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Ramayana
Ramayana | Daljit Nagra
8 posts | 2 read | 8 to read
Attributed to Valmiki, thought to be India's first poet, the Ramayana's origins date back thousands of years when it was first committed to Sanskrit. Since then, generations of children the world over have grown up with its story of Rama's quest to recover his wife Sita from her abduction by Raavana, the Lord of the Underworld. The tale has been celebrated in many languages and has spread to many other countries including Nepal, Tibet, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is used as a Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Islamic, Sikh as well as a secular text, and lives in in many art forms too: in drama and dance, in sculpture and painting, in prose and in poetry. Daljit Nagra was captivated by the versions his grandparents regaled him with as a child. Now an award-winning poet of dazzling gifts, he has chosen to bring the story to life in a vivid and enthralling version of his own. Accessible and engaging, and bursting with energy, Nagra's Ramayana is a distillation and an animation for readers of all ages, whether familiar with or entirely new to this remarkable tale.
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Lindy
Ramayana | Daljit Nagra
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Pickpick

Not only is this retelling of the classic as funny as can be, it has playful font action as well. Rama can stop a boom shakalaka apocalypse and a monster with ten heads, but he does need help from magical monkeys etc. And he still manages to be "shocked at his own shocked state." But Rama, why oh why are you so hard on your dear Sita?

Lindy This version was recommended by someone on Litsy. Was it @Varshitha ? 7y
batsy Love your description! Magical monkeys are always needed. But you're right, I always want to know why Sita has to bear the worst burdens. 7y
Varshitha Not me!! But it does sounds interesting .. 7y
Lindy @Varshitha Yes, it's a lot of fun. 😀 7y
Lindy @batsy That's why I really love the focus on her in 7y
36 likes1 stack add5 comments
blurb
Lindy
Ramayana | Daljit Nagra
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Soorpanaka doesn't need a diet or the gym. She says: "I ripped into my fitness figure through awesome praying."
[image shamelessly ripped from Internet]

blurb
Lindy
Ramayana | Daljit Nagra
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"...the red squirrel tribes wet their fur in the surf then rolled in the sand, then quickly onto Nala's bridge and shook themselves - filling all the tiny spaces to make the bridge firm..."

I love the part where the squirrels help out. Visions of Squirrel Girl! (The image above is from another version, Sita's Ramayana, adapted from Moyna Chitrakar's wordless scroll paintings, with text by Samhita Arni.)

quote
Lindy
Ramayana | Daljit Nagra
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What a blessing if we could live in peace treasured 'midst our banana plantations, with honey from the hives whilst spearing beasts for their scrumptious meat. Oh and also dealing easily with the odd demon who is dropping by!

Lindy (Oh those pesky demons.) 7y
38 likes1 comment
quote
Lindy
Ramayana | Daljit Nagra
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All type demons recently infested-pested
this formerly peaceful forest,
they rub their chummy-tummy
at the thought of eating sages dead raw.

#Indic #poetry #playfulnesswithwords

blurb
Lindy
Ramayana | Daljit Nagra
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Playful book design and impish "gore galore!" content:
"A gonad fell in a sage's outstretched palm,
urine dribbled the beard of another...
The delicacy of the story forbids further embellishments of this nature "

#Indic #poetry

blurb
Lindy
Ramayana | Daljit Nagra
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"The sages felt unduly boo-hooey" - Nagra's wordplay is a delight. #Indic #poetry

Grrlbrarian Is this a graphic novel version? Or just a super-cool GN style cover? 7y
Lindy @Grrlbrarian No pictures, unfortunately, but some playful text placement. A great graphic novel version is 7y
Grrlbrarian Stacked the graphic novel! Thanks for the recommendation, @Lindy 7y
Lindy @Grrlbrarian You're welcome. I also really like the version told from Rama's wife's viewpoint in graphic novel: 7y
Grrlbrarian Stacked that one too, @Lindy 😊 7y
45 likes3 stack adds5 comments
quote
Lindy
Ramayana | Daljit Nagra
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Though each human trace is erased
from the universe and the Earth,
though each corpse be million years under,
Mother Earth will always bear
an impress of every foot that trod anxiously
and ecstatically, through good and evil,
upon her...
Upon her.... till Kala consume all again.

#Indic #poetry