Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117730 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-02
• Original language: Sanskrit
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 696 pages

Synopsis
One of India's two greatest epics, the Ramayana pervades the country's moral and cultural consciousness. For generations it has served as a bedtime story for Indian children, while at the same time emgaging the interest of philosophers and theologians. Now this magnificent new translation makes the monumental work available to a new audience. Believed to have been composed by Valmiki sometime between the eighth and sixth centuries BC, the Ramayana tells the tragic and magical story of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, born to rid the earth of the terrible demon Ravana. An idealized heroic tale ending with the inevitable triumph of good over evil, the Ramayana is also an intensely personal story of family relationships, love and loss, duty and honour, of harem intrigue, petty jealousies and destructive ambitions. All this played out in a universe populated by larger-than-life humans, gods and celestial beings, wondrous animals and terrifying demons. In her translation Arshia Sattar has successfully bridged both time and space to make this ancient classic accessible to the present-day English reader.

An added attraction is her superb introduction which provides new insights and background information for both the general reader and scholar alike.

Customer Reviews

In case you were wondering: it is abridged
I was searching for an unabridged translation of the Ramayana and after a lot of search I ordered this through amazon. It did not said that it was unabridged but as it was the only edition that did not mentioned being abridged or shortened (either on the cover or the book description) I ordered it.

It just arrived and I found my answer inside. It is abridged. In the back cover it says that is has 'bridged time and space to make it accessible to the present-day English reader. Now I don't know about you but I do not like the assumption that I am too thick to understand or too lazy to read an unabridged version.

I have nothing against the other editions that mention clearly on the description or the cover page that they are abridged but I am infuriated with Penguin's decision that readers wouldn't really care whether the book they buy is abridged or not so there is no need to clearly mention it on the cover. It is a dishonest marketing practice and it should be stopped. Particularly if you consider that the book I received was inside a plastic wrap so I could not read the introduction without opening it and that there is no preview available.

Penguin continuously exploits the fame of the classics it publishes by manipulating and misleading its public. Look at its 'great journeys' series where the works are so abridged you might as well read the review. People hardly ever read classics because they search for an easy quick read, there are enough tabloid and free newspapers in this country to cover that need. I read a classic expecting an insight to a different culture and a different narrating technique, I expect it to be a process and not a quick fix, classics that as culturally important as the Ramayana ought to be treated with greater respect.

That said I still gave this book 3 stars because even though I have sadly not yet read a complete Ramayana the translation is indeed very clear and it is less abridged than most of the other translations. It is very accessible and I read it in a day. It is a very entertaining story. I am glad I read a longer version of Ramayana but I wish I could read something closer to the original. So you might want to buy it if you can't get an unabridged version but if you do know one that is available on the market please leave a comment so I might get it.