December 10, 2007
by Kamlesh Tripathi

There is a general consensus on the date of origin of Ramayana and it is believed that the first version was written around 5-1 B.C. Later on there were version written by various poets in various parts of Indian sub continent in various different languages over several centuries. In fact Ramayana travelled beyond boundaries of India and was adopted by other regions like Thailand among other countries.

 

Ramakien is Thailand's national epic, derived from the Hindu Indian Ramayana epic. A number of versions of the epic were lost in the destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767. While the main story is identical to that of the Ramayana, many other aspects were transposed into a Thai context, such as the clothes, weapons, topography, and elements of nature, which are described as being Thai in style.

Nevertheless, the Ramayana came to Southeast Asia by means of Tamil Indian traders and scholars who traded with the Khmer kingdoms (such as Funan and Angkor) and Srivijaya, with whom the Indians shared close economic and cultural ties.

In the late first millennium, the epic was adopted by the Thai people, who had migrated to Southeast Asia from southern China. The oldest recordings of the early Sukhothai kingdom, dating from the thirteenth century, include stories from the Ramayana legends. The history of the legends was told in the shade theater (Thai: หนัง, Nang), a shadow-puppet show in a style adopted from Indonesia, in which the characters were portrayed by leather dolls manipulated to cast shadows on a nearby screen while the spectators watched from the other side.[Wikipedia]

Besides the literary works and rework of Ramayana, there are many folk versions too. These folk versions don't have any written or documented versions. They are preserved from generations to generation and add a very interesting flavour to story of Ramayana.

One the most interesting folk version is the popular Mappila Ramayana, part of Mappillapttu, a genre of popular folk singing amongst the Muslims of Kerala and Lakshadweep. Being of Muslim origin, the hero of this story is a sultan. There are no major changes in the names of characters except for that of Rama's which is changed to `Laman'. The language and the imagery projected in the Mappilapattu are in accordance with the social fabric of the earlier Muslim community.

There are many tribal versions of Ramayana found in India. Each of them adding further more twist and flavours to the story of Ramayana. The tribal versions, in particular are least known to the modern world and are on the verge of being destroyed under influence of rapidly expanding globalization.

In an attempt to document this heritage , Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, has taken a very ambitious project. They are recording the various versions of tribal Ramayana. Currently performers from various tribes across India, are being invited to New Delhi. This project is supervised by  Molly Kaushal, Head of the Department, Jansampada Department of IGNCA. Tribals from states of  Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam and West Bengal are the first ones to be invited for this massive documentation project.

Some of the well known versions of Ramayana are:

Kamban wrote Ramavatharam, known popularly as Kambaramayanam in Tamil.
Sri Ramacharit Manas by Tulasidas
Gujarati poet Premanand wrote a version of Ramayana in the 17th century.
Bengali version by Krittivas
Oriya by Balarama Das in the 16th century,
Marathi by Sridhara in the 18th century
Telugu version by Ranganatha in the 15th century
Torave Ramayana in Kannada by the 16th century poet Narahari
20th century Rashtrakavi Kuvempu's Sri Ramayana Darshnam
Kotha Ramayana in Assamese by the 14th century poet Madhava Kandali
Adhyathma Ramayanam Kilippattu, a Malayalam version by Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan in the 16th century.

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