I T IS SAID that no Indian hears the story of the Ramayana for the first time. In other words, no true bharatiya can tell when he first heard the story; the grand epic, its characters, and the values it propounds are inseparable parts of our lives. It feels as though we bharatiyas have always known Rama, Sita, Laksmaņa, Hanuman, Ravana, Sabari, and Ahalya so well that they have entered our active vocabulary, these characters have influenced people belonging to all strata of the society. The events of the epic have become part of proverbs and the characters are metaphors that reside in the heart of every Indian. We probably first heard the story lying on the laps of our parents or grandparents, but then, it is beyond our active memory.
Indians have always been intimately familiar with the epic, while poets and artists across the length and breadth of Akhanda-bharata have used their creative liberty in retelling the story through their artistic media. However, of late, there is a great deal of confusion regarding what the 'true' Ramayana is. It is impertinent and incorrect to jump to conclusions about the epic without thoroughly understanding the original treatise. The current work is an attempt to present the epic in a simple and condensed form in order to enable readers of all age groups and backgrounds to access the original. It can work as the first but the right step to approach the epic. Upon reading the work, I am confident that readers will get a fairly good sense of what the Ramayana is-and it will motivate them to dive deeper into its layers. It may even become a doorway for readers to learn the Sanskrit language and to peruse through the first and the most profound poem of mankind, in fact, reading the Ramayana in the original would be the best way to hone one's skills in using the Sanskrit language this is a benefit that the epic can pro-vide over and above enriching one's life with sublime values.
The idea to write the present book took shape during a conversation with the Prekshaa team. We were discussing how the epic is being misrepresented and misunderstood in today's world and wondered how we could contribute towards rectifying the problem. It occurred to me that the least we could do was to provide a readable English abridgement of the critically constituted text, ensuring that we do not miss the aesthetic and spiritual nuances of the original. I felt writing the current book would be the best way to repay the rsirna and ananda-mas. When I put forth my idea, Satavadhani Dr. R Ganesh and the Prekshaa family immediately encouraged me and my dear friends including Sri Hari Ravikumar came forth to support the project. I decided that I will follow the grand but challenging path paved by Prof. AR Krishnasastri, doyen of Kannada and Sanskrit literature and aesthetics. His Vacana-bharata, a rime-tested classic, captures the Mahabharata in such chiselled and appealing language that it has been hailed as a model for Kannada prose; and the process by which he has condensed the epic is an evergreen template for retelling of epics. Prekshaa published an English rendering of the Vacana-bharata with the title The Essential Mahabharata, the work has received appreciation from the lay and the learned alike. The current work is an attempt to provide a Ramayana companion to the volume on the Mahabharata.
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