Complete Ramayana Online

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Srimad Valmiki Ramayana is an epic poem of India which narrates the

journey of Virtue to annihilate vice. Sri Rama is the Hero and

aayana His journey. We in India believe that Sri Rama lived in Treta

Yug, millennia BC and we are presently concerned with what Srimad

Valmiki Ramayana tells us, rather than when it was told.

 

This epic poem Ramayana is a smriti which is translated as "from

memory". Given the antiquity of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana, there have

been some interjected verses. Sometimes these verses can be

contradicting. However, scholars, grammarians, historians have put

lot of effort to standardize the original text, by verifying various

manuscripts available from various parts of India, thus trying to

stabilize and save the text from further contradictions. An example

of this effort is the critical edition of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana.

This site aims to study various versions of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana

and arrive at a version of Ramayana that is most relevant to modern

times.

 

Srimad Valmiki Ramayana is composed of verses called Sloka, in

Sanskrit language, which is an ancient language from India and a

complex meter called Anustup. These verses are grouped into

individual chapters called Sargas, wherein a specific event or

intent is told. These chapters or sargas are grouped into books

called Kaandas where Kaanda means the inter-node stem of sugar cane,

or also a particular phase of the story or an event in the course of

story telling.

 

Thus the structure of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana is arranged into six

Kaandas or Books, and they are:

 

Bala Kanda ( Book of Youth) [77 chapters]

Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) [119 chapters]

Aranya Kanda (Book of Forest ) [75 chapters]

Kishkindha Kanda (The Empire of Holy Monkeys) [67 chapters]

Sundara Kanda ( Book of Beauty ) [68 chapters]

Yuddha Kanda ( Book of War ) [131 chapters]

While stabilizing the original text of Ramayana, historians surmised

that portions of two Books [Kaandas], namely Book I, Bala Kaanda and

Book VII, Uttara Ramayana (not listed above) are later additions -

"The first and the last Books of the Ramayana are later additions.

The bulk, consisting of Books II--VI, represents Rama as an ideal

hero. In Books I and VII, however Rama is made an avatara or

incarnation of Vishnu, and the epic poem is transformed into a

Vaishnava text. The reference to the Greeks, Parthians, and Sakas

show that these Books cannot be earlier than the second century

B.C......"[ The cultural Heritage of India, Vol. IV, The Religions,

The Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture ].

 

However Book I, Balakanda is considered to be an original version

except for some injected stories. Story starts from the fifth

chapter of Book I, and tradition demands it to be read with the

others. This stipulation is not obligatory to Uttara Kaanda, a later

kaanda, wherein Sita's expulsion to forest takes place. Theologists

worship Sri Rama as a God incarnate, philosophers make him the

philosophical Absolute, while at the same time, materialists,

condemning the above, appreciate the lyrical values of Ramayana, but

as a great devotee-singer from Andhra Pradesh, India Annamayya

said "Whoever calls you in whatever way, you are that One".

 

Ramayana contains 24,000 verses [sloka] arranged into numerous

cantos [sarga] which are contained in 6 books as mentioned earlier.

Each chapter, sarga, will be given briefly in english prose at its

start and each verse will be rendered into Anglo-Sanskrit

transliteration using ITRANS transliteration scheme developed by

Avinash Chopde. A table mapping Romanized Sanskrit and ITRANS is

also available at Avinash Chopde's web site. Each verse will be

followed by the Word by Word meaning followed by its gist and

explained based on theism, culture, literature as appropriate. The

numbering of each verse will be in the format Book-Canto-Verse. We

are also providing Verses in Devanagari and Roman fonts for easier

readability. These true-type fonts have been developed by

Omkarananda Ashram, Himalayas. The authors would like to express

their deep gratitude and appreciation to Omkarananda Ashram for

coming up with these beautiful fonts and also to Avinash Chopde for

developing ITRANS scheme.

 

This Valmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit is being translated and presented

by Sri Desiraju Hanumanta Rao (Bala, Aranya and Kishkindha Kanda )

and Sri K. M. K. Murthy (Ayodhya and Yuddha Kanda) with

contributions from Durga Naaga Devi and Vaasudeva Kishore (Sundara

Kanda); Smt. Desiraju Kumari; Smt. K. Rajeswari, with all enthusiasm

and devotion to classical literature of India, with humble and due

respect to elders, pundits and to all those who respect Srimad

Valmiki Ramayana the epic poem.

 

aapadaam apahartaaram daataaram sarvasaMpadaam.h .

lokaabhiraamam shriiraamam bhuuyo bhuuyo namaamyaham.h ..

 

 

" I bow again and again to Sree Rama who removes (all) obstacles and

grants all wealth and pleases all. "

 

This is a salutation offered at the start of reading any scripture

as per tradition. This prayer is for removing all obstacles

encountered. The prefix Sri to Rama indicates that Rama is always

accompanied by Sri, His consort Seetha in the form of goddess Sri

Maha Lakshmi.

http://www.valmikiramayan.net/