Rāmāyaṇa
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Attributed (authorship debated)
- Condition of the text:
- Some scanning errors (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand) · 14 illegible passages, excluded from answers
- Extent:
- ~510,000 words · 2,412 passages
Cite this work
- APARamayana. (n.d.). The Ramayan of Valmiki (Griffith) [Rāmāyaṇa]. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/ramayana/the-ramayan-of-valmiki-griffith
- MLARamayana. The Ramayan of Valmiki (Griffith) [Rāmāyaṇa]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/ramayana/the-ramayan-of-valmiki-griffith.
- ChicagoRamayana. The Ramayan of Valmiki (Griffith) [Rāmāyaṇa]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/ramayana/the-ramayan-of-valmiki-griffith.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The Sanskrit epic of Rama attributed to Valmiki: the exile, the abduction of Sita by Ravana, and the war to recover her.
Context and history
This is Ralph T. H. Griffith's verse translation, published between 1870 and 1874. The Ramayana has no single text: several recensions have come down — northern, Bengali, southern — that do not say quite the same thing, and Griffith renders one of them. Precise citation requires knowing which recension is meant.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
But honouring the high decree "Which Brahma2 had pronounced of yore, He calmly all their insults bore, The town he burnt with hostile flame, And spoke again with Kama's dame, Then swiftly back to Kama flew With tidings of the interview. Then with Sugriva for his guide, Came Kama to the ocean side. He smote tiie sea with shafts as bright As sunbeams in their summer height, And quick appeared the Rivers' King3 Obedient to the summoning. A bridge was thrown by Nala o'er The narrow sea from shore to shore.4 They crossed to Lanka's golden town, Where Kama's hand smote Kavan down. Vibhishan there was left to reign Over his brother's wide domain. To meet her husband Sita came ; But Kama, stung with ire and shame, With bitter words his wife addressed Before the crowd that round her pressed. But Sita, touched with noble ire, Gave her fair body to the tire. Then straight the God of Wind appeared, And words from heaven her honour cleared. And Rama clasped his wife again, Uninjured, pure from spot and stain, Obedient to the Lord of Fire And the high mandate of his sire. Led by the Lord who rules the sky, The Gods arid heavenly saints drew nigh, And honoured him with worthy meed, Rejoicing in each glorious deed. His task achieved, his foe removed, 1 The Jonesia Asoka is a most beautiful tree bearing a profusion of red blossoms. 58 Brahma, the Creator, is usually re- garded as tiie first Gool of the Indian' Tri- nity, although, as Kalidasa says : * Of Brahma, Vishnu, $iva, each may be First, second , third, amid the blessed Three. Brahma had guaranteed Kavan's lift against all enemies except man. 3 Ocean personified.…