The Ramayana Revisited

Erscheinungsjahr 2004
ISBN: 978-0-19-516833-4
Verlag: Oxford University Press Inc

Buch, Englisch, 397 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 559 g

While the "standard" version of the Ramayana is a 14th-century Sanskrit text by Valmiki, the diversity and adaptability of this narrative are extraordinary. Many regions and languages have their own versions of the tale that they consider authoritative. In addition, the basic tale of the Ramayana is continually adapted to new contexts, forms, and media. It is, in one form or another, read, recited, sung, danced, and acted. Yet the vast majority of
scholarship on the Ramayana has dealt exclusively with the textual editions, and mainly with Valmiki's Sanskrit version. In this volume, fourteen leading Ramayana scholars examine the epic in its myriad contexts throughout South and Southeast Asia. They explore the role the narrative plays in societies as varied
as India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. The essays also expand the understanding of the "text" to include non-verbal renditions of the epic, with particular attention to the complex ways such retellings change the way the narrative deals with gender. This volume will be useful for courses in the history of religions, Hinduism, Asian studies, and anthropology, all of which teach the Ramayana as a foundational myth of Asian culture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bose, Mandakranta

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Hinduismus Hinduismus: Heilige Texte & Traditionsliteratur
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Heilige & Traditionelle Texte, Mythologie, Vergleichende Mythologie

Über Autor(innen)

(Director and Lecturer in Religious Studies, Centre for India and South Asia Research, India)