The Ramayana

In Our Time: Culture

BBC

History

4.6 • 978 Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic which is regarded as one of the greatest works of world literature. Its importance in Indian culture has been compared to that of the Iliad and Odyssey in the West, and it’s still seen as a sacred text by Hindus today.

Written in Sanskrit, it tells the story of the legendary prince and princess Rama and Sita, and the many challenges, misfortunes and choices that they face. About 24,000 verses long, the Ramayana is also one of the longest ancient epics. It’s a text that’s been hugely influential and it continues to be popular in India and elsewhere in Asia. With

Jessica Frazier Lecturer in the Study of Religion at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University

and

Naomi Appleton Senior Lecturer in Asian Religions at the University of Edinburgh

The image above shows Rama, Sita, Hanuman, Lakshmana and devotees, from the Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal, Leicester.

Producer Luke Mulhall

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:04.7	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:07.2	There's a reading list to go with it on our website
0:09.4	and you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC in our time. I hope you enjoyed
0:15.3	the program. Hello the ancient Hindu epic, the Ramayana, is one of the greatest works of world literature.
0:21.7	Its importance in Indian culture has been compared to that of the
0:25.0	Iliad and Odyssey in the West and is still seen as a sacred text by Hindus today.
0:31.2	Written in Sanskrit it tells the story of the legendary prince and princess
0:34.7	Rama and Cita and the many challenges misfortunes and choices they face.
0:39.2	About 24,000 verses long Thramayana is also one of the longest ancient epics.
0:45.6	It's a text that's been hugely influential and continues to be popular in India and elsewhere
0:50.3	in Asia.
0:51.3	We're in mind to discuss the Ramayana R. Jessica Frazier, lecture in the study of religion at the
0:56.2	University of Oxford and a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
1:00.4	Chakravati Ram Prasad, distinguished professor of comparative religion and philosopher at
1:05.4	Lancaster universities, and Naomi Appleton, senior lecturer in Asian religions at the University
1:11.0	of Edinburgh.
1:12.0	Naomi, would you like to start by giving us a brief summary of the plot?
1:17.0	Okay, so the story of the Ramayana is the story of Ramas.
1:21.0	Ramas Iana means something like Rama's Journey or Rama's Adventures.
1:25.0	And on a very basic level it's the story of how a god named Vishnu takes human form as Rama in order to defeat a demon or a rakshasa named Ravanah.
1:35.8	And he has to do this as a human because Ravanah is enrollable to the gods.
	...

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