The Epic Of The Ramayana Of Valmiki

Ramayana, translated by William Buck, is an ancient Indian epic telling the story of a prince named Rama who fights against his adversary, Ravana. Although there are many important female characters throughout the book, they are often seen as subordinate to their male counterparts where intelligence and strength are concerned. One character who proves this stereotype wrong is Sita, Rama’s wife, who often shows that she has the capacity of being just as powerful as the men of the story. By being more mindful than most people around her, Sita defies the expectations that many characters have placed on her. Sita lets the reader see another side of women’s power and shows us the strength that women could have. The reason that Sita proves to be powerful is that she seems to have an understanding of the deeper meaning of her life; precisely the quality that men don’t expect her to have.

As one looks through society, one starts to see many cracks and loopholes where one set of standards does not apply the same way for men as it does to women, and vice versa.

The original The Ramayana is a great epic that has stood the test of time, and has been influential yet controversial throughout history. R.K Narayan’s version has been the same; his composition of stories adds another layer to the already plentiful themes, leaving the reader satisfied with his brilliant description and insight. Through Narayan’s constant comparison that parallels Rama to a perfect specimen, he is demonstrating a “Straw Man” argument. Its effect illuminates Rama’s flaws rather than his seemingly perfect composure. Narayan consciously chooses moments at Rama’s darkest hours to transform him into the relatable human figure he was meant to become.

As a country, we have come a long way to reaching equality between women and males. During the 19 centuries women fought for their right to vote. When talking about gender, there are a lot issues that continue to be present until this day. Women had to fight for equality during the 19 century which lead up women in today’s society to have a voice. Despite of all the improvement close to gender equality, society still expect particular things from females and males.

The Ramayana is an Ancient Indian epic poem that follows the story of a young prince named Rama who is a mortal incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. The plot follows a narrative that starts from his first time outside the royal palace, through his banishment from the kingdom and his quest to save his beloved wife Sita from Ravana, the evil King of Lanka, all the way to his coronation as King of Ayodhya, the kingdom from which he was originally banished. Throughout the whole narrative, there is one factor that remains constant, the role of women in the culture. The acceptance, or rejection of these cultural values by the women directly corresponds with how their character is perceived by the reader and how their role directly influences the

shows characteristics of great piety to his parents and the lack of desire to be

The Vindication of Sita is considered the culmination of the epic Ramayana, and had attracted numerous artists to choose it as the subject of their artistic creations. It is always illuminating to examine the differences of the paintings with the same subject matter. The Vindication of Sita from Singh’s Ramayana and the one that illustrates the Persian translation of the Ramayana show varied themes, iconography, composition, and narrative techniques that correspond to the nature of their patronages. The Mewar version is colorful and complex in layout with a full demonstration of the court’s political standing, financial power, and an attachment to what was truly Indian. The Sub-imperial Mughal version is much more modest and simple with an allusion to the Persians’ fascination of Indian classics yet a persistence of presenting it in an Islamic way.

The epic story of Rama and Sita, as portrayed by Valmiki’s Ramayana and the modern day film Sita sings the Blues are two different versions of the same story which contain several contrasts as well as similarities. The Ramayana is the ancient version which was written by a sage named Valmiki in 550 B.C.E, featuring a love story between an ideal prince and an ideal woman. It outlines the adventures of Rama in his journey to find his abducted wife Sita. Rama is portrayed as an avatar, being the eighth incarnation of one of the Hindu gods Vishnu, while Sita is representing Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of light. The modern day version of the Ramayana is seen in Sita Sings the Blues, where the animator Nina Paley is relating her love story to that of Sita’s predicament. This paper will compare and contrast the epic story of Valmiki’s Ramayana and Sita Sings the Blues in the quest for power, honor, faithfulness and the conflict between good and evil.

The Indian Epics contrast very remarkably from that portrayed in Western lands, revealing majesty of the Lord when he manifested in to the world in human form. Mahakavya (epics) known as a genre of Indian epic poetry in classical Sanskrit and earliest form of Indian literature influences the religious and cultural life of the whole India and much of Asia. These two main epic poems of Hinduism include, the Ramayana (The Story of Rama) and the Mahabharata (The Great Epic of India). Beside the question of their value of being good or worthy literature, they are among the most important and earliest literature of the world. For India, the land of spiritualism, the composition of these two great epics have been the sources of inspiration to most Indians. Both these epics existed in oral form as chants before they were written down. During ancient India, the tradition of oral was cherished much more greatly than anything in written form.

Hindus are extremely respectful and prideful people with many strong core beliefs. These beliefs have been passed down through the ages in The Ramayana. Throughout this epic poem, Rama, his family, and many others exemplify what it means to be Hindu. Rama is considered to be a perfect Hindu and follows all aspects of Hinduism flawlessly. This includes following duty, honor, responsibilities based on a person’s place in society, and most important to Rama, family. In the epic The Ramayana, family is portrayed as the most important aspect to the Hindu belief.

In an imperfect world torn apart by religious wars, cultural differences, and a more recent social disconnect, perpetuated by the rise of technology which has helped to isolated individuals rather than globally unite them, it becomes apparent that evil is prevailing. It appears as though the modern individual has reason to fear the “other”, rejecting those different from their selves. Such demonization and aggression towards one another has allowed the evils of the world or “Ravana” to arise. Never before have people needed a reason to believe in a figure who could help rid the world of corruption, greed, desire, and ego created by Ravana, more than they do now. In William Buck’s version of the Ramayana, he retells the ancient epic of

Stories are tools a culture uses to teach its members various lessons about social order, ritual, cosmological events, and social norms. Within the Rāmāyana, every place, element, and person has a story from the past to share. Each story is fundamentally important to obtaining moksha, or full awareness and understanding of the universe. It is important to note that the ascetic, Viswamithra, teaches this lesson to Rama. Viswamirtha is considered to be a holy man who deters from worldly connections. This allows him to become aware and immersed in all of the stories of the universe and to learn from them. It is important for Rama to hear these stories so that he too will learn how to make the right and just choices that will lead him towards ultimate

An analysis of example can be derived from the aforementioned discriminatory sexist roles in India that prior to globalization highly favored the male population verses the female population. The female population in India has previously been less than second class citizens. Indian women's cultural roles have been previously defined by traditional customs that are centuries old and no longer apply in this day and age. Previous to globalization, Indian women were to take total domestic responsibility. They were not allowed formal education as the majority of teachers and pupils were male, and the chances of a female remaining chaste was slim in those settings, and related to tradition, females

The Ramayana is a text that plays a major significance in the Hindu tradition. It was written by a Sage named Valmiki between the fifth and fourth century BC. The Ramayana belongs to the genre “Itihasa” which is the combination of history and myth. It plays a significant role in the lives of most Hindu’s particularly because of the protagonist Ram. Ram, in the traditional telling of the Ramayana is depicted as a man who is loyal and trustworthy. However, in Paley’s adaptation, Ram is the antagonist and analogous to the modern day man who “breaks hearts”. Unlike most interpretations of the Ramayana, the one in the movie Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley is rather peculiar. This adaptation caused a lot of controversy because of its

Rama has grown into manhood he hears of the beautiful Sita. The virtuous daughter of King Janak. King Janak is the possessor of a bow, that is said to belong to be from the gods, and King Janak decides that whoever can bend the bow will be given permission to marry his daughter. This ensures that his daughter is sent to the right man that he feels is up to the expectations of his request.