RamayanaValmiki and Tulsidas
How the Sanskrit Ramayana of Valmiki and the Awadhi Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas differ in language, date, tone and in some episodes, with notes on other tellings.
The oldest surviving telling is the Sanskrit Ramayana of Valmiki, whose core is dated by scholars to the centuries around the fifth century BCE to the second century CE, with later additions, such as the first and last books. The Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas (sixteenth century) is a retelling in Awadhi, a form of Hindi, and is the best-known version across north India; it is recited and performed in the Ramlila each autumn.
The differences
- Language: Sanskrit against Awadhi, so the Manas is easier to follow for ordinary listeners.
- Tone: Valmiki shows Rama as a great and noble man, though human; Tulsidas shows him throughout as God in human form, and the work is a devotional poem.
- Episodes: some stories are told differently, for example Kaikeyi's motives, the death of Vali, and the details of the fire ordeal of Sita. The Manas does not tell the Uttara Kanda in the same way.
Other tellings
The story is told in every Indian language and in much of Southeast Asia: the Kamban Ramayanam (Tamil), the Krittivasi Ramayan (Bengali), the Ramakien of Thailand, the Reamker of Cambodia and the Kakawin Ramayana of Java. The story is told with local colour, and it is not unusual that characters, such as Sita and Ravana, are seen differently from one place to another.
A retelling in our own words of a story that is told in many different ways across India and Asia. Tellers differ on many episodes; where it matters we say so. It is not a scholarly translation.