About Project

Valmiki Ramayana is an ancient epic of India, highly valued for its contribution to human values since centuries and has universal relevance. It consists of 24000 verses in seven Kandas, namely Bala Kanda, Ayodhya Kanda, Aranya Kanda, Kishikindha Kanda, Sundara Kanda, Yuddha Kanda followed by Uttara Kanda. Each Kanda is further sub-divided into Sargas (sections) and each Sarga is composed of few Slokas (Verses).

Late Sri V.V.Subba Rao, former General Manager, IDBI initiated the project, with the assistance of Prof. P.Geervani, Former Vice-Chancellor, Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswavidyalayam Tirupati, to bring out translation of Valmiki Ramayana into English with transliteration of Devanagari script in to Indian languages. Even though a few translations are available, this project is undertaken to give the word order and meaning in English and also summary of the sarga so that readers appreciate the literary and poetic beauty of Sanskrit in Ramayana. To keep up with the present times, it is presented through electronic media. It is hoped that readers will develop interest in Sanskrit language and appreciate literary beauty of the Verses.

Objectives

  • To bring out a translation of the original text of Ramayana of Sri Valmiki through Electronic and print media.
  • To bring out selected Sanskrit commentaries on Ramayana along with English translation.
  • To propagate the text and commentaries all over the world through Electronic media in English and in as many Indian languages as possible.
  • To protect and preserve the ancient literary works on Ramayana in Sanskrit.
  • To bring in cultural awareness and universal brotherhood among international community.
  • To bring in behavioral change towards establishing creedless and broadminded society.
  • To develop ability to appreciate the essence of Ramayana at cognitive and co native levels.
  • To prepare glossary of Ramayana in English Language.

There are several commentaries on Valmiki Ramayana. However, six of the important commentaries have been selected for translation. The selected commentaries and the names of the translators are as follows. The Southern recession of Ramayana has been adopted by the project.

  • Govinda Raja Pranita Ramayana Bhusana

     

  • Shree Madhava Yogi Pranita Amritakataka
  • Shiva Sahaya Pranita Ramayana Siromani
  • Rama Pranita Ramayana Tilaka
  • Maheswara Thirtha
  • Dhrmakuta

The project aims at the translation of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana into English and transliterate the text into major Indian languages, namely, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam and make it available on the Internet. In the Third phase, explanatory translation in English for each Sarga/Subject of the six commentaries in Sanskrit will be presented.

In order to ensure good translation and edition of slokas and summary in English, the following committee has been constituted:

 

  1. Prof.P.Geervani former Vice Chancellor,Sri Padmavathi Mahila University,Chairman
  2. Prof.K. Kamala, Professor of Sanskrit (Retd), Osmania University, Hyderabad
  3. Sri V. V. Subba Rao (2000-2002)

Summary of Sargas and Kandas:

Ms.ShamalaY.R.Reddy, Hyderabad wrote the Summary of Sargas in contemporary English language.

Glossary:

Sri Nathoolal Pal (Professional Translator, South Central Railway) translated the glossary.

Audio rendering of slokas:

Dr.Dwaram lakshmi, Reader in music, Sri Padmavati Mahila University, Tirupati.

Music composed by:

Sri K. Krishna Mohan, Artist, All India Radio

Translation:

Translation of text of Baala Kanda and Ayodhya Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana was carried out jointly by Late Sri V.V. Subba Rao (2000-2002) and Prof. P. Geervani. Prof. P.Geervani continued translation of other kandas with the assistance of Prof. K. Kamala since the demise of Sri V.V. Subba rao in 2002.

The translation of commentaries is carried out by the following scholars :

Name of the Scholar

Commentary

Prof. Nalini Sadhale,Professor of Sanskrit(Retd.), Hyderabad

Dharmakuta (All execpt Aranyakanda, Kishkindakanda and Sundaraakanda)

Dr.Jayanthi Manohar, Bangalore

Dharmakuta (Aranyakanda and Sundaraakanda)

Dr.Sri Lakshmi, Bangalore

Dharmakuta (Kishkindakanda)

Prof. C.Ramanathan, Professor of Sanskrit(Retd.), Bangalore

Tilaka

Prof. H.V.Nagaraja Rao, Professor of Sanskrit(Retd.), Mysore

Maheswara Thirtha

Dr.Shubra sarma , News editor, Newdelhi

Amrutakataka

Prof. T.G.Krishnamoorthy(Retd.), Bangalore

Amrutakataka(All Kandas except BaalaKaanda)

Prof.S.N.Joshi(Retd.), Maharashtra

Siromani (All execpt Aranyakanda, Kishkindakanda and Sundaraakanda)

Dr. Ramanathan

Siromani (Aranyakanda, Kishkindakanda and Sundaraakanda)


The completed work of data entry, word-to-word meaning, translation work, Summary etc. are posted on Internet and can be viewed at websites, rsvpramayana.in and also valmiki.iitk.ac.in

The project was co-ordinated by Prof. K. V. Ramakrishnamacharyulu and Prof. P. Geervani under the chairmanship of vice-chancellor Vidyapeetha. Since Aug 2005, Prof M.L. Narasimha Murthy and assisted by Dr. Srinivasa Varakhedi are co-ordinating the project.The university gratefully acknowledges Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India, New Delhi for the financial support to execute the project.

Rashtriya Sanskrita Vidyapeetham. Tirupati offers grateful thanks to Shri M.S.Reddy (Managing Director), Sabdalaya studios, Hyderabad for generously providing the studio facilities free of cost for recording the slokas.

The university acknowledges the technology assistance of IIT Kanpur Gitasupersite team headed by Dr.T.V.Prbhakar, and consisting of Preethi Naveen, Pankaj Baranwal, Ajay Kumar Sharma, Rashmi Gupta, Sudha Hariharan, B.M.Shukla, M Seetha Ramayya, Jugash, Prabha and Jitender Singh for the assistance in processing the data and putting on the Website.

H .K. Sathapathy
Vice chancellor
Rashtriya Sanskrita Vidya Peetham
Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), India