Balaram Das in the 16th century. - Andhra PradeshAndhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
- The "Sri Ranganatha Ramayanamu" was adapted by Buddha Reddy and is the Telugu version of the Ramayana. The "Molla Ramayanamu" was adapted by poetess MollaMolla (poetess)Atukuri Molla was a famous Telugu poetess who authored the Telugu-language Ramayana. She was popularly known as Molla or Mollamamba.-Biography:...
. - KarnatakaKarnatakaKarnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
- The Kannada versions of the Ramayana – the "Kumudendu Ramayana" (a Jain version), written in 13th century and the "Kumara-Valmiki Torave Ramayana," written in the 16th century. There is another version titled "Ramachandra Charita Purana" written by Nagachandra during the 13th century. - Tamil NaduTamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
- The TamilTamil literatureTamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution...
"KambaramayanamKambaramayanamRamavataram , popularly referred to as Kamba Ramayanam , is a Tamil epic that was written by Kamban during the 12th century. Based on Valmiki's Ramayana in Sanskrit, the story describes the life of King Rama of Ayodhya...
", a popular version, written by poet Kamban in the 12th century. - KeralaKeralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
- The Malayalam language "Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilipattu" written by Thunchaththu EzhuthachanThunchaththu Ramanujan EzhuthachanThunjathu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan was an Indian poet from around the 16th century, known as the father of the Malayalam language — the principal language of the Indian state of Kerala, spoken by 36 million people in the world...
in the 16th century. - NepalNepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
- The Nepali languageNepali languageNepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...
"Bhanubhakta Ramayan" written by Bhanubhakta AcharyaBhanubhakta AcharyaAadikavi Bhanubhakta Acharya was a Nepali poet who translated the Ramayana from Sanskrit to Nepali. He was born in 1814 in Chundi Ramgha in the district of Tanahu, and was educated at home by his grandfather, Shri Krishna Acharya...
in the 19th century. The Nepal BhasaNepal BhasaNepal Bhasa is one of the major languages of Nepal, and is also spoken in India, particularly in Sikkim where it is one of the 11 official languages. Nepal Bhasa is the mother tongue of about 3% of the people in Nepal . It is spoken mainly by the Newars, who chiefly inhabit the towns of the...
"Siddhi Ramayan" written by Siddhidas MahajuSiddhidas MahajuSiddhidas Mahaju is one of the greatest writers in Nepal Bhasa literature. He is considered as the greatest poet in the language. He translated Ramayana to Nepal Bhasa. He is one of the four main people involved in Nepal Bhasa renaissance.-Influences:He influenced every single poet and writer...
in the 20th century. - GoaGoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
:Ramayanu written by Krishnadasa Shama in 15th century in KardalipuraQuellosimQuellosim is a village in Salcette Taluk, South Goa, India.This village was known as Kardalipura in ancient times and had wonderful temple dedicated to the mother-goddess Shantadurga which was shifted to Kavale when the Portuguese demolished the shrine as apart of inquisition. Prior to the...
, GoaGoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
in KonkaniKonkani languageKonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...
,manuscripts found in Portugal. - An Urdu languageUrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
version is called the "Pothi Ramayana" and was written in 17th century. - Kannada - Two prose works by Nanadalike Lakshminarayana ('Muddanna') entitled Adbhuta Ramayana (1895) and Ramaswamedham (1898).
Champu ramayan,Anand rayaman,Mantra ramayan,Girdhar ramayan,Shree ramayan mangeri,Shree rang nath ramayan, Bhaskar ramayan,Gobind ramayan written by guru gobind shingh ji,in samvat 1655 radhey shyam ramayan
Versions Outside India
The following are among the versions of the Ramayana that have emerged outside India:- CambodiaCambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
- ReamkerReamkerReamker is a Cambodian epic poem, based on the Sanskrit's Ramayana epic. The name means "Glory of Rama". It adapts the Hindu ideas to Buddhist themes and shows the balance of good and evil in the world. More than just a reordering of the epic tale, the Reamker is a mainstay of the royal ballet's... - ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
- RamakienRamakienThe Ramakian is Thailand's national epic, derived from the Hindu epic Ramayana.... - LaosLaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
- Phra Lak Phra LamPhra Lak Phra LamPhra Lak Phra Lam is the national epic of the Lao people, and is adapted from Valmiki's Hindu epic, the Ramayana. Similar to some Malay versions of the Hikayat Seri Rama, the epic has lost the association with Hinduism and is instead considered a Jataka Story, a previous lifetime of the Buddha... - Burma (MyanmarMyanmarBurma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
) - Yama ZatdawYama ZatdawYama Zatdaw , unofficially Myanmar's national epic, is the Burmese version of the Ramayana. There are nine known pieces of the Yama Zatdaw in Myanmar... - Malaysia - Hikayat Seri RamaHikayat Seri RamaHikayat Seri Rama is the Malay literary adaptation of the Hindu Ramayana epic. The main story remains the same as the original Sanskrit version but some aspects of it were slightly modified to a local context such as the spelling and pronunciation of names...
- JavaJavaJava is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
- Kakawin Ramayana - PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
- Rajah Magandiri - NepalNepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
- The Nepal BhasaNepal BhasaNepal Bhasa is one of the major languages of Nepal, and is also spoken in India, particularly in Sikkim where it is one of the 11 official languages. Nepal Bhasa is the mother tongue of about 3% of the people in Nepal . It is spoken mainly by the Newars, who chiefly inhabit the towns of the...
version called Siddhi Ramayan was written by Mahakavi Siddhidas Mahaju AmatyaSiddhidas MahajuSiddhidas Mahaju is one of the greatest writers in Nepal Bhasa literature. He is considered as the greatest poet in the language. He translated Ramayana to Nepal Bhasa. He is one of the four main people involved in Nepal Bhasa renaissance.-Influences:He influenced every single poet and writer...
during Nepal Bhasa renaissanceNepal Bhasa renaissanceNepal Bhasa renaissance was the movement to revive and modernize the Nepal Bhasa language during the period 1908 to 1940. The movement was spontaneous and not orchestrated...
era and the KhasKhasOriginally the Khas / Khasas or Khasiyas are the mountain dwellers living in the southern shadow of the Himalayan range from Kashmir to Bhutan, but mostly in Nepal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, North Bengal, Sikkim and Bhutan,...
language (later called "Nepali") version of Bhanubhaktako Ramayan by Bhanubhakta AcharyaBhanubhakta AcharyaAadikavi Bhanubhakta Acharya was a Nepali poet who translated the Ramayana from Sanskrit to Nepali. He was born in 1814 in Chundi Ramgha in the district of Tanahu, and was educated at home by his grandfather, Shri Krishna Acharya...
marked the first epic written in the language. - TibetTibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
— found in several manuscripts from Dunhuang
Contemporary versions
Sri Ramayana Darshanam
Sri Ramayana Darshanam is the most famous work and the magnum opus by Kuvempu in Kannada based on the Hindu epic Ramayana. It earned him many distinctions including the Sahitya Akademi and the Jnanapeeth award in 1967....
by Dr. K. V. Puttappa in Kannada
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
and Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu by Viswanatha Satyanarayana
Viswanatha Satyanarayana
Viswanatha Satyanarayana , popularly known as the Kavi Samraat , was a modern Telugu poet.He was a disciple of the Tirupati Venkata Kavulu duo...
in Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
, both of which have been awarded the Jnanpith Award
Jnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country...
. A prose version called Geet Ramayan in Marathi by G.D. Madgulkar was rendered in music by Sudhir Phadke
Sudhir Phadke
Sudhir Phadke was an accomplished Marathi singer-composer from India. He was regarded as an icon of the Marathi film industry and Marathi Sugam Sangeet for five decades...
and is considered to be a masterpiece of Marathi literature. The popular Indian author R. K. Narayan
R. K. Narayan
R. K. Narayan , shortened from Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami Tamil: ) , Madras Presidency, British India. His father was a school headmaster, and Narayan did some of his studies at his father's school...
wrote a shortened prose interpretation of the epic, and another modern Indian author, Ashok Banker
Ashok Banker
Ashok Kumar Banker is a novelist and short story writer living in Mumbai, India. He has written professionally since his early teens, and has worked as a door-to-door surveyor for market research firms, a print journalist, columnist, scriptwriter for television series and documentaries, and in...
, has so far written a series of six English-language novels based on the Ramayana. In addition, Ramesh Menon
Ramesh Menon
Ramesh Menon is an Indian author.-Biography:Ramesh Menon was born 1951 in New Delhi. Studied in St Xavier's High School and St. Stephen's College. Lived and worked in Delhi, HongKong, Bangalore, Jakarta and now lives in Kodaikanal . He is the grandson of Pattom Thanu Pillai, former Chief Minister...
wrote a single-volume edition of the Ramayana, which has received praise from scholars. A short version with a somewhat contemporary feel, influenced, according to the author, by contemporary representations of guerrilla warfare, appeared in Martin Buckley's Ramayana-based travelogue, An Indian Odyssey (Random House London, 2008). C Rajgopalachari, India's only Indian Governor General, also wrote a single volume Ramayana, published by Bhavans in 1957.
In September 2006, the first issue of Ramayan 3392 A.D. was published by Virgin Comics, featuring the Ramayana as re-envisioned by author Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur
Shekhar Kapur
Shekhar Kapur is an Indian film director and producer. A critically acclaimed director, he rose to popularity with the movie Bandit Queen...
.
On screen
The Ramayana has been adapted on screen as well, most notably as the television series RamayanRamayan (TV series)
Ramayan is a highly successful Indian television series created, written, and directed by Ramanand Sagar. The 78-episode series originally aired weekly on Doordarshan from January 25, 1987, to July 31, 1988, on Sundays at 9:30 a.m...
by producer Ramanand Sagar
Ramanand Sagar
Ramanand Sagar was an Indian film director. He is most famous for making the extremely popular Ramayan television series, a television adaptation of the ancient Indian epic of the same name, starring Arun Govil as Lord Ram and Deepika Chikhalia as Sita.Sagar was born at Asal Guru-Ke near Lahore...
, which is based primarily on the Ramcharitmanas and Valmiki's Ramayana and, at the time, was the most popular series in Indian television history. In the late 1990s, Sanjay Khan
Sanjay Khan
-Career:Khan made his debut in the 1964 Chetan Anand film "Haqeeqat" followed by the Rajshri film Dosti. In the 1960s and 1970s Khan starred in the movies Dus Lakh, Ek Phool Do Mali and Intaqam. He also acted opposite his brother Feroz in three films Upaasna , Mela and Nagin...
made a series called Jai Hanuman, recounting tales from the life of Hanuman and related characters from the Ramayana.
A Japanese animated film called Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama was released in the early 1990s. US animation artist Nina Paley
Nina Paley
Nina Paley is an Americancartoonist, animator and free culture activist.She directed the animated feature film Sita Sings the Blues. She was the artist and often the writer of comic strips Nina's Adventures and Fluff, but most of her recent work has been in animation...
retold the Ramayana from Sita's point of view (with a secondary story about Paley's own marriage) in the animated musical Sita Sings the Blues
Sita Sings the Blues
Sita Sings the Blues is a 2008 animated feature film written, directed, produced and animated entirely by American artist Nina Paley , primarily using 2D computer graphics and Flash Animation.It intersperses events from the Ramayana, illustrated conversation between Indian shadow puppets,...
. An Indian animated film called Ramayana: The Epic
Ramayana: The Epic
Ramayana: The Epic is a 2010 computer-animated film from India's Maya Digital Media. Directed by Chetan Desai and produced by Ketan Mehta, it was released by Warner Bros...
was released in October 2010. The Stories Without Borders Production Company has a documentary in production about different versions of the Ramayana and a second India epic, the Mahabharata, across South and Southeast Asia that is slated to film begin filming in 2014.
Comic series
Artist Vikas Goel and writer Vijayendra Mohanty have created a ten-part comic series called RavanayanRavanayan
Ravanayan is a ten-part comic series based on the Hindu epic Ramayana released by Holy Cow Entertainment in July 2011 with Ravana as the chief protagonist. Its creators are Mumbai-based artist Vivek Goel and Delhi-based writer Vijayendra Mohanty.-Overview:...
that presents the story of Ramayana from Ravana's perspective.