The SEASSI 2008 Ramayana Class
Welcome to the SEASSI 2008 Ramayana study pages. The resources here will help give you a basic knowledge of the major events and characters in the Valmiki Ramayana, from which local Southeast Asian versions were--for the most part--adapted.
In the "Ramayana in Southeast Asia" course, which will consist of four two-hour lectures, we'll approach the Ramayana in two ways. First of all, I'll tell the story of the Ramayana orally, in four parts, one part each week. In these storytelling sessions, I'll be sticking mostly to the Valmiki version of the Ramayana from India, from which Southeast Asian versions were eventually adapted. That will give you a solid foundation in the basic Ramayana story. These storytelling sessions will take up about 1 hour of each of our 2 hour class meetings.
For the remaining time of each 2 hour class, we'll approach the Ramayana in Southeast Asian cultures as a unique adaptation and variation in the various countries. We'll do this by looking at examples of various expressions of the Ramayana in those cultures. While the Ramayana has at one time or another existed in all of the countries of Southeast Asia whose major languages we study at SEASSI, due to availability of material and the limits of my personal knowledge, the majority of these examples will come from Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The examples will include videos of dance and theatrical performances, comic books, temple murals, descriptions of healing and rainmaking rituals, a live dance demonstration, and other materials. We'll also watch a few short clips from a popular Indian TV series adaptation of the Ramayana from the 1980s.
You won't be expected to do any work for this course, as it's non-credit, and while hopefully you'll learn something and develop an interest in pursuing further study of the Ramayana on your own, the overall atmosphere will be relaxed and fun.
To heighten your understanding and appreciation of this complex epic tale, however, it would be very useful if you could read the comic book on this website before coming to each lecture. It's in four parts, each part corresponds to one of the four class meetings. If you come to class with a basic knowledge of the characters and events in each part of the story, the oral version and the Southeast Asian Ramayana variation examples will make a lot more sense to you, trust me.
If you have any questions about any of this, please contact me at fjsmith@wisc.edu
The Ramayana: 'Classic Comic Version'
Part One: Origins to Banishment from Ayodhya Read by June 19
Part Two: First Adventures in the Forest to the Abduction of Sita Read by June 26
Part Three: Meeting Hanuman to the First Battles Read by July 3
Part Four: Waking of Kumbhakarna, Final Battle and Coronation Read by July 10
Comic Book Credits:
Published by India Book House Limited
Series Editor: Anant Pai
Artwork: Pratap Mulick
Script: Subba Rao
Distributor Link
Note:This comic book was originally scanned and put up on a now defunct website, with the publisher's permission. Unfortunately, the links to many of the pages were faulty, and several pages were missed. Therefore, I relocated the files here and fixed the links. Now, however, the original website seems to have disappeared altogether.
Major Characters in the Ramayana
Minor Characters in the Ramayana