Oxford Universit Press Many Ramayanas: The Diversity Of A Narrative Tradition In South Asia

Many Ramayanas : The Diversity Of A Narrative Tradition In South Asia [Paperback] [Aug 01, 1997] Paula Richman

Richman, Paula

Oxford University Press

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.

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

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

University of California Press

Bynum, Caroline W., Harrell, Stevan, Richman, Paula

Gender and Religion: On the Complexity of Symbols

Bynum, Caroline W.

Harrell, Stevan

Religion & Spirituality

Beacon Pr

For hundreds of years Tamil poets have been composing devotional texts in which they adopt the voice of a mother and address praises to an extraordinary child. The poems, called pillaittamil (literally "Tamil for a child"), form a major genre of Tamil literature. Since the twelfth century, when the first known pillaittamil was written in honor of a Chola king, many of these poems have been composed in praise of Murugan and South Indian goddesses, as well as saints and venerated monastic abbots. In recent times pillaittamils have been dedicated to the Prophet Muhammad, the Virgin Mary, and Baby Jesus, as well as notable political figures and moviestars. Extraordinary Child provides a sampler of translations from, and analysis of, seven pillaittamils of particular religious, aesthetic, or political significance.

Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Indian Devotional Genre (SHAPS Library of Translations)

University of Hawaii Press

Women, branch stories, and religious rhetoric in a Tamil Buddhist text (Foreign and comparative studies. South Asian series)

Reference

Words, Language & Grammar

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

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