Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition

Front Cover
Paula Richman
University of California Press, 2001 - History - 432 pages
Questioning Rama's story has played a generative role in sustaining the Ramayana tradition over centuries, across regions, and among different communities. Although the story of Rama (Ramkatha) has generated many tellings, most people are familiar with a few authoritative texts, such as those by Valmiki, Tulsidas, or the television serial by Ramanand Sagar. This volume expands our understanding of Ramkatha by focusing on tellings that question aspects of such dominant texts.

Through analysis of oral and written narratives, exegesis, plays, songs, rituals, and poetry, the contributors demonstrate the centrality of questioning within the Ramayana tradition and chart the many forms such interrogation takes. The book demonstrates how questioning safeguards the diversity and capaciousness of the Ramayana tradition.
 

Contents

FORMS OF QUESTIONING
12
THREE
28
Bhavabhuti on Cruelty and Compassion
49
FOUR
70
SEVEN
127
EIGHT
159
NINE
169
ELEVEN
239
FOURTEEN
285
FIFTEEN
309
SIXTEEN
329
Notes
359
Contributors
411
Copyright Statement
419
Copyright

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About the author (2001)

Paula Richman is Irvin E. Houck Professor in the Humanities, Department of Religion, at Oberlin College. She is the editor of Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Indian Devotional Genre (1997) and Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia (California, 1991).

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