Indian Epics

One could scarcely draw together two larger topics than the Mahābhārata (Mbh) and dharma. The former, a tale of a fratricidal and internecine battle interspersed with theme-expanding stories, moral tales, fables, and didactic tracts, claims to be 100,000 stanzas long; the text constituted in the Critical Edition in the mid 20th century by a team of scholars comes to some 75,000.  The Mbh has arguably been the most influential and significant cultural product to emerge from South Asia in the last two millennia. The word dharma, on the other hand, has, since perhaps the 5th century BCE (or a little later), been the preeminent term of ideological expression in South Asian thought, and lent itself to the collective name for one of South Asia's most enduring genres, dharmaśāstra. The word is, as has often been noted, of central importance to the Mbh; indeed, in many respects, the Mbh both marks a significant moment in the semantic development of dharma (Hiltebeitel 2011: 20-29) and demonstrates its emergence as a term encoding cultural and ideological legitimacy.

This chapter contains translations from two texts associated with the Mughal Emperor Akbar's court: an excerpt from the Razmnama (Book of War), the Persian translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, and the entirety of Shanticandra's Kriparasakosa (Treasury of Compassion), a Sanskrit praise poem about Akbar. The translations are accompanied by a short introduction.

The present paper focuses on Aśvaghoṣa's treatment of King Śuddhodana and Kapila-vāstu, the latter's kingdom, in the Buddhacarita (BC) and the Saundarananda (SNa). As I shall try to demonstrate, the poet's depiction of Śuddhodana is strongly reminiscent of, and, I think, very likely based on, Brahmanical accounts of the rājadharma (BC 9.48) and the dharmarāja (BC 1.75) as they can be found, first and foremost, in the Mahābhārata (MBh). As for his description of the Śākya kingdom, it is obviously meant to be evocative of the "golden age" or, conversely, of its lack of any characteristic of the kaliyuga, which again points to Aśvaghoṣa's likely acquaintance with epic descriptions of the kaliyuga and/or the yugānta as they can be found, e.g., in the so-called Mārkaṇḍeya section of the MBh (esp. 3.186 and 188).

This article adds to the debate on the elusive search for original homeland of Sanskrit speakers of India by establishing linkage of archaeology, language and legends of Hyperboreans. It brings the readers up todate on how India's caste system evolved.

In India's great epic the Mahabharata, the eighth book, "Karna", recounts the events that occurred during the mighty hero Karna's two days as general of the Kaurava army. This second volume resumes on the war's seventeenth and penultimate day. This will be a momentous day for the Bharata clans and especially for a number of their most distinguished heroes, with some of the epic's most telegraphed events reaching their climax. Not only will the epic's most anticipated duel between its greatest champions Arjuna and Karna be played out to its cruel and tragic end, but one of the more gruesome episodes in the epic will also take place with Duhshasana meeting the fate that has long waited him since his brazen maltreatment of Draupadi in the assembly hall. It is co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation.

Sathaye, Adheesh. 2010. “The Other Kind of Brahman: Rama Jamadagnya and the Psychosocial Construction of Brahman Power in the Mahabharata,” in Sheldon Pollock, ed., Epic and Argument in Sanskrit Literary History: Essays in Honor of Robert P. Goldman. New Delhi: Manohar, 2010; 185-207.

Sathaye, Adheesh. 2012. “Magic Cows and Cannibal Kings: The Textual Performance of the Viśvāmitra Legends in the Mahābhārata,” in John Brockington, ed. Battle, Bards, and Brahmins: Papers of the 13th World Sanskrit Conference, Volume II. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass), 195-216.

This article concerns the performance of Kūṭiyāṭṭam enactments of Mahābhārata narratives and the written texts on which those performances are based. The Kūṭiyāṭṭam tradition of Sanskrit drama enactment in Kerala has been recognised by UNESCO as a 'masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity' but is also profoundly concerned with written texts. I argue that the ways Kūṭiyāṭṭam performers have modified and elaborated upon the dramas' texts have resulted in enactments more devotionally oriented than are the texts themselves, and that this distinctively devotional performative practice has contributed to the tradition's longevity. I also argue that performances in secular settings in recent decades represent both an opportunity and a danger to the tradition. devānāmidamāmananti munayaḥ śāntaṃ kratuṃ cākṣuṣaṃ / … nāṭyaṃ 'Sages regard drama as the visible and pacifying sacrifice to the Gods….' Kālidāsa, Mālavikāgnimitra (1.4)

The Āpaddharmaparvan, 'the book on conduct in times of distress', is an important section of the great Sanskrit epic the Mahābhārata which, despite its significance for Mahābhārata studies and for the history of Indian social and political thought, has received little attention in scholarly literature. This book places the Āpaddharmaparvan within its literary and ideological contexts. In so doing it explores the development of a conception of brahmanic kingship morally justifiable within the terms of a debate largely set by various alternative social movements of the period. This book further explores the implications for our understanding of the Mahābhārata that follow from the Āpaddharmaparvan's presentation as a poetically cohesive unit within itself and within the wider parameters of the Mahābhārata.

Following up my paper “Patterns of Tejas in the Epics” delivered at WSC 12 (Helsinki 2003) this paper purposes to examine the way the notion of tejas — formerly (in vedic times) just yet another of many kindred Daseinsmächte or substance-powers such as ojas, varcas, yaśas and the like — attains paramountcy in the puranic synthesis of common traditional lore, becoming a regular attribute of the parameśvara in his different personae, on the one hand, as well as crystallizing specific tejas mythologemes around the most characteristic traits of each of the great hindu gods, on the other.

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"The Book of Karna" relates the events of the two dramatic days after the defeat of the great warriors and generals Bhishma and Drona, in which Karna - great hero and the eldest Pandava - leads the Kaurava army into combat. This first volume of "Karna" depicts mighty battles in gory detail, sets the scene for Karna's tragic death, and includes a remarkable verbal duel between Karna and his reluctant charioteer Shalya, the king of the Madras, as they hurl abuse at each other before entering the fray. It is co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation.

I have already examined elsewhere (“The Development of ‘Tejas’ from the Veda-s to the Purāṇa-s”, WZKSA 36 (Suppl. 1993): 137-147) how the word tejas, originally meaning ‘sharpness’, came very soon to convey the notion of a peculiar ‘substance-power’ (viz. roughly ‘fiery energy’, ‘ardour’) with distinctive connotations vis-à-vis other kindred substance-powers, such as varcas, ojas, yaśas and the like, which are also current from the Atharva Veda onwards. Such notion of tejas attained great prominence in the epic and puranic literature, where, besides playing a central role in some of the most characteristic mythical themes of each of the great hindu gods,  it lies at the core of sundry narrative motives, displaying a well definable set of semantic traits. Some of these — its connotations of abruptness, keenness and excess, its destructive associations and dangerous potential, its congeniality to certain classes of beings and above all (what is perhaps its most typical feature) its liability to transfer — have already been mentioned (even if not yet adequately investigated) in the aforesaid paper, mostly with reference to puranic literature. The purpose of the present paper is to trace and briefly discuss some recurring patterns of tejas in the vast corpus of the Indian epics — i. e. its occurrence in compounds, collocations, formulas, complementary couples and other meaningful structures — which will contribute to shed some light on the different and sometimes conflicting pertinences of its polyvalent notion.

The singularity attributed to tragedy -"Eka rasah sakarunah" -tragedy is the solitary rasa -by the 8 th century poet Bhavabhuti in his Uttarramcharita 1 , lays before us a sharp contrast to the general western and west-influenced notion: tragedy is alien to Indian literature. In

— The Vedas are considered to be the oldest surviving literature of India. They are preserved in an intact form through memorizing and transmission from generation to generation over centuries, thus very likely to have an unaltered, authentic record. Vedas have been extensively studied by large number of scholars from diverse disciplines for the last two centuries. They abound in poetic metaphor and allusions yet give an account of people, places and events along with the prevailing belief systems at that time. The belief systems in Vedas have commonality with Iranian and European traditions, collectively referred to as Indo-European. Many scholars have studied Vedas to find the footprints and trail of Indo-Europeans whose languages have noticeable commonality. In this paper we make use of network analysis methods to interpret Rig-Veda to get a sense of how events and beliefs have evolved over time and geographies.

When Ramayana is mentioned what comes to mind is the well known SriRamcharitmanas of Tulsidas. It will be an engaging exercise to cast a glance at the Kashmiri Ramayana by Prakash Ram Kulgami, a devotee of Ram in the nineteenth century and though his mission seems to be similar to Tulsidas's, his text is not.

В статье суммированы результаты сравнительного исследования армянского эпоса о «неистовых сасунцах» («Sasna cṙer» = «Давид Сасунский») и «Махабхараты». Выявлено значительное сходство их этнографического субстрата, пре-жде всего отражаемой эпосом архаической социальной организации. В древнейшем слое как армянского, так и индийского эпоса сохраняется память о сельском, преимущественно скотоводческом обществе, важную роль в котором играл инсти-тут молодежных воинских братств. Отражением этого института в «Сасна црер» можно считать мотивы буйства юных героев с последующим изгнанием, создания ими поселения в лесной глуши, братства юных воинов, защиты ими стад и отражения вражеских нашествий, боевого бешенства, являющегося главной характеристикой всех сасунских героев, образ их неизменного, переходящего из поколения в поколение наставника и предводителя, «дядьки» Кери-Тороса, упоми-нания оргиастических пиршеств молодежного объединения, следы добрачной свободы юношей и девушек и т.п. Исполь-зование данных мотивов, очевидно, поддерживалось существованием у армян вплоть до Новейшего времени института юношеских социовозрастных объединений, что засвидетельствовано этнографией. Сравнительное изучение армянского эпоса позволяет выявить в нем прежде скрытые от нас аспекты социально-исторического содержания. Более широкое привлечение материалов армянского эпоса к изучению как индоевропейских, так и иных эпических традиций народов Кав-каза и степной Евразии послужит обогащению и развитию сравнительного эпосоведения. Ключевые слова: армянский эпос, «Махабхарата», сравнительное эпосоведение, этнографический субстрат, социо-возрастные объединения, юношеские воинские братства. The author summarizes the results of his search for parallels between the Armenian epic "Sasna cṙer" ("Daredevils of Sassoun") and the Mahābhārata. The comparative study has revealed considerable similarity in the "ethnographic substratum" of both epics, particularly that relating to the archaic social organization mirrored by the epic. The earliest layer of both the Armenian and the Indian epics retains the memory of a rural, largely pastoral society, in which an important role was played by the fraternities of young warriors. In the Armenian epic, this is indicated by recurrent motifs such as the young heroes' rampage followed by exile, the foundation of their own outpost in the backwoods, young male warriors' fraternities, their defense of herds, warding off enemy attacks, battle frenzy (a common characteristic of all the Sasun heroes), their immutable tutor and leader ("uncle") Keri Toros, allusions to orgiastic feasts, premarital freedom enjoyed by boys and girls, etc. In Armenians, these motifs were supported by the existence until the recent times of age sets, described by ethnographers. The comparative study of the Armenian epic reveals its hitherto unnoticed socio-historical aspects. Its wider use for studying other epic traditions (not only Indo-European but also those of other peoples inhabiting the Caucasus and the Eurasian steppes) will contribute to the comparative epic studies.

In seguito alla fatale partita a dadi i cinque fratelli På∫∂ava sono stati costretti a ritirarsi per dodici anni in esilio nelle selve e a trascorrere un tredicesimo anno sotto mentite spoglie. A questo punto Yudhiß™hira insegna ad Arjuna una formula meditativa, ricevuta da Vyåsa in persona, che gli renderà possibile procurarsi armi divine da Indra e Rudra, indispensabili per superare le difficoltà dell'ultimo anno di esilio. Arjuna si arma e parte per compiere l'impresa, salutato da Draupadoe. Il suo cammino si volge a Nord, finché incontra un asceta che gli ingiunge di fermarsi. Al suo diniego questi si rivela come Indra sotto mentite spoglie e gli concede un dono. Arjuna chiede di ottenere armi divine. Gli viene risposto che le riceverà solo dopo aver incontrato il dio ˙iva. L'eroe si dedica quindi a terribili macerazioni sulle cime dello Himålaya. Timorosi del pericolo rappresentato da quest'ascesi di una crudeltà inaudita, gli dèi si rivolgono a Indra che li rassicura: Arjuna non mira a scalzare il loro potere, ma solo a ottenere la visione di ˙iva per chiedergli le armi. ˙iva assume le sembianze di un montanaro, membro di una tribù montana di cacciatori. L'antidio Maeka si tramuta in cinghiale e assale Arjuna. Il montanaro e l'eroe trafiggono simultaneamente con due diverse frecce l'animale. Arjuna rivendica la priorità sulla preda e dichiara di voler uccidere

SUMMARY: As in the case of its great predecessor, the Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, the very title of the Forest Book (Araṇyakāṇḍa) of the 16th-century Rāmcaritmānas by Tulsīdās (1532-1623) seems to suggest that it provides its reader with descriptions of flora and fauna, landscapes and natural phenomena typical of wilderness. However, the actual situation stands in sharp contrast with this presupposition – this book contains only a few descriptions of nature per se, although relatively rich 'natural' terminology can be easily found scattered all over it.
The main aim of this article is to investigate these passages in which Tulsīdās uses the descriptions and terms relating to forest and other natural phenomena, as well as to consider what purpose they serve.

In the fairly late daśāvatāra lists enumerating Viṣṇu’s ten ‘canonical’ descents among the myriads which are believed to happen time and again, two Rāmas consistently occupy the sixth and seventh place, to wit Rāma of the Bhṛgu family, son of Jamadagni, and Rāma of the Raghu lineage, son of Daśaratha. The latter obviously requires no introduction; as for the former, lately dubbed Paraśurāma or ‘Rāma with the axe’ by association with his most characteristic weapon, his main exploits — his predestined birth as a warrior-like brahmin, the beheading of his own mother at his father’s command and especially the 21fold extermination of the kṣatriyas in revenge for the murder of his father — are already known to the Mahābhārata, and later subsumed by the puranic literature. But there is another remarkable episode the Mbh does not appear to know about, which apparently only surfaces in the late Balakaṇḍa of the Rāmāyaṇa: the episode of the encounter of the two Rāmas.
The story runs basically as follows: Paraśurāma has heard about Rāma’s wondrous feat of the breaking of Śiva’s bow at the court of Janaka, which has earned him the hand of princess Sītā, and comes raging to challenge him. This time Rāma shall prove his strength by stringing Viṣṇu’s bow, receiving it from Paraśurāma’s hands. Rāma is successful, Paraśurāma is punished for his arrogance and retreats to mount Mahendra without further ado.
Apart from the Rāmāyaṇa, a variant of the story is found in the Vulgate, which has however been discarded by the CE of the Mahābhārata. In the Purāṇas the episode occurs rather inconspicuously in the Padma, Narasiṁha and Viṣṇudharmottara. It appears, however, to have found greater favour with kāvya: after Kalidāsa’s masterly reworking in the Raghuvaṁśa other mahākāvyas featuring (or at least mentioning) our episode include Bhaṭṭi’s Rāvaṇavadha and Kumāradāsa’s Jānakīharaṇa. Playwrights seem to have been particularly keen on the theme; dramatic works featuring it include the Yajñaphala ascribed to Bhāsa, Bhavabhūti’s incomplete Mahāvīracarita, and Rājaśekhara’s Bālarāmāyaṇa. The episode likewise figures prominently in late bhakta and śākta Rāmāyaṇas both sanskrit and vernacular, such as the sanskrit Adhyātma and Adbhutarāmāyaṇa, the tamil Kamparāmāyaṇam, the hindi Rāmcaritmanas by Tulsīdās, as well as other medieval works like the Rāmavijaya by Śaṅkaradeva.
In this paper I purpose to focus on an analysis of the way Kalidāsa’s retelling in the Raghuvaṁśa relates to its epic model, as well as on the way it has in turn influenced later versions of the episode.

The paper begins with the unique motif of the "Wheel of Time Revolving in an Underground Cave" that appears in both the Indian Mah bh rata and the Armenian epic "Daredevils of Sassoun". This is followed by a review of stories about characters confined or asleep inside a cave from the Caucasus, the Balkans and Central/Western Europe. Certain episodes from the Indian epics Mbh and R m ya a are for the first time recognized as belonging to the same circle of plots and motifs. In all stories of characters imprisoned or sleeping in a cave, time passes in a peculiar way, divided into cycles by the constant repetition of specific events. The author suggests that all these myths and legends are based on the strong link in human consciousness between the image of a cave and the mytho-ritual complex of ideas: "birth-death-rebirth". The similarity between stories of this type in Caucasian and Indo-European traditions may be explained by contacts between Indo-Europeans and Caucasians at different times, starting from the period of Proto-Indo-European linguistic unity.

The theory of the yugas has been connected to the story of the Mahābhārata since the late layers of the Epic itself, and it subsequently became a fundamental element of the justification for explaining its adharmic elements by linking its story to the Kali Yuga.  The story of Rāma, on the other hand, never had an important link to the yuga theory, except for a rather vague placement of Rāma’s story in the Tretā Yuga. This chapter looks at Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa in order to ascertain if the text provides a basis for a connection between the Rāmāyaṇa and the Tretā Yuga.

In the opening part of his seminal study of performing traditions of Tulsīdās's Rāmcaritmānas, The Life of a Text, Philip Lutgendorf discusses the structure of the poem's narrative realized through the series of four dialogues. His very apt observations bring to light the existence of the interface between the oral (as well as the aural) and the written. They also serve as a convenient starting point for an analysis of the relevant parts of the poem, set in a wider context of the Orality/Literacy Debate. Aiming at systematizing and broadening our knowledge of the composition of the Rāmcaritmānas and also of the factors behind its rapid spread in North India, this paper scrutinizes the opening passages of the poem, in which the process of the creation of the Rāmcaritmānas, its genealogy and its structure are revealed. In the analysis, the relevant features of the oral mentality thesis outlined by Walter J. Ong in his Orality and Literacy are referred to; an attempt to explore the social impact of oral residues in a chirographic, i.e. writing, culture is also made. In view of the problematic antithesis between the oral and the written manifest in Tulsīdās's poem, as well as in view of its religious importance, it seems that this analysis may help to reexamine the Western understanding of the concept of "scripture" .

Indian mythologies extensively deal with the confrontation between godly and demonic powers. The gods and demons are known as sura and asura (a-sura "not god") or daitya and rākṣasa. Asuras are the opposite of suras that follow the way of adharma. 1 They resort to any method hook or crook to attain success in their malevolent endeavour and are also unfaithful, uncivilized, half-manly and

It is generally assumed that the verse ṚV III 62.10, also known as the “sāvitrī,” received its popular name “Gāyatrī” already in the Vedic period. This paper shows that this name was in fact introduced only about a thousand years later. As it turns out, the first passages that unambiguously use “gāyatrī” as a name are found in the late strata of the Sanskrit Epics and the Dharmasūtras, composed around the 3rd century CE. Around the same time, we can observe the proliferation of modified forms of ṚV III 62.10, dedicated to deities such as Viṣṇu or Rudra. The paper argues that the creation of these mantras led to the revival of a category that by that time had become obsolete: the category of gāyatrīs. The introduction of the name “Gāyatrī” for ṚV III 62.10 is best explained against the background of this development.

"The story of the Rāmāyaṇa is well-known in all Indian
languages and Hindi literature is no exception to it. It has a long
and rich tradition based on Rāmkathā that throughout the
centuries has challenged many authors.
Although several studies have been devoted to different
aspects of this tradition in Hindi, to date none of them has been
concerned with its development from the perspective of its most
important achievements against their historical background and
socio-cultural context.
Another distinguishing feature of this study is an attempt to
examine the relationship between Rāmkathā and its protagonist
Rām who appears to be one of the most important factors in the
continuing popularity of the tradition and has never ceased to
function as a cultural hero, showing others how to lead a proper
life. The analysis of modern tellings – in which case the problem
of their author’s attitude to the myth of Rām, and to myth in
general, becomes of great importance – has proved especially
demanding.
Such an approach based on literary sources is believed to
contribute much to our understanding of the significance of Rām
in north Indian culture."

The name of Tuls!d"s (1532-1623) is famous not only in the Hindispeaking region but well beyond it thanks to the poet's magnum opus, the religious epic R!mcaritm!nas (The M"nas [Lake] of R"m's Deeds 2 ). This work, considered to be the greatest achievement of Hindi literature, is undoubtedly the quintessence of its own times' spirituality and has exerted an immense influence upon religious life in north India. Nevertheless, many people familiar -in one way or another -with the R!mcaritm!nas are not aware of the fact that Tuls!d"s retold the story of R"m's deeds also in his other works, which are written not only in Avadhi but in Braj as well. It may seem interesting, sometimes even surprising to literary educated native speakers of Hindi, that apart from singing the glory of R"m, to whom he devoted the majority of his poetry, Tuls!d"s also composed works praising other gods -%iv and his consort P"rvat!, and Kr Ω∫a. However, it is true that these works have not achieved such fame and popularity as the R!mcaritm!nas, which has been claimed by Western scholars, aware of its significance, as the Bible of Hindustan. 3

ON THE KEY TERM OF THE ARMENIAN EPIC “THE DAREDEVILS OF SASSOUN” (“SASNA CṘER”) IN CONNECTION WITH INDO-ARMENIAN EPIC PARALLELS

The paper aims at elucidating the semantics of the key term in the Armenian epic “Sasna cṙer”  -  a substantivized adjective cuṙ (Pl. cṙer), translated usually into English as “daredevil” (“The Daredevils of Sassoun”). Comparative analysis of the “Sasna cṙer” and the Mahābhārata revealed, among other parallels, a significant similarity in both epics of what we call the “ethnographic substratum” of epic poetry. The earliest layer of content in Armenian, as well as in Indian epic retains the memory of an archaic, rural, largely pastoral society in which an important role was played by age-set brotherhoods of young warriors. 
For the Armenian epic this is indicated by the recurrent motif of wild, violent behavior of practically every hero in his childhood or youth, for which he is usually punished by the exile. The city of  Sassoun, as Hāstinapura in the Mahābhārata, was founded in the wilderness by the brothers exiled in this way. An Armenian hero performs all his great deeds as a child or a young man, he feasts in the company of unmarried boys and girls, the army of Sassoun is the army of youths. Epic “biography” of a hero is limited to his childhood and youth; after his marriage, the epic obviously loses its interest in him: he is now ready to die, at home or in his last battle. Having accepted the idea that the early epic worldview in “Sasna cṙer” was formed under the influence of the institute of young warrior brotherhoods and its ideology, we can now take a fresh look on the word cuṙ and its semantics. Some contexts in which the epic uses this word enable us to conclude that the term cuṙ could initially refer to a warrior in the psychic state of the battle frenzy, wild, uncontrollable fury. Comparative material from related Indo-European traditions (Indian, Iranian and Greek) reveals that members of men’societies and militant youth brotherhoods considered the state of “wolfish rage” to be the highest ability of a warrior which increased his strength and made him absolutely irresistible.

While Mahabharata's Bhagvad-Gita is taken as a philosophical guide, Ramayana's Sundara Kãnda is sought for spiritual solace; many believe that reading it or hearing it recited would remove all hurdles and usher in good tidings! Miracles apart, it's in the nature of this great epic to inculcate fortitude and generate hope in man for it’s a depiction of how Hanuman goes about his errand against all odds.

Besides, it portrays how Seetha, on the verge of self-immolation, overcomes despair to see life in a new light? With rhythm of its verse and the flow of the narrative this sloka to sloka transcreation of the canto beautiful of Valmiki's adi kavya - the foremost poetical composition in the world, Hanuman's Odyssey that paves the way for Rama to rescue his kidnapped wife is bound to charm the readers and listeners alike.

Interestingly, as the following verse illustrates, it was the forerunner of the magic realism of our times – “Gripped she then him by shadow / Cast which Hanuman coast to coast, Recalled he in dismay then / What Sugreev said at outset / That one fiend had aptitude / To grip its prey by mere shadow.”

On a personal note, my paternal grandfather, Bulusu Thimmaiah-garu, like many in his time, was a life-long practitioner of Sundara Kãnda parayana (the epic’s daily recital in part or full), whose spirituality could have providentially guided me in this, rather an effortless, trans-creative endeavour.

This translation of Sundara Kãnda of Valmiki Ramayana,
Dedicated to Childhood friends,  Nittala Rama Rao, who envisaged that I transcreate in English this momentous episode of the adi kavya and Erramilli Rohini Kumar, who, besides encouraging me to undertake the challenge, came  up with  the book jacket besides Katlin Darnall of the World Public Library for the enriching editing,
comprises of the Cantos -

1 - Hurdles in Skies
2 - City in Clouds
3 - Prelude to Entry
4 - Foray into Fort
5 - Life in Lanka
6 - Precincts to Beat
7 - Palace in the Plane
8 - Pushpak’s Prowess
9 - Harem at Night
10 - Women in Want
11 - Qualms of Celibate
12 - At Wits End
13 - Errand in the Bend
14 - Garden of Grief
15 - Withered Flower
16 - She is Seetha
17 - Guards all Hideous
18 - Ravan on Heat
19 - Dame in Despair
20 - Womanizer at Work
21 - Steadfast in Love
22 - Deadline to Death
23 - Guards that Pander
24 - Carrot and Stick
25 - Hapless Soul   
26 - Wandering Thoughts
27 - Dream of a Nightmare
28 - On the Verge
29 - Good Tidings
30 - Hanuman’s Dilemma
31 - Rama’s Ballad
32 - Is it True?
33 - Genesis of Exile
34 - Swings in Mood
35 - Winning the Trust
36 - More of the Same
37 - Aborted Move
38 - Story to Tell
39 - Doubts to the Fore
40 - Repeats the Dose
41 - Rampage in the Park
42 - Panic in the Town
43 -Itching for Fight
44 -Takes on Prahastha’s Son
45 - Marshals in the Mire
46 - Generals in the Dumps
47 - Akshay’s Life on Line
48 - It takes Indrajit
49 - Ravan’s Darbar
50 - Cause of Loss
51 - Advice to Deliver
52 -Placates the Sibling
53 - Tail on Fire
54 - Arson to Hurt 
55 - What of Seetha?
56 - Havoc of a Take-off
57 - Flight sans Hassles
58 - Odyssey in a Nutshell
59 - Pep Talk to Peers
60 - Angad on Rebound
61 - Eying the Madhuvan
62 - Orgy in the Garden
63 - Sugreev’s Reading
64 - Return of the Platoon
65 - News in Brief
66 - Tears in Torrents
67 - Hanuman’s Replay
68 - Times of Hope
with a peep into Yuddha Kanda
1. Embrace of a Gift
2.  Coronation and After

There's a Fire in Elysium! Sacrifice and Heroism in the Indo-European Tradition William Burkert, in his work Homo Necans, traced the development of sacrifice in the Greek tradition as an outgrowth of human violence, which needed to be contained and channeled into an appropriate outlet in order to stem violence against fellow humans. To divert the violence away from people, the hunt of an non-human animal was turned transformed into a sacrifice, and violence became a social convention and safety valve guarding against the inter-and intra-communal violence that had plagued the pre-history of man.

When Ramayana is mentioned what comes to mind is the well known SriRamcharitmanas of Tulsidas. It will be an engaging exercise to cast a glance at the Kashmiri Ramayana by Prakash Ram Kulgami, a devotee of Ram in the nineteenth century and though his mission seems to be similar to Tulsidas's, his text is not. The variety that exists in the Ramayana tradition in all the four genres and also in Sita's character in the Ramayanas is perplexing. The portrayal of Sita by the poet Tulsidas in his medieval text Sriramcharitmanas is familiar to all north Indians. The author interpreted her on the basis of socio-cultural realities that existed in the sixteenth century when he wrote a lyrical text using imagery and metaphors in Awadhi, a dialect of Hindi which pulled the Ramayana out from the elite circles and brought it to the masses. Tulsidas made it comprehensible for the common man and his Sita at a cursory look appears to be an ideal and conforming woman, wife and daughter in law, self-sacrificing and obedient. She existed solely for others and operates in subjugation placed secondary to Ram as his Bhakta or devotee. Is this Tulsidas's politics of repositioning Sita, who is a woman of substance in Valmiki's Ramayana which he considers his source text? If yes, why so? Is it because he was a devotee of Ram and had an agenda to establish him as a perfect reincarnation of Vishnu and the giver of salvation, worthy of worship? It seems it is for this purpose he has muted many aspects of the Valmiki story as Sita's birth, her abduction, trial by fire, abandonment and disappearance. Was it the demand of the time he wrote in?

The book argues for the systematic use of Greco-Roman sources in the Mahabharata (Mbh.), in Book 4 in particular. Its author systematically uses the story of the year of serfdom of Heracles in the court of Queen Omphale to build the year of serfdom of the Pandavas and Draupadi in the court of King Virata (Book 4). This includes uses of mythology handbooks, of two works by Ovid (Fasti and Heroides) and other sources. It entails, for example, the projection of the transvestism of Heracles in Arjuna, the complaints of Deyanira in Draupadi, and the story of Faunus (Fasti) in that of Bhima and Kicaka. There are also literal uses. The scientific positions on Book 4 are analysed and the author argues the consistency of his results with the unitary perspective on the Mbh as defended by Alf Hiltebeitel, and a date of the Mbh. in the I Century CE. Emphasis is placed on the research methodology that allows us to ensure the borrowing of these texts, associated with the study of the techniques used by the author of the Mbh. to adapt characters, scenes and other narrative materials.

Суммировав то, что известно в настоящее время об индоевропейском (ИЕ) наследии в «Махабхарате» (Мбх), автор выявляет в ней еще один мотив, имеющий параллели в нескольких других ИЕ эпических традициях. Исследователи и переводчики эпоса испытывали затруднения при интерпретации эпизода, в котором герой, победив врага, «испивает славу», одинаково усматривая в этих словах иносказание. В статье приводится ряд контекстов из более поздней поэзии кавья, где обыгрывается мотив «испития славы». Автор высказывает предположение, что «испитие славы» изначально могло прямо обозначать питье как обрядовое действие, утверждающее славу победителя. В подтверждение даются ссылки на несколько эпизодов их Мбх, в которых фигурирует vīrakāṃsya «кубок героя». Смысл термина был непонятен большинству переписчиков, комментаторов, переводчиков и исследователей Мбх. Героиня эпоса, Драупади появляется на своей сваямваре (обряде выбора ею будущего мужа из числа состязающихся претендентов), держа в руках «кубок героя». Этот же предмет (vīrakāṃsya) фигурирует в воинском ритуале выступления на бой: его выносили, по-видимому, девушки, и прикосновение героя к кубку наделяло его удвоенной силой.  Ритуал поднесения кубка с напитком герою-победителю известен у носителей индоиранских языков: скифов, осетин, нуристанцев. Свадебный обряд типа сваямвары, в котором девушка выбирает мужа, поднося ему кубок с напитком, существовал у скифов и широко представлен в ирландском фольклоре. Учитывая, что мотив «кубка победителя» присутствует в кельтской, индийской, нуристанской, скифской и осетинской традициях, можно полагать, что он восходит к общеиндоевропейской древности.

https://crossasia-books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/xasia/catalog/book/530
The Rāmāyaṇa tradition is well known for an inexhaustible variety of forms and narrative structures transmitted by different media. Oral–Written–Performed examines selected textual, oral, visual and performing forms in which the Rāma story has functioned in Indian literature and arts. It also investigates the techniques that transform the Rāmāyaṇa narratives. The volume addresses the question how narratives become vehicles for literary conventions and ideologies expressive of diverse sectarian concerns, or cultural values. It is an excellent companion to earlier publications on the Rāmāyaṇa tradition and indispensable reading for students of South Asian literature, arts and religion.