Ramayana Trio: Valmiki,Kamban,Tulsi (Sanskrit and Tamil Text with Transliteration and English Translation)

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This book offers 150 of the author's favorite choices from the Ramayana epics of Valmiki, Kamban and Tulsi. Comparative analysis and informative interpretation of the exposition by the three poets make this narration valuable. Illustrations at appropriate points and appendices with ready applications to spiritual life add special value. The result is an enjoyable sojourn through the Ramayana along with a taste of the narrative styles of the three master poets.

V Krishnamurthy (b.1927) was a professor of mathematics for four decades and an author of several books in mathematics. Since his retirement as the deputy director of BITS, Pilani, in 1988, he has been writing on spiritual matters and has also given numerous discourses on religious topics to Indian as well as foreign audiences. He has to his credit more than a dozen books on Hinduism and spirituality, the latest two being Thus Spake Krishna and A Primer of Spirituality.

His website www.profvk.com contains a large variety of highly read articles on Hinduism, covering fundamentals, bhakti, jnana, Vedanta, science and spirituality, translations of Sanskrit and Tamil philosophical works and also videos of his lectures through YouTube. The precision, clarity and irresistible appeal to the modern mind in all his writings and speeches go back to a rich experience as a successful communicator of mathematics during his professional life and also the spiritual training that was received from his father from early childhood. He is a recipient of half a dozen awards and honours, the latest being a Grateful 2 Gurus award by the Indic Academy.

I humbly venture to present this book entitled 'RAMAYANA TRIO' consisting of a series of snapshots of scenes and conversations from Valmiki, Kamban and Goswami Tulsidas Ramayanas, selected as per my taste and knowledge. There is no dearth of scholars and expositors with superior talent and accomplishment who have analysed threadbare these three versions of Ramayana. I hope this contribution of selected passages that appealed to me, will aid the spread of love for the Ramayana rather than being an additional knowledge- storehouse. I hope the reader and experts will pardon any errors in my contribution.

My familiarity with Valmiki Ramayana started while I was quite young. Even as a teen-ager, I used to do the Parayanam of the whole Valmiki Ramayana during the nine days of Vasanta-navaratri. That was the time every year, when my father, Brahma Sri Visvanatha Sastrigal, used to do the annual nine-day special puja of Sri Ramachandra, the main deity in our family altar. My love for the Ramayana in its multifarious forms by the above three poets grew over the years and has led me to writing the book before you.

For the benefit of readers who may have sought solutions for difficult life problems, I have included a special Appendix. It contains little-known nuggets on various Sargas of Valmiki Ramayana to be chanted In particular ways to achieve specific life objectives. The original source for this is an extracted manuscript of my father, from Padma Purana. I hope even those who are not familiar with the culture of Sanatana Dharma will get a friendly feeling towards the three great historical epics through this offering of mine.

I am extremely grateful to the four scholars who have condescended to read through my document and bless it with very kindly Forewords.

My Sashtang pranams to His Holiness Jagadguru Kanchi Shankaracharya for His shrimukham and blessings.

This collection of poems is a montage of snapshots from the wonderful and exemplary life of Rama. The Ramayana, literally meaning the path of Rama, was the first great work of poetry, adi-kavya, in our tradition. It had captured the imagination of the entire Bharata-varsha and had guided people in all life situations for thousands of years and continues to guide.

From what we know from tradition, the life history of Rama was first penned by Valmiki in Sanskrit, and it was later adopted by different poets all over the land. Some of these works became as popular as the original work of Valmiki. Prof. VK has taken two such highly popular versions in addition to Valmiki's book and picked out gems of verses from all the three texts and commented on them. Thus, a reader would have the benefit of knowing the excellent ideas of three great minds.

The Ramayana is an ideal kavya, praised by the literary critics. The purpose of a great work of art, according to Mammata, the noted writer of Kavya-prakasha, is to enable the reader to attain greatness, to attain the human goals (which include liberation), to know the ways of the world, to ward off the unpleasant, to attain bliss the moment it is read. Mammata also says that the message by the poet is like the gentle and love-filled words of the beloved. The Ramayana was always held as a model text, a lakshya grantha, to demonstrate all the above aspects.

An ordinary reader may not immediately identify these messages, but the present text is a guided tour to the reader, identifying several such messages. The conduct of Rama was always held as the benchmark, maryada, and hence Rama was called maryada- purushottam, the ideal and exemplary person. Several situations from his life are picked up here, such as - ideal wedded life, ideal friendship, ideal brotherly love, king's responsibility towards his subjects, nobility even towards the enemy, forgiveness, steadfastness of character in great adversity and so on.

An academic would also find the book useful, as he can see a comparative study of the best Ramayanas of India.

The three eternal epics of the Trio are: Valmiki Ramayana (V.R) (in Sanskrit, in 24000 shlokas, by Sage Valmiki, in most ancient times), Kamba-Ramayanam (K.R.) (in Tamil, in 11000 verses by Kamban, around the latter half of the 12th century) and Ram-charita-manas (T.RCM) (in Awadhi language of Hindi literature, in about 5500 dohas by Tulsida, around the 16 century).

Every Hindu knows the story of the Ramayana, purely by osmosis of the culture, if not by one's own reading. However, since this entire book hinges on the story of the Ramayana which is the content of the three epics referred to, for the benefit of those who may not have been exposed to the culture, here is an apology of a nuclear summary of the story of the Ramayana:

Rama, along with his three brothers, Laksmana, Bharata and Satrughna, were born to Dasaratha, the King of Ayodhya after an elaborate sacred ritual. Their birth itself was a strategic step in a divine cosmic effort to vanquish the demon king Ravana of Lanka who had used his supernatural powers to keep the divines under his thumb. Rama grows up as an ideal man, a role model, and was about to be coronated as the beloved prince of Ayodhya - when Fate plays a diabolical trick. The second Queen Kaikeyi, extracts a promise from the King that Rama will be sent to live in the forest for fourteen years and that her son, Bharata, will be crowned as the Prince Royal. Rama accepts the verdict most willingly because for him the words of the father and mother (though step-mother) are gospel. Sita, Rama's consort, and Lakshmana insist on accompanying him to the forest. In the forest Ravana conspires to kidnap Sita and imprison her in Lanka where he seeks her hand which she refuses in no uncertain terms. Rama and Lakshmana get the help of the monkey kingdom, led by their king Sugriva and their mighty warrior-minister Hanuman, to locate Sita in Lanka, then march to Lanka, wage a long war with Ravana and his clan, kill them all and redeem Sita. The fourteen years of exile are over and Rama returns to Ayodhya, where his devoted brother, not accepting the crown connivingly earned for him by his mother, had kept the kingdom safe for his hero Rama. Rama becomes the King much to the pleasure of humans and celestials alike.

**Contents and Sample Pages**