This is an abridged verse translation of the two longest epic poems in world literature, the Ramayana and Mahabharata. This translation is surprisingly readable and very moving once you get used to the rhymed couplet format. This also serves as an ideal introduction to the sprawling plots of these epic tales." A transcendental epic tragedy of Divine sorts. A Ramayana book story with as much beauty and poetry as philosophy and truths.each character and situation reflects different things in both the spiritual realm as in our human condition. Decisions, consequences, tragedy, nobility of spirit, height of thought, duty and unflinching righteousness. It is as well a "fantastic" story, with things that can happen only in spiritual manifestations of the spiritual realm, such as flying giant monkeys which think and talk, flying mountains, a giant prehistoric world war, a sure entertaining and edifying epic."" Ralph T. H. Griffith has distilled the beautiful essence of the Ramayana, one of India's greatest epics, into a single, compelling volume. This is the story of Prince Rama's dedication to dharma -the responsibilities that fall to him as a result of his status as human and prince- in the face of incredible misfortune. It is also the story of what people are willing to do for those they love (witness Rama's war against the demons of Lanka to recuperate his wife Sita) and the tragic twists that can undermine that love (as when Rama exiles Sita to placate the suspicions of his subjects). For those who have never even heard of this epic, loved by millions in the Near East and East, Buck's soaring adaptation will be a real eye-opener. "" The ancient Indian epic, "ramayana valmiki ", is, as far as I know, one of Indian's most popular and loved epics, and it seems to have been composed around 500 to 750 BC, although there are many variations throughout the centuries. The gist of it is probably the same though.The one I am talking about here is just an audiobook translation by William Buck, and I say translation, but I actually mean a retelling. It is not in poetic form, it is retold in simple modern English narrative, which means that it is probably significantly different from the original, but I still assume that it has some grains of the original, for me to at least familiarize myself with the story.In short, very short, Rama is the son of a King and is actually the human form of a God (the God comes to Earth as a human form, but he forgets he is a God, this is way it always works). Something happens something happens, he is exiled, his beautiful wife, Sita, is stolen by a demon king, Ravana, and he needs to save her. Something something, epilogue.Here is the absolute fascinating thing about the epic ramayana english for me. If the story is written around 2,500 years back, we really have not progressed much, story-telling wise. Seriously, people always whine about how recent films are copying the classics from fifty or thirty years back, and Ramayana has the basis of a lot of epic films released nowadays. The main highlight for me in the epic, and the one that best illustrates this, is the main battle between Rama's army and the army of the demon king. This is almost Lord of the Ring.Rama is a powerful bowsman and there is part in the epic where he gets a really strong bow. He has a bad ass friend who is really strong. They befriend the races of monkeys and bears, having a few main characters in these races. And when they face the demon king, it is almost like it was written today. When he starts losing, he starts sending out strong characters one by one, and each one seems undefeatable at first, and Rama's army seems to be losing, but one character goes against him and wins, and then the next fighter. It was pretty exciting! My favorite character was probably Indrajit, he was seriously kicking ass. It was very...anime."
