The Ramaya?a of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India, Volume I: Balaka??a

by Princeton University Press

Overview

This is the first of seven volumes of a translation of the Valmiki Ramayana, the great Sanskrit epic of the life of Rama, ideal man and incarnation of the great god Visnu. This renowned work of ancient India has profoundly affected the literature, art, religions, and cultures of countless millions of people in South and Southeast Asiaan influence that is perhaps unparalleled in the history of world literature. Balakanda, the opening portion of this first translation to be based on the critical edition (Oriental Institute, Baroda), is presented here in a compact volume without the section of notes that appears in the hardcover book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691014852
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	04/10/1990
Series:	Princeton Library of Asian Translations , #45
Edition description:	1st Princeton pbk. ed. without annotatio
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations ix

Preface xiii

Guide to Sanskrit Pronunciation xix

PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1 General Introduction 3

2 History and Historicity 14

3 Introduction to the Balakanda 60

4 The Ramayana Text and the Critical Edition by Sheldon I. Pollock 82

5 Translating the Ramayana by Leonard E. Nathan 94

6 The Translation and Annotation 96

PART II BALAKANDA 119

Glossary of Important Proper Nouns and Epithets 271

Bibliography of Works Consulted 277

Index 291

Editorial Reviews

Winner of the 2017 World Sanskrit Award, Indian Council for Cultural Relations


Goldman has chosen a translation style that is simple, direct, and very close to the text, without being prosaic. He has avoided the twin pitfalls of preciousness and pedantry. The Ramayana, as he reminds us, is a poem in a sense we have almost lost touch with: intended to be heard, easily understood, chanted in a loose and repetitive meter that permits the lapidary phrase.—-Edwin Gerow, Journal of Asian Studies

From the Publisher

Goldman has chosen a translation style that is simple, direct, and very close to the text, without being prosaic. He has avoided the twin pitfalls of preciousness and pedantry. The Ramayana, as he reminds us, is a poem in a sense we have almost lost touch with: intended to be heard, easily understood, chanted in a loose and repetitive meter that permits the lapidary phrase.

Journal of Asian Studies - Edwin Gerow

Goldman has chosen a translation style that is simple, direct, and very close to the text, without being prosaic. He has avoided the twin pitfalls of preciousness and pedantry. The Ramayana, as he reminds us, is a poem in a sense we have almost lost touch with: intended to be heard, easily understood, chanted in a loose and repetitive meter that permits the lapidary phrase.
— Edwin Gerow

Journal of Asian Studies