Download or read book Questioning Ramayanas written by Paula Richman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide-ranging examination of the many different versions of India's greatest epic, the Ramayana, focusing on versions that subvert the dominant readings of the work.
Download or read book Many Ramayanas written by Paula Richman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-09-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout Indian history, many authors and performers have produced, and many patrons have supported, diverse tellings of the story of the exiled prince Rama, who rescues his abducted wife by battling the demon king who has imprisoned her. The contributors to this volume focus on these "many" Ramayanas. While most scholars continue to rely on Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana as the authoritative version of the tale, the contributors to this volume do not. Their essays demonstrate the multivocal nature of the Ramayana by highlighting its variations according to historical period, political context, regional literary tradition, religious affiliation, intended audience, and genre. Socially marginal groups in Indian society—Telugu women, for example, or Untouchables from Madhya Pradesh—have recast the Rama story to reflect their own views of the world, while in other hands the epic has become the basis for teachings about spiritual liberation or the demand for political separatism. Historians of religion, scholars of South Asia, folklorists, cultural anthropologists—all will find here refreshing perspectives on this tale.
Download or read book Ramayana Stories in Modern South India written by Paula Richman and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2008-03-06 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fresh perspectives on the classic Indiana epic.
Download or read book The Ramayana Revisited written by Mandakranta Bose and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004-09-30 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 14 leading 'Ramayana' scholars examine the epic in its myriad contexts throughout South and Southeast Asia. They explore the role the narrative plays in societies as varied as India Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia. The essays also expand the understanding of the 'text' to include non-verbal renditions of the epic.
Download or read book Living Ramayanas Exploring the Plurality of the Epic in Wayanad and the World written by Azeez Tharuvana and published by Westland. This book was released on 2024-07-02 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About the Book A FASCINATING BOOK ON THE MANY VERSIONS OF RAMAYANA AND THEIR ORIGIN The renowned scholar A.K. Ramanujan was of the view that there are thousands of Ramayanas. He maintained that they are not variant texts of the Valmiki Ramayana, but largely independent ‘tellings’. Even in our age, when printing has become wide-spread, Rama’s story lives on in the minds of the people through narration and performance. In Kerala itself, there are many unwritten Ramayanas. It is believed that the crucial events in the epic unfolded in Wayanad. The names of places and community consciousness corroborate this belief: the ashram at Ashramkolly near Pulpally is Valmiki’s ashram; Jadayattakavu is where Sita went down into the earth; locals recognise the scar left by the tail of Hanuman. But there are several Ramayanas in Wayanad, not just one. In their differences are reflected the social relations of each community. The Adiya Ramayana, Chetti Ramayana and Sitayana, collected and edited by Azeez Tharuvana are innovative tellings. In this fascinating book, Tharuvana talks about the many forms of the timeless epic that originated in Wayanad against the backdrop of the other Ramayanas popular in India and abroad. The stories, collected as part of this effort, provide insights into the traditional cultural consciousness and ideological world of communities in Wayanad. Brilliantly researched and simply written, The Wayanad Ramayanas presents a new perspective: this ode to Rama is a social text, not a religious one.
Download or read book Comics and Sacred Texts written by Assaf Gamzou and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contributions by Ofra Amihay, Madeline Backus, Samantha Baskind, Elizabeth Rae Coody, Scott S. Elliott, Assaf Gamzou, Susan Handelman, Leah Hochman, Leonard V. Kaplan, Ken Koltun-Fromm, Shiamin Kwa, Samantha Langsdale, A. David Lewis, Karline McLain, Ranen Omer-Sherman, Joshua Plencner, and Jeffrey L. Richey Comics and Sacred Texts explores how comics and notions of the sacred interweave new modes of seeing and understanding the sacral. Comics and graphic narratives help readers see religion in the everyday and in depictions of God, in transfigured, heroic selves as much as in the lives of saints and the meters of holy languages. Coeditors Assaf Gamzou and Ken Koltun-Fromm reveal the graphic character of sacred narratives, imagining new vistas for both comics and religious texts. In both visual and linguistic forms, graphic narratives reveal representational strategies to encounter the sacred in all its ambivalence. Through close readings and critical inquiry, these essays contemplate the intersections between religion and comics in ways that critically expand our ability to think about religious landscapes, rhetorical practices, pictorial representation, and the everyday experiences of the uncanny. Organized into four sections—Seeing the Sacred in Comics; Reimagining Sacred Texts through Comics; Transfigured Comic Selves, Monsters, and the Body; and The Everyday Sacred in Comics—the essays explore comics and graphic novels ranging from Craig Thompson’s Habibi and Marvel’s X-Men and Captain America to graphic adaptions of religious texts such as 1 Samuel and the Gospel of Mark. Comics and Sacred Texts shows how claims to the sacred are nourished and concealed in comic narratives. Covering many religions, not only Christianity and Judaism, this rare volume contests the profane/sacred divide and establishes the import of comics and graphic narratives in disclosing the presence of the sacred in everyday human experience.
Download or read book Many Ramayanas written by Paula Richman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1991-08-29 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout Indian history, many authors and performers have produced, and many patrons have supported, diverse tellings of the story of the exiled prince Rama, who rescues his abducted wife by battling the demon king who has imprisoned her. The contributors to this volume focus on these "many" Ramayanas. While most scholars continue to rely on Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana as the authoritative version of the tale, the contributors to this volume do not. Their essays demonstrate the multivocal nature of the Ramayana by highlighting its variations according to historical period, political context, regional literary tradition, religious affiliation, intended audience, and genre. Socially marginal groups in Indian society—Telugu women, for example, or Untouchables from Madhya Pradesh—have recast the Rama story to reflect their own views of the world, while in other hands the epic has become the basis for teachings about spiritual liberation or the demand for political separatism. Historians of religion, scholars of South Asia, folklorists, cultural anthropologists—all will find here refreshing perspectives on this tale.
Download or read book World Literature and the Question of Genre in Colonial India written by Kedar Arun Kulkarni and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-05-30 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Literature and the Question of Genre in Colonial India describes the way Marathi literary culture, entrenched in performative modes of production and reception, saw the germination of a robust, script-centric dramatic culture owing to colonial networks of literary exchange and the newfound, wide availability of print technology. The author demonstrates the upheaval that literary culture underwent as a new class of literati emerged: anthologists, critics, theatre makers, publishers and translators. These people participated in global conversations that left their mark on theory in the early twentieth century. Reading through archives and ephemera, Kedar Arun Kulkarni illustrates how literary cultures in colonised locales converged with and participated fully in key defining moments of world literature, but also diverged from them to create, simultaneously, a unique literary modernity.
Download or read book amb ka and the R m ya a Tradition written by Aaron Sherraden and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2023-08-01 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to Vālmīki’s Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa (early centuries CE), Śambūka was practicing severe acts of austerity to enter heaven. In engaging in these acts as a Śūdra, Śambūka was in violation of class- and caste-based societal norms prescribed exclusively by the ruling and religious elite. Rāma, the hero of the Rāmāyaṇa epic, is dispatched to kill Śambūka, whose transgression is said to be the cause of a young Brahmin’s death. The gods rejoice upon the Śūdra’s death and restore the life of the Brahmin. Subsequent Rāmāyaṇa poets almost instantly recognized this incident as a blemish on Rāma’s character and they began problematizing this earliest version of the story. They adjusted and updated the story to suit the expectations of their audiences. The works surveyed in this study include numerous works originating in Hindu, Jain, Dalit and non-Brahmin communities while spanning the period from Śambūka’s first appearance in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa through to the present day. The book follows the Śambūka episode chronologically across its entire history—approximately two millennia—to illuminate the social, religious, legal, and artistic connections that span the entire range of the Rāmāyaṇa’s influence and its place throughout various phases of Indian history and social revolution.
Download or read book Ramayana Theater in Contemporary Southeast Asia written by Madoka Fukuoka and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-11-30 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ancient Indian epic poem Ramayana has been disseminated throughout large tracts of Southeast Asia since the 9th century. Versions of the epic poem have come to adopt and reflect the unique characteristics of the countries and regions where it has gained cultural currency. The epic has been a source of popular themes in both traditional and contemporary art forms, including literature, performing arts, fine arts, and films. This book showcases Ramayana theater as a platform where the multiple meanings and senses of values are negotiated. It focuses on the relationships between the cultural representation and the various meanings of Ramayana theater, as well as other dramatic art forms. Focusing on the various contemporary contexts of art performances where the epic poem has been represented, the book also presents the ideologies and moral values contained in the theatrical forms of the epic poem. It discusses various performance contexts, such as diaspora communities, production of popular content culture, cultural diplomacy, designation as intangible cultural heritage, transmission, tourism, and the representation/exhibition of culture, as well as the performance in rituals. It also includes works of three contemporary and inspiring artists: cross-gender dancer Didik Nini Thowok, animator as well as puppeteer Nanang Ananto Wicaksono, and composer Ken Steven.
Download or read book Contemporary Hinduism written by Robin Rinehart and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2004-07-21 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of the contemporary practices, beliefs, and issues of one of the world's oldest and most enduring religions, both within its Indian homeland and throughout the world. Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice illuminates the modern-day ritual, range, and reach of this ancient and diverse religion. A brief historical overview is followed by discussions of the oral and written origins of Hinduism that give context for the main emphasis—contemporary thought, practice, and key issues. Unique to this work is the consistent attention given to the practice of Hinduism for both men and women. What roles do caste and gender play in modern Hinduism? How are issues like ethics and the environment approached? What are the differences between urban and rural Hinduism, fundamental and secular Hinduism? To what countries has this religion spread, and how do the beliefs and practices of their people compare and contrast? Essays written by Indian and Western scholars answer these and other intriguing questions, introducing readers to the whole world of "living Hinduism" rather than the perspectives and traditions of a small elite.
Download or read book Performing the Ramayana Tradition written by Paula Richman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-18 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ramayana, one of the two pre-eminent Hindu epics, has played a foundational role in many aspects of India's arts and social norms. For centuries, people learned this narrative by watching, listening, and participating in enactments of it. Although the Ramayana's first extant telling in Sanskrit dates back to ancient times, the story has continued to be retold and rethought through the centuries in many of India's regional languages, such as Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali. The narrative has provided the basis for enactments of its episodes in recitation, musical renditions, dance, and avant-garde performances. This volume introduces non-specialists to the Ramayana's major themes and complexities, as well as to the highly nuanced terms in Indian languages used to represent theater and performance. Two introductions orient readers to the history of Ramayana texts by Tulsidas, Valmiki, Kamban, Sankaradeva, and others, as well as to the dramaturgy and aesthetics of their enactments. The contributed essays provide context-specific analyses of diverse Ramayana performance traditions and the narratives from which they draw. The essays are clustered around the shared themes of the politics of caste and gender; the representation of the anti-hero; contemporary re-interpretations of traditional narratives; and the presence of Ramayana discourse in daily life.
Download or read book Living Mantra written by Mani Rao and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-09-15 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Living Mantra is an anthropology of mantra-experience among Hindu-tantric practitioners. In ancient Indian doctrine and legends, mantras perceived by rishis (seers) invoke deities and have transformative powers. Adopting a methodology that combines scholarship and practice, Mani Rao discovers a continuing tradition of visionaries (rishis/seers) and revelations in south India’s Andhra-Telangana. Both deeply researched and replete with fascinating narratives, the book reformulates the poetics of mantra-practice as it probes practical questions. Can one know if a vision is real or imagined? Is vision visual? Are deity-visions mediated by culture? If mantras are effective, what is the role of devotion? Are mantras language? Living Mantra interrogates not only theoretical questions, but also those a practitioner would ask: how does one choose a deity, for example, or what might bind one to a guru? Rao breaks fresh ground in redirecting attention to the moments that precede systematization and canon-formation, showing how authoritative sources are formed.
Download or read book Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults written by Michelle Ann Abate and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With contributions by: Eti Berland, Rebecca A. Brown, Christiane Buuck, Joanna C. Davis-McElligatt, Rachel Dean-Ruzicka, Karly Marie Grice, Mary Beth Hines, Krystal Howard, Aaron Kashtan, Michael L. Kersulov, Catherine Kyle, David E. Low, Anuja Madan, Meghann Meeusen, Rachel L. Rickard Rebellino, Rebecca Rupert, Cathy Ryan, Joe Sutliff Sanders, Joseph Michael Sommers, Marni Stanley, Gwen Athene Tarbox, Sarah Thaller, Annette Wannamaker, and Lance Weldy One of the most significant transformations in literature for children and young adults during the last twenty years has been the resurgence of comics. Educators and librarians extol the benefits of comics reading, and increasingly, children's and YA comics and comics hybrids have won major prizes, including the Printz Award and the National Book Award. Despite the popularity and influence of children's and YA graphic novels, the genre has not received adequate scholarly attention. Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults is the first book to offer a critical examination of children's and YA comics. The anthology is divided into five sections, structure and narration; transmedia; pedagogy; gender and sexuality; and identity, that reflect crucial issues and recurring topics in comics scholarship during the twenty-first century. The contributors are likewise drawn from a diverse array of disciplines--English, education, library science, and fine arts. Collectively, they analyze a variety of contemporary comics, including such highly popular series as Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Lumberjanes; Eisner award-winning graphic novels by Gene Luen Yang, Nate Powell, Mariko Tamaki, and Jillian Tamaki; as well as volumes frequently challenged for use in secondary classrooms, such as Raina Telgemeier's Drama and Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Download or read book Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions written by Julia Leslie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2003. Can a text be used either to validate or to invalidate contemporary understandings? Texts may be deemed 'sacred', but sacred to whom? Do conflicting understandings matter? Is it appropriate to try to offer a resolution? For Hindus and non-Hindus, in India and beyond, Valmiki is the poet-saint who composed the epic Rà mà yaõa. Yet for a vocal community of dalits (once called 'untouchables'), within and outside India, Valmiki is God. How then does one explain the popular story that he started out as an ignorant and violent bandit, attacking and killing travellers for material gain? And what happens when these two accounts, Valmiki as God and Valmiki as villain, are held simultaneously by two different religious groups, both contemporary, and both vocal? This situation came to a head with controversial demonstrations by the Valmiki community in Britain in 2000, giving rise to some searching questions which Julia Leslie now seeks to address.
Download or read book The Multivalence of an Epic Retelling the Ramayana in South India and Southeast Asia written by Parul Pandya Dhar and published by Manipal Universal Press. This book was released on 2021-07-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Rāmāyaṇa traditions of South India and Southeast Asia are examined at multiple levels in this volume. The research presented here offers in-depth investigations of chosen moments in the development of the epic tradition together with broader trends that help in understanding the epic’s multivalence. The journey and localization of the Rāmāyaṇa is explored in its manifold expressions – from classical to folk, from temples and palaces to theatres and by-lanes in cities and villages, and from ancient to modern times. Regional Rāmāyaṇas from different parts of South India and Southeast Asia are placed in deliberate juxtaposition to enable a historically informed discussion of their connected pasts across land and seas. The three parts of this volume, organized as visual, literary, and performance cultures, discuss the sculpted, painted, inscribed, written, recited, and performed Rāmāyaṇas. A related emphasis is on the way boundaries of medium and genre have been crossed in the visual, literary, and performed representations of the Rāmāyaṇa. These are rewarding directions of research that have thus far received little attention. Bringing together 19 well-known scholars in Rāmāyaṇa studies from Cambodia, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, UK, and USA, this thought-provoking and elegantly illustrated volume engages with the inherent plurality, diversity, and adaptability of the Rāmāyaṇa in changing socio-political, religious, and cultural contexts and with shifting norms, tastes, traditions, and ideologies.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Hinduism written by Constance Jones and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2006 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated A to Z reference containing more than 700 entries providing information on the theology, people, historical events, institutions and movements related to Hinduism.
