A wide-ranging examination of the many different versions of India's greatest epic, the Ramayana, focusing on versions that subvert the dominant readings of the work.

Fresh perspectives on the classic Indiana epic.

The Ramayana, one of the two pre-eminent Hindu epics, has played a foundational role in many aspects of India's arts and social norms. For centuries, people learned this narrative by watching, listening, and participating in enactments of it. Although the Ramayana's first extant telling in Sanskrit dates back to ancient times, the story has continued to be retold and rethought through the centuries in many of India's regional languages, such as Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali. The narrative has provided the basis for enactments of its episodes in recitation, musical renditions, dance, and avant-garde performances. This volume introduces non-specialists to the Ramayana's major themes and complexities, as well as to the highly nuanced terms in Indian languages used to represent theater and performance. Two introductions orient readers to the history of Ramayana texts by Tulsidas, Valmiki, Kamban, Sankaradeva, and others, as well as to the dramaturgy and aesthetics of their enactments. The contributed essays provide context-specific analyses of diverse Ramayana performance traditions and the narratives from which they draw. The essays are clustered around the shared themes of the politics of caste and gender; the representation of the anti-hero; contemporary re-interpretations of traditional narratives; and the presence of Ramayana discourse in daily life.

Valmiki's Ramayana provides the inspiration for this vibrant collection of poems, each of which acts as a persuasive encounter between English poetry and Indian myth. After is a collection of poems inspired by Valmiki’s Ramayana, one of Asia’s foundational epic poems and a story cycle of incalculable historical importance. But After does not just come after the Ramayana. On each successive page, Vivek Narayanan brings the resources of contemporary English poetry to bear on the Sanskrit epic. In a work that warrants comparison with Christopher Logue’s and Alice Oswald’s reshapings of Homer, and Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red, Narayanan allows the ancient voice of the poem to engage with modern experience, initiating a transformative conversation across time.

The expression Subaltern had been used by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci in his celebrated notes on PRISON DIARY but it is interpreted in a different way in this book. The concept includes caste, color, gender and class. It is not economic category but a cultural one. It is different from Marxist interpretation of the term Proletariat. Marxist Morality is class bound: Subaltern morality is not class bound. An attempt to deconstruct the age old Egalitarian Morality, the author proposes morality of those who are besides the circle and suggests a postmodern vision to understand subaltern morality. Offering challenging insights into conception of Global justice, the author subscribes to Aristotelian contention of distributive justice where equals are treated equally and unequal are treated unequally.

The Present Book, New History Of Ancient India, Is An Attempt To Present The Indian History In The Light Of Recent Discoveries And Excavations Made In This Field. The History Of India Before The Invasion Of Alexander The Great In 328 B.C. Has Been Generally Considered A Myth. Accordingly, Brahma, Vishnu And Mahesh, Manu And Mandhata, Harishchandra And Bhagirath, Shri Rama And Shri Krishna, All Have Been Treated Non-Historical, Mythical Personages. But The Recent Discoveries Like Those Of Dwarika Of Shri Krishna In The Sea And Lanka Of Ravana In Orissa As Well As The Authentic Determining Of The Date Of Floods, That Find Mention In The Purana, Have Outrightly Refuted The Past Presumptions. With New Things Coming To Light, It Is Desirable That History Be Rewritten. It Is With This View That The Present Book Has Been Written. It Aims At Presenting The Information In An Analytic Manner And Also In Chronological Order. Beginning From The Vedic Yuga, The Book Presents An In-Depth Study Of Devasura Yuga, Satya Yuga, Dwapar Yuga And Kaliyuga. All The Information, Both Conventional And Recent, Provided In The Book Are Authentic As They Are Taken From The Authoritative Sources. The Book Is Unique In Its Presentation As It Richly Provides Maps Of Ancient States, Photographs And Figures, Which Not Only Give A Glimpse Of The Related Age Or Yuga But Also Facilitate Easy Understanding Of Information. Since Miracles, Exaggerations, Mysteries And Supernatural Powers Find No Reference Here, The Book Can Be Held A Complete, Authoritative Text On Ancient Indian History.It Is Hoped That The Students, Research Scholars And Even Teachers Of Indian History Will Find This Book Highly Useful And Indispensable For Having A Thorough And Updated Knowledge Of Ancient India. Even The General Readers Will Find This Book Extremely Interesting And Informative.

Ramayana Secrets is not just another retelling of the Ramayana. Instead, it unveils a deeper, lesser-known facet of this timeless epic—one where every character represents a facet of the human psyche. Through this lens, the Ramayana becomes a powerful allegory for the spiritual evolution that takes place within everyone. From the eternal struggle between ego and the higher self, to the significance of elements like the Vanara’s tail—offering stability in the chaotic ride of life—this book invites readers on a journey of profound self-discovery. In his first book, Ramesh Krishnakumar, a marine professional from Chennai, embarks on a personal quest to understand the essence of India’s living culture that has shaped generations. Through his unique interpretations, Krishnakumar offers a fresh perspective on how the wisdom of the Ramayana applies to our modern-day lives, illustrating how the journey toward spiritual harmony is as relevant now as it has ever been.