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Ramayana, the Hindu epic, after all, makes for sumptuous food for imagination. It is replete with colorful and fascinating gods, goddesses and characters, whose visual representations are equally imaginative and spiritually uplifting. Colorful portraits of RAMA, hanuman, adorn the walls and puja rooms of almost every Hindu household in India but here it also abets Mr. Ram Varma’s book -Before He was God, Ramayana, Reconsidered, recreated
Rama, the ancient idol of the heroic ages, the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband, and above all, the ideal king, this Rama has been presented before us by the great sage Valmiki. Discarding all the hues of that time Mr. Ram Varma’s, Rama is a historic figure more than idols. The blank verses of his poetry, is the medium which increased the divinity of his renderings as no other language can be purer, none more beautiful, and at the same time simpler, far away from hues.
Ram Varma’s rendering “Before He was God, Ramayana, and Reconsidered, recreated” is refreshingly unique in as much as it treats the story as a slice of history (and not a fanciful myth, as in popular versions) from an early era of the Hindu civilization when it had spread from Gandhar in north-west to Magadha and Mithila in north-east
The question arises that how Mr. Ram Varma’s renderings are different from others. Clarifying that fact Mr. Ram Varma says that, “the story of Ramayana is a many-splendor wonder. It fired the imagination of many un-named poets and pundits in ancient times that embellished it in iridescent hues of divinity, and of great poets down the ages, Kalidas, Bhavabhuti, Kamban, Tulsidas. There have been renderings in English verse and prose – Romesh Chandra Dutta and P. Lal, Aubrey Menen and now recently Ashok Banker. The TV serial by Ramanand Sagar broke all records of viewer ship. All these versions had varied elements of the phantasmagoric. My ‘Ramayana’, on the other hand, attempts to revive and recreate the historical and civilizational perspective and give the characters and events a realistic touch."
Throughout the centuries, lovers of the Rama story all over India and far beyond have found many diverse ways of presenting its essence to audiences of all natures. Countless languages — those of Central and South-east Asia and of Europe as well as modern Indian vernaculars and ancient Sanskrit; literary genres of all types — stories, poems and dramas, oral and written, simple and sophisticated, narrative, philosophical and lyrical; TV serials; all demonstrate the enduring power of the Rama story to inspire and intrigue. It was vital to restore the attention of the viewers or the readers, but this beautiful story did not need any artificial support. Its beauty remains undiminished even in a realistic portraiture of events.
]Mr. Ram Varma captures those vignettes and there is an aroma in his rendering which gives the pleasant smell of an odor of Vedic times. He has rigorously sought to uncover the fundamental truths underlying episodes he has found difficult to understand. That he has felt impelled by such a sincere and overpowering urge, not to reject such difficult areas as false or yet merely to repeat them without thought, but to come to terms with them in his own way is one more tribute to the everlasting potency of Rama's story.
Last edited by Anuj44; 03-21-2010 at 11:29 PM..
Reason: spelling errors
Ramayana, the Hindu epic, after all, makes for sumptuous food for imagination. It is replete with colorful and fascinating gods, goddesses and characters, whose visual representations are equally imaginative and spiritually uplifting. Colorful portraits of RAMA, hanuman, adorn the walls and puja rooms of almost every Hindu household in India but here it also abets Mr. Ram Varma’s book -Before He was God, Ramayana, Reconsidered, recreated
Rama, the ancient idol of the heroic ages, the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband, and above all, the ideal king, this Rama has been presented before us by the great sage Valmiki. Discarding all the hues of that time Mr. Ram Varma’s, Rama is a historic figure more than idols. The blank verses of his poetry, is the medium which increased the divinity of his renderings as no other language can be purer, none more beautiful, and at the same time simpler, far away from hues.
Ram Varma’s rendering “Before He was God, Ramayana, and Reconsidered, recreated” is refreshingly unique in as much as it treats the story as a slice of history (and not a fanciful myth, as in popular versions) from an early era of the Hindu civilization when it had spread from Gandhar in north-west to Magadha and Mithila in north-east
The question arises that how Mr. Ram Varma’s renderings are different from others. Clarifying that fact Mr. Ram Varma says that, “the story of Ramayana is a many-splendor wonder. It fired the imagination of many un-named poets and pundits in ancient times that embellished it in iridescent hues of divinity, and of great poets down the ages, Kalidas, Bhavabhuti, Kamban, Tulsidas. There have been renderings in English verse and prose – Romesh Chandra Dutta and P. Lal, Aubrey Menen and now recently Ashok Banker. The TV serial by Ramanand Sagar broke all records of viewer ship. All these versions had varied elements of the phantasmagoric. My ‘Ramayana’, on the other hand, attempts to revive and recreate the historical and civilizational perspective and give the characters and events a realistic touch."
Throughout the centuries, lovers of the Rama story all over India and far beyond have found many diverse ways of presenting its essence to audiences of all natures. Countless languages — those of Central and South-east Asia and of Europe as well as modern Indian vernaculars and ancient Sanskrit; literary genres of all types — stories, poems and dramas, oral and written, simple and sophisticated, narrative, philosophical and lyrical; TV serials; all demonstrate the enduring power of the Rama story to inspire and intrigue. It was vital to restore the attention of the viewers or the readers, but this beautiful story did not need any artificial support. Its beauty remains undiminished even in a realistic portraiture of events.
]Mr. Ram Varma captures those vignettes and there is an aroma in his rendering which gives the pleasant smell of an odor of Vedic times. He has rigorously sought to uncover the fundamental truths underlying episodes he has found difficult to understand. That he has felt impelled by such a sincere and overpowering urge, not to reject such difficult areas as false or yet merely to repeat them without thought, but to come to terms with them in his own way is one more tribute to the everlasting potency of Rama's story.
if it dos'nt take away from the original story then ill defo read it
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