The Infinite Story: The Past and Present of the Ramayanas in Hindi

The Infinite Story: The Past and Present of the Ramayanas in Hindi

By- Danuta Stasik

The story of the Ramayana is well-known in all Indian language and Hindi literature is no exception to it. It has a long and rich tradition based on Ramkatha that through the centuries has challenged many authors.

The main aim of this work is twofold. Firstly, it seeks to analyse the development of the Ramayana tradition in Hindi literature from the perspective of its most important achievements against their historical background and socio-cultural context. Secondly, it attempts to examine the relationship between the story, i.e. Ramakatha, as told by different authors, and Ram, the protagonist of the Ramayana, who functions as a cultural hero and serves as model of right behaviour for the others and at the same time appears to be one of the most important factors in the continuing popularity of the tradition.

The volume opens with an introduction that outlines the diversity of the Ramayana tradition in India, beginning with the first known Ramayana ascribed to the sage Valimiki. It discusses later developments in Sanskrit and vernacular literatures, as exemplified by their best achievements originating from Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina contexts. It also considers the implications of all these works for the unfolding of the tradition in Hindi. In its closing portion, the volume provides an overview of the growth of the cult of Ram in north India.

This is an indispensable volume for scholars of Hinduism and north Indian cultural life.

Danuta Stasik is Professor and Head of the Department of South Asian Studies. Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw. Her research interests are the Ramayana tradition in Hindi literature, Rambhakti in north India and the Indian diaspora in the West (particularly as represented in Hindi writing).

She is the author and co-author of seven books, among them: Image of the West in Hindi Literature (1994); a grammar of the Hindi language (in Polish, 2^nd edn 2008); a textbook of Hindi in two parts (in Polish, part 1 – 4^th edn 2007 and part 2 – 2^nd edn 2008), as well as of more than fifty articles published in different books and journals in Polish, English and Hindi. She is also Editor-in-Chief of a Polish journal Przeglad Orientalistyczny (Oriental Review).

ISBN  978-81-7304-815-9    2009   334p.   Rs.995/ pounds 50

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