The Return of Ancient Epic: The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki

Part five ofClio's series on Ancient Epics continues March 12 with a discussion of The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, edited and translated by our featured speaker, Robert P. Goldman.

The monumental, ancient Sanskrit epic poem The Rāmāyaṇa (ascribed to the poet-seer Vālmīki) and its innumerable retellings have been and remain central to the nations, cultures, languages and religions of the vast and numerous communities of South and Southeast Asia, ranging from Afghanistan in the West to Bali in the East (and their worldwide diasporas). The poem is, however, little known to readers in the West aside from specialists in Asian languages, literatures, religion, and cultural history.

But in terms of its uninterrupted influence for the past two and a half millennia over literally billions of people, it is fair to say that its enduring impact on the civilizations of Southern Asia is comparable only to that of the Old and New Testament, the Holy Qur’an and its even more massive sister Sanskrit epic, the Mahābhārata. This is so because—unlike many of the other great epic texts of antiquity, such as those of the civilizations of Mediterranean and Mesopotamian antiquity—The Rāmāyaṇa is a text integral to several living religious cultures or South and Southeast Asia: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam. As such, this Sanskrit poem (along with its innumerable versions in belles lettres, folk theatre, dance drama, puppet theater, TV serials, festivals, cinema, and comic books) continues to be a popular acculturative force for the large populations of Southern Asia and its diaspora. Join Robert Goldman at Clio's on March 12 for what promises to be a fascinating and deeply compelling discussion of the epic and its place in contemporary life and civilization.

Dr. Robert Goldman (B.A. Columbia College, 1964; Ph.D. 1971 University of Pennsylvania) is the William and Catherine Magistretti Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit and Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the General Editor and a principal translator of the Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, a scholarly translation and annotation of the critical edition of the epic, and the author of Gods, Priests and Warriors: the Bhṛgus of the Mahābhārata and Devivāṇīpraveśikā: Introduction to the Sanskrit Language. He has published several scholarly monographs and dozens of articles in learned journals. He is a former holder of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Institute of Indian Studies. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a recipient of the President’s Certificate of Honour for Sanskrit (International) in 2013 (presented by the President of India), the World Sanskrit Award awarded by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in 2017, and the A.K. Ramanujan Translation Prize from the Association of Asian Studies (with Sally Sutherland Goldman) in 2020.

He will be referencing The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: The Complete English Translation, translated by Robert P. Goldman, Sally J. Sutherland Goldman, Rosalind Lefeber, Sheldon I. Pollock, and Barend A. van Nooten, copies of which are available for purchase with your ticket.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Clio's Books