Introduction to श्री रामायणम् - Śrī Rāmāyaṇam

 

सीता चरितं - Sītā Caritaṃ (The story of Sītā)/श्री रामायणम् - Śrī Rāmāyaṇam (The journey of Śrī Rāma)

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I started studying Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa seriously from 2010 onwards, and had started blogging,  expresssing my views on the same from 2014.

In order to understand Rāmāyaṇa clearly, I read it repeatedly.  It was during this study that I realised that there were many interpolations incorporated by many authors, for one reason or the another. 

At that point of time, a desire to read the original version of Rāmāyaṇa, sans the interpolations, arose.  However, I could not find any scholarly work on the original version of Rāmāyaṇa, though many critics observed that there were interpolations in the presently available Rāmāyaṇa.

A few days back (December 2025), I had stumbled upon K. Watanabe’s observations, included in his work - The Oldest Record of the Ramayana in a Chinese Buddhist Writing", (nearly 2,000 years old version of Rāmāyaṇa), containing around 12,000 shlokas.

The Oldest Record of the Ramayana in a Chinese Buddhist Writing" (K. Watanabe)

The Mahāvibhāṣa, the well-known commentary on the Jñānaprasthāna   of Kātyāyanīputra (~127 CE), there is a short passage which is of importance in the history of Sanskrit epic literature. The great commentary mentions, as an example of the contrast between Buddhist and non-Buddhist books, the size and contents of the Ramayana.

The following is a literal English translation from the Chinese version by Yuan Chwiing: "As a book called the Ramayana, there are 12,000 slokas. They explain only two topics, namely : (1) Ravana carries Slta off by violence, and (2) Rama recovers Slta and returns. The Buddhist scriptures are not so simple. Their forms of composition and meanings are respectively immeasurable and infinite."

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The Oriental Institute of the Maharaja Sayajirao (MS) University of Baroda undertook a massive project, collating dozens of manuscripts from across India and Nepal to create a standardized, scholarly version of the Valmiki Rāmāyaṇa, renowned for its monumental, scholarly "Critical Edition" of the Valmiki Ramayana. And, they delivered a standardized "Critical Edition" version, containing 18,670 shlokas. 

Still, it contains some more interpolations such as inclusion of Putra Kameshti Yagna in Bala Kanda, entire Uttara Kanda, etc. And according to my study, it needs further pruning.

My observations on interpolations in Ramayana can found in my Blog titled My understanding of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana.

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I am not a Sanskrit scholar.  And, hence, I do not know whether I am right person to compile Ramayana, sans the interpolations.

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The following major interpolations that are present in the currently available Ramayana, were removed in my work.

 

Bala Kanda:

·       The first 4 Sargas, wherein Brahma and sage Narada provides guidance to Sage Valmiki

·       Sargas 15 to 17, wherein Putrakamesthi Yagna was performed

·       Sargas unrelated main story, viz., story of Sage Rishyasringa, story of Vamana, story of Brahmadatta, Descent of Ganga from Heaven, birth of Kartikeya, story of Ahalya and Gautama, story of sage Vishvamitra

·       Fight between Shri Rama and Parashurama

Ayodhya Kanda

·       Manthara inciting Kaikeyi, and related chapters

·       Arguments with Jabali

·       Sage Vasishta narrating details of the creation of the world to Shri Rama.

Aranya Kanda – Ravana himself appears in the form of a golden deer

·       Ravana’s meeting with Mareecha and Shri Rama killing Mareecha

·       Sita finding fault with Lakshmana, as the latter refuses to go after Shri Rama

Kishkinda Kanda

·       Sugreeva’s excessive narration of 4 directions, while sending troops in search of Sita

·       Swayamprabha episode

Sundara Kanda

·       Shri Hanuman’s encounter with Minaka, Surasa, Simhika and Lankhini

·       Excess narration of Pushpaka Vimana

·       Excess narration of Ravana’s wives

·       Additional narration of Sita’s wailing, after Ravana’s warning

·       Torching of Lanka by Shri Hanuman and related issues

Yuddha Kanda

·       Fight between Sugriva and Ravana before start of the war

·       Ravana exhibiting illusory Head and Bow of Shri Rama to Sita, before start of the war

·       Indrajit binding Shri Rama and Lakshmana with serpentine arrows and arrival of Garuda

·       Sage Agasthya coming to battle field and narrating the greatness of Aditya Hridayam

·       Disowning of Sita by Shri Rama, after the war and Sita’s Agni Pravesha.

Uttara Kanda

The entire Kanda is an interpolation and hence not included in my work.

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Keeping all these issues in mind, I thought of compiling Rāmāyaṇa, sans the interpolations, on my own, keeping the version of Oriental Institute of the Maharaja Sayajirao (MS) University of Baroda as the basis.  My version of Ramayana, sans the interpolations, was compiled by me consisting of 10,222 shlokas. I have provided English translation of the story in brief, wherever found necessary

The story starts with the birth of Shri Rama and ends with the coronation of Shri Rama as the king of Kosala Kingdom.  Uttara Kanda is omitted in toto.

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Number of shlokas in the Ramayana (presently available form) vis-à-vis my work, is as follows:

Sl.No.	Name of the Kanda	No. of Sargas	No. of shlokas	No. of shlokas as per my work
1	Bala Kanda	77	2280	362
2	Ayodhya Kanda	119	4415	2204
3	Aranya Kanda	75	2732	1577
4	Kishkindha Kanda	67	2620	1705
5	Sundara Kanda	68	3006	1680
6	Yuddha Kanda	131	5990	2694
7	Uttara Kanda	110	3277	0
	Total		24320	10222

 

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PS

There exists a shloka in the 4^th Sarga of Bala Kanda, which I considered as an interpolation and thus removed it from my work.

काव्यं रामायणं कृत्स्न्नं सीतायाश्चरितं महत् |

पौलस्त्यवधमित्येवं चकार चरितव्रतः || १-४-७

That sage with observed sacred vows has rendered the entire epic in the name of 'Ramayana', 'The story of Seetha - Sītā Caritaṃ ' and 'elimination of Ravana'.

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However, in the 5^th Sarga of the Bala Kanda, from which I started my version of Ramayana, there exists a shloka which states that the name the work of Sage Valmiki is Ramayana.

इक्ष्वाकूणामिदं तेषां रज्ञां वंशे महात्मनाम् |

महदुत्पन्नमाख्यानं रामायणमिति श्रुतम् || १-५-३

In the dynasty of such Ikshvaku kings this highly revered and reputed epic Ramayana is originated.

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Still out of reverence towards Sita, I thought of adding Sītā Caritaṃ, apart from Śrī Rāmāyaṇam, to the title of my work.

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Hence, I have kept the title to my work as सीता चरितं - Sītā Caritaṃ (The story of Sītā)/श्री रामायणम् - Śrī Rāmāyaṇam (The journey of Śrī Rāma)

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Please note that:

·       Sarga-wise and shloka-wise English translations, containing 23,000+ shlokas, are already available ONLINE at SITE-1 and SITE-2. Interested persons may go through those sites.

·       I have provided English translation of the story in brief, wherever found necessary.

·       Hyperlinks to preceding and succeeding posts were provided to each post, for easy navigation purpose.

 

 

Introduction to Bālakāṇḍa