The Untold Ramayana: What Got Lost in Translation || Raja Bhattacharjee

Valmiki’s Ramayana has been imprinted in our minds, and so have the key episodes–stories of Lakshman drawing a line of boundary around Sita to protect her from the clutches of Ravan, or the hurling of stones inscribed with the name of Ram into the sea to build a bridge. The ever famous story of agnipariksha as well. Interestingly, though, these stories do not feature in the primordial edition of the epic. Numerous adaptations and translations throughout the ages have given rise to them, which have gradually melded with the original, and seeped into our minds as Valmiki’s Ramyana. Raja Bhattacharjee’s The Untold Ramayana bears testimony to the author’s painstaking research to sieve through the multiple texts of the epic to recognise these editions. The book tries to identify each of these sources and bring to the readers the different cultural, social, and political influences behind these several adaptations.