AK Ramanujan’s 300 Ramayanas come to mind when one reads the book ‘Ramayana -Footprints in South East Asian culture and Heritage’. Author Anita Bose has spent five years in Thailand immersing herself in the cultural tradition of Ramayana or as it called Ramakien in Thailand, Kakawin in Indonesia, Hikayat Seri Rama in Maharadia Lawana in Phillipines ,Phra Lak Phra Lam in Laos, Reamker in Cambodia and Thiri Rama in Myanmar. In a book numbering not more than 170 pages she has lucidly documented the cultural traditions of the S E Asia, traditions that draw their sustenance from Ramayana.
Ramayana is alive here, a testament to the universal appeal of the epic and the attraction of Indian culture in the region that began with trade and later expanded into a rich cultural exchange. The business interactions were not limited to trade and commerce and in due course of time it gradually influenced all aspects of life-culture, religion, politics, literature, customs and beliefs.
Anita Bose moved to Thailand when her husband was posted there and it was an opportunity to take further her earlier work on Pattachita. She says she was destined to write about another Vishnu incarnate – Sri Rama and credits this work to the grace of Ma Sharada and the blessings of swamis of Rama Krishna Mission
Comments