Ramayana - Different Versions

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Ramayana is one of the most widely read, often quoted treasure of Santana Dharma, which has an unique universal appeal. Readers far and wide refer to this ancient saga of God who descended amongst us the mere mortals to show us the path of Dharma.

To quote the kannada poet Kumāravyāsa, ತಿಣುಕಿದನು ಫಣಿರಾಯ ರಾಮಾಯಣನ ಕವಿಗಳ ಭಾರದಲ್ಲಿ ... which translates to, Ādi śēṣa who bears the earth on his many hoods, got tired because of the weight of the authors of Ramayana. 

This statement holds it's weight for the sheer enormity on the number of versions of Ramayana that are known today to us. One can make a safe assumption that there would be many more versions which could be specific to dialects or could be lost over time. A list of commonly known versions of Ramayana with authors and languages:

  1. Valmiki Ramayana (Sanskr̥ta)
  2. Adbhuta Ramayana (Sanskr̥ta)
  3. Ananda Ramayana (Sanskr̥ta)
  4. Adhyatama Ramayana (Sanskr̥ta)
  5. Ramacharitamanas (Avadhi) - Tulasidas
  6. Madhavakandaliya Ramayana (Assamese)
  7. Giridhara Ramayana (Gujarati)
  8. Ramavataracharitra (Kashmiri)
  9. Kruttivasa Ramayana (Bengali)
  10. Torave Ramayana (Kannada)
  11. Battaleshvara Ramayana (Kannada)
  12. Ramachandra Charita Purana (Kannada) - Jain Ramayana by Nagachandra
  13. Pampa Ramayana (Kannada)
  14. Kumudendu Ramayana (Kannada) - Jain Ramayana
  15. Muddanna's Adbhuta Ramayana (Kannada)
  16. Ramashvamedha (Kannada)
  17. Ramapattabhisheka (Kannada)
  18. Ramayana Darshanam (Kannada) - Kuvempu
  19. Kamba Ramayanam (Tamizh)
  20. Ranganatha Ramayana (Telugu)
  21. Moropanth Ramayana (Marathi)
  22. Balaramadasa Ramayana (Oriya)
  23. Radheshyam Ramayana (Nepali)
  24. Dasharatha Jataka - Part of Buddhist Jataka Tales
  25. Pa'ucariya (Padma Purana) Ramayana - Jain version
  26. Raghuvamsha (Sanskr̥ta) - Kalisdasa
  27. Champoo Ramayana (Sanskr̥ta) - Bhojaraja
  28. Janakiharana Mahakavya - Kumaradasa (Sri Lanka)
  29. Pratimanataka - Bhasa
  30. Yajnaphala
  31. Abhisheka Nataka
  32. Mahaviracharitha & Uttara ramacharita - Bhavabhuti
  33. Bala Ramayana - Rajashekara
  34. Janakiparinaya - Ramachandra Dikshita
  35. Anargha Raghava - Murari Kavi
  36. Prasanna Raghava - Jayadeva
  37. Ascharya Chudamani - Shaktibhadra
  38. Adbhutha Darpana - Mahadevi Kavi
  39. Hanumannataka / Mahanataka
  40. Kundaamala - Diṅnāga
  41. Uddata Raghava - Maayuraja
  42. Unmata Raghava - Bhaskara
Beyond the Indian sub-continent, there are some international versions of Ramayana as below
  1. Ramakin - Thailand
  2. Hikayath Siri Ramayana - Indonesia
  3. Kakuvin Ramayana - Java
  4. Laos Ramayana
  5. Burmese Ramayana
  6. Indochin Ramayana
  7. South American (Hindu) Ramayana
  8. Russian Ramayana
  9. Ramakathana - Cambodia
  10. Seranakanda - Malaysia
  11. Parsi Ramayana - Translation commissioned by Akbar

Reference: Adbhutha Ramayana by Dr. B. R. Suhas

 

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