The Ramayan of Valmiki - Volume I

by Vālmīki, Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith (Translator)

Valmiki (ca. 400 B. C.E, northern India) 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 the inventor of the vedic poetic meter shloka, which defined the form of Sanskrit poetry in many latter works. He is revered as the first poet in Hinduism. There is also a religious movement based on Valmiki's teachings as presented in the Ramayana and the Yogavashista called Valmikism. The Ramayana consists of 24,001 verses in six cantos (some say seven i. e. including the Uttara Ramayana) (kandas). The Ramayana tells the story of a prince, Rama of Ayodhya, whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon (Rakshasa) king of Lanka, Ravana. The Valmiki Ramayana is dated variously from 500 BC to 100 BC, or about co-eval with early versions of the Mahabharata. As with most traditional epics, since it has gone through a long process of interpolations and redactions it is impossible to date it accurately.

Genres: Poetry

696 pages, Paperback

Published February 6, 2009

About the author

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. first verse, which set the base and defined the form to Sanskrit poetry. The Yoga Vasistha is attributed to him. A religious movement called Valmikism is based on Valmiki's teachings as presented in the Ramayana and the Yoga Vasistha.
At least by the 1st century AD, Valmiki's reputation as the father of Sanskrit classical poetry seems to have been legendary. Ashvagosha writes in the Buddhacarita,
"The voice of Valmiki uttered poetry which the great seer Chyavana could not compose."
This particular verse has been speculated to indicate a familial relationship between Valmiki and Chyavana, as implied by the previous and subsequent verses.

Reviews

[woodshadows · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh ya.. I had written a nice long review and then I clicked somewhere on my screen and the entire review disintegrated before my very eyes. I meant to get back to it so let's see here..

First off, the translation I was using omitted several passages due to "containing sentiments not popular or proper in our society", I think he means some people had sex, or maybe they worked on sunday or ate bread that was leavened, who knows! obviously something seemed to offend this particular translators ideas of propriety. At other times he simply omitted entire chapters because "they were boring and repetitive", I'm not sure whether he deserves praise for hijacking this decision from me, but in any case considering I have no ability to omit reading even the most boring chapters or books I will just move along.

This tale starts out very nice, but there were many things I really found distasteful, which I find in so much of hindu writing, maybe it's my own particular societal prejudices coming out, ironically though I profess to be a hindu of sorts I still find myself cringing at some of the ideas which hindus hold in highest esteem. This is probably going to contain all sorts of spoilers, fortunately if you have decided to read this behemoth of a story you probably have already read the summary, so choose as you like, to continue reading or not. This is what I don't like - Rama, who for no other reason than being "Rama" is treated like a God, funny considering he is considered an incarnation of God, nevertheless he never really does anything particularly special, yet everyone around him, his brothers, women, foreign kings etc, all dote upon him and his constantly butthurt feelings. The book constantly tells me that he is noble, honourable, brave, etc etc, but these traits are never shown in action, in fact much like Achilles he seems like more of a sulky little baby through much of the book. What really cemented my dislike for Rama was in the final pages. Now, some quick background here: Rama married Sita, Sita was kidnapped by Ravana and taken to his island refuge. Rama spends the book fighting demons and trying to win her back. Sweet romantic Arthurian type stuff here, right? Wrong. While a captive with Ravana, Ravana constantly tries to trick Sita into marrying him, telling her Rama is dead, offering her jewels, etc. Sita forebears every inducement and stays true to Rama, even at the risk of her own safety and comfort. Noble lady, Rama is a lucky guy, right? Again, wrong. Rama eventually vanquishes Ravana, or really, mostly it is through the efforts of his family and friends that he overcomes, through their deaths and sacrifices, they who will do everything blindly for Rama, simply because "Rama is Rama". So he gets Sita back. She comes up to him, ready to throw herself in his arms. We, the western readers are here expecting a happy reunion, the fruition of all the books struggles. But this is India, or specifically Hinduism, with it's sometimes warped sense of human relations. Rama scorns Sita, he basically spits in her face and laughs at her in disgust, he tells her that he didn't fight Ravana for HER (how presumptuous of the silly girl to think so!), he fought Ravana for his HONOUR (here the reader is supposed to glow with moral triumph - if said reader happens to have a warped sense of human relations). He rejects her and moves along, leaving a crushed Sita, wallowing in pain for Rama, who let's not forget she loves devotedly simply because he is Rama. He does this because he considers Sita "spoiled" for having been in the possession of another man (demon) and to associate with her would be a stain upon him. Sita decides well if I can't have my Rama I might as well self-immolate myself. This she does, "as any good Hindu wife should". Everyone gathers around to show Rama what happened and Sita is reborn and they live happily ever after with Sita fully acknowledging what an insignificant human she is and what a great and glorious man (God) Rama is - it's every Hindu man's greatest story to share with their wives and daughters, training generations of women into blind submission to their men. Vomit on this.. I'm not a rabid feminist but I have a good eye for propaganda designed to oppress. Next week we can read the Bhagavad Gita, in which Rama, now in the form of Krishna, counsels Arjuna to dispell his indecision about whether or not he should take part in a war against his cousins to slaughter them, Krishna counsels that rather he should blindly perform the slaughter of his cousins and do it in "God's name" as a "tool of God" and have his conscience clean.

[Avinash K · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, the starring is not for the story per se. Actually, it is better to have read/know the story before reading this.
In verse, that is nice!. Skipped two cantos, thanks probably to Victorian proprieties (humbug!). Surprised to find it quite lyrical, and yet keep it vivid.
In short, good translation... great for a rainy day!

[V Smith Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean 400 b.c. What can I say.

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty disorienting in regards to the timeline of the plot and an insane amount of side plots at first, but basically, Vishnu’s incarnation Rama gets banished from Ayodhya for bullshit reasons after a dope ass wedding.