Naomi Appleton: I find it interesting that the story is so engaged with indigenous groups and a perceived sense of many different tribes. Jessica Frazier: There's a message in the Ramayana about a multicultural India that isn't always taken out of the text but it's there ready to be taken. In Our Time podcast gets some extra time now with a few minutes of bonus material from Melvin and his guests. Next week, Macantilism, the economic theory that dominated Europe between 15th and 17th centuries.
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