Ramayanam book Review in Sri Nrisimhapriya Monthly Journal of Ahobila Mutt, India

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RAMAYANAM BOOK REVIEW IN “SRI NRISIMHA PRIYA” (English Edition)

[Official monthly journal of “Sri Ahobila Mutt”, India]

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Pearls of Wisdom from Srimad Ramayanam by Anbil Ramaswamy

 

[pp.183 (hard cover) price: Rs.200 in India Author’s email: ramanbil]

 

Sage Valmiki is very rightly known as the “Adi Kavi”, the earliest poet. Using 24000 verses, he painted a vast canvas of the life of Sri Rama and his times. During the following millennia, this mighty epic inspired numerous retellings of the story of Rama. In northern India, when a person talks of Ramayana, he is likely to be referring to the Ramacharitamanas by Tulsidas rather than to Valmiki Ramayana.

 

There is nothing wrong with this. The great Ramanuja has pointed out in the Saranagati-gadya that not only are the auspicious qualities of Sriman Narayana infinite, but the number of groups of such qualities is also indefinite. Sri Rama was an incarnation of Sriman Narayana. The life He led was meant as an example for all humanity. Therefore, there is nothing wrong in retelling the story again and again and looking at it from different angles. After all, Kamba Ramayanam (in Tamil) can proudly stand beside the original Valmiki version.

 

The book under review is a useful addition to Ramayana literature. It consists of a collection of lectures on the Ramayana delivered by the well known scholar, Sri Anbil Ramaswamy at the Hindu Temple of Atlanta, USA. However, continuity has been maintained and the book is highly readable.

 

The author’s plan is to take certain important portions in each Kanda of Ramayana, cite the appropriate verses, explain their significance in depth and also compare the Valmiki Ramayana approach with other versions of the Ramayana where necessary. This approach should work well especially if the reader already knows the basics of Ramayana. In-depth interpretations provided by great Acharyas such as His Holiness Srimad Andavan, Poundarikapuram Swami Asramam are included.

 

One of the portions I enjoyed was the description of the greatness of the city of Ayodhya (unconquerable) as described by both Valmiki and Kamban. The author has brought out that Kamban’s account is longer and more colorful than Valmiki’s account. Thereby, Kamban has ideally used his poetic license,

 

The next one I want to mention is the well known scene in Aranya Kanda where Sita Devi embraces her husband when He returns victoriously after vanquishing the demons Khara, Dhooshana and Trisiras. We, of course, recite this slOka every day during Ijya aaradhana. The author has explained the various aspects of this episode beautifully.

 

The fifth Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana is called Sundara Kanda. There are numerous reasons for this. One of this is that Hanuman is also called Sundara and this Kanda deals with the exploits of Hanuman. Interestingly, the author points out that Hanuman himself did not know that one of his names was Sundara till his mother called him by that name after this Kanda had been completed by Valmiki!

 

The book contains photographs of Acharyas and drawings of various scenes from Ramayana. The pictures are very good. In fact, the Ramayana pictures remind me of the works of the French impressionist Toulouse Lautrec.

 

Finally, I want to make a suggestion about the verses. It is best that the Sanskrit slokas be printed in Nagari script or in the International Phonetic Alphabet. The Tamil verses should be in phonetic alphabet or in Tamil script.

 

Chakra any Gopinathan

(Independent Reviewer)