The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version Of The Indian Epic (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) - Softcover

Narayan, R. K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140187006 ISBN 13: 9780140187007

Publisher: Penguin, 1977

Synopsis

"The Ramayana" is, quite simply, the greatest of Indian epics - and one of the world's supreme masterpieces of storytelling. Here, drawing his inspiration from the work of an eleventh-century Tamil poet called Kamban, Narayan has used the talents of a master novelist to recreate the excitement and joy he has found in the original. It can be enjoyed and appreciated, he suggests, for its psychological insight, its spiritual depth and its practical wisdom - or just as a thrilling tale of abduction, battle and courtship played out in a universe thronged with heroes, deities and demons.

About this title

About the Author

R.K. Narayan was born in Madras, South India, in 1906, and educated there and at Maharaja's College in Mysore. His first novel, Swami and Friends and its successor, The Bachelor of Arts, are both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi and are only two out of the twelve novels he based there. In 1958 Narayan's work The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor. In addition to his novels, Narayan has authored five collections of short stories, including A Horse and Two Goats, Malguidi Days, and Under the Banyan Tree, two travel books, two volumes of essays, a volume of memoirs, and the re-told legends Gods, Demons and Others, The Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. In 1980 he was awarded the A.C. Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature and in 1982 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Narayan died in 2001.

Synopsis

This selection from the great classic of Indian literature is the heroic tale of Prince Rama. The stories chief episodes are Rama's courtship of the youthful Sita, their exile, Sita's abduction, the search, and the great battle with Ravana, her abductor.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1977
• ISBN 10: 0140187006
• ISBN 13: 9780140187007
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 172