Talk:Ramayana

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Contents 1 Ram bridge 2 Inconsistencies and Biases 3 Oxford Source 4 The Line Drawn Around Sita Story 5 "Valmiki" Ramayana

[edit] Ram bridge

The Ram setu history part is completely biased. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.193.143.137 (talk) 14:04, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Cleaned it up. -- Hidoshi (talk) 11:22, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Inconsistencies and Biases

I've gone over parts of the article, correcting spellings and cleaning up some biases. And interesting point: Both Shiva and Brahma tend to crop up in different versions of this story. If I'm not mistaken however, Ravana prayed to Shiva because Shiva is impartial, supporting both Gods, Humans, and Demons in all their quests. However a popular notion is that whenever Shiva grants a boon to a powerful demon, he immediately tells Vishnu so that a balance may be maintained. Additionally, one of the Jyotirlingas in India was given to Ravana, but he couldn't carry it all the way and was forced to set it down. If I'm not mistaken, this is shortly after he obtained his boon from Shiva. If the boon was from Brahma, how could it be that Ravana had a Jyotirlingam with him? I would take that as a more accurate version of the story. -- Hidoshi (talk) 11:21, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Oxford Source

Does anyone have access to Bose, Mandakranta (2004). The Ramayana Revisited. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195168321. ? It was a good collection of essays on the epic and can be used as a source here. I might have a copy lying around somewhere.

Vtria 08 (talk) 22:58, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Found it. Hope to use it soon. Vtria 08 (talk) 23:08, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[sock]

[edit] The Line Drawn Around Sita Story

This is driving me crazy- can anybody cite for me the story of the bow line drawn around Sita- does it appear in Valmiki? I have read the silly William Buck version, the Krishna Dharma version, and the 1870 translation translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith, printed by "Forgotten Books". Both the William Buck and the Krishna Dharma versions include the story of the bow, but the translation does not include it. So I think that this story comes from later sources- maybe the Tulsidas version? I am pretty sure that the episode is missing from the original: I have looked on the verse-by-verse translation of the Valmiki text provided by this website and it is missing there, too. So I think it's not there in Valmiki. David G Brault (talk) 05:43, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I have discovered the edit [1] that added the story. From the nature of this edit (the story was complete, the person read through the story, had something to add, and added it) I conclude that this story does not originate from Valmiki and is instead from some other source. I am removing it. David G Brault (talk) 06:04, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

The line is called Lakshmana rekha and does not appear in Valmiki's Ramayana (see [2]), although it is mentioned in later versions. It would be interesting to find out when this bit was first added. Abecedare (talk) 06:31, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] "Valmiki" Ramayana

What is the plot summary here a plot summary of? It seems to me it is either a summary of the Tulsidas Ramayana or the TV serial- fine for either of those articles, but this is the Ramayana, period- that implies Valmiki Ramayana. If nobody has a problem with that, I would like to try to rewrite the summary to confirm to the Valmiki Ramayana. I will put a note describing the differences between the Valmiki and other versions. Sarga-by-sarga citations to the Valmiki text in the summary by this website would be nice. David G Brault (talk) 07:28, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I for one have no problem with your proposal; it would be good not to have a mish-mash (even though I don't agree that this article is only about the Valmiki Ramayana). As you say, the Valmiki Ramayana can be summarized with citations, and the significant points of departure between that and other "prominent" Ramayanas can be noted either in the maintext or the footnote. Happy editing. Abecedare (talk) 16:52, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

By the way, is there some better source than the website that can be used ? The two contributors are not exactly scholars ([3], [4]). Abecedare (talk) 16:56, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I have decided to do it like this: move the extended summary to another article, then expand the Structure of the Valmiki Ramayana part. David G Brault (talk) 19:26, 21 April 2008 (UTC)