Ramacharitamanas: Easy Readings in English Prose & Poetry: Tulsidas Ramayana

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As the title Ramacharita- manas: Easy Readings in English Prose and Poetry shows, the book is a recreation of Ramacharita- manas in English prose and poetry. Here the author's humble attempt is to gift a very simple re- telling of Rama-charitamanas as a most handy and easily readable scripture to our young readers specially students in Colleges and Universities who have no time to read this great epic in big volume in a dialect called Abadhi. The comprehensible list of contents shows that nothing has been left untouched from the original text. Reading this book means under- standing the whole of the great epic Ramacharitamanas.

The transformations of all invocations of the poet to gods and goddesses in the beginning, all prayers by the saints to Sri Rama, all spiritual discourses by Sri Rama, Guru Vashistha, and Kakabhusundi, and even the subtle hesitations of Nishada to use his boat to take Sri Rama across the river in simple and lucid poetry, make the book very lively and interesting added with a wonderful fusion of ethics and aesthetics.

Dr Yamuna Prasad (Birth: 15.10.1946) is a retired University Professor and Head, of English and also Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Vinoba Bhave University Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.

Dr Prasad's first research book, E.M. Forster: The Theory and Practice of His Novels, published twice (1980 and 2000) was acclaimed as a pioneer work on E.M. Forster by the then Professor and Head of English, Osmania University Hyderabad, Dr V.A. Shahane in a review in The Indian Journal English Studies 1981-82. His second book A Passage to E.M. Forster, an anthology of research articles by American and British critics was published by Writers Workshop Kolkatta (2005). His third book Criticism on E.M. Forster: An Evaluation again a collection of research articles by American and British critics was published by Satyam Publishing House New Delhi in 2013

Dr Prasad because of his deep interest in scriptures, got several articles on Bhagavad-Gita related research articles published in English Journals. In Kalyan, a monthly journal by Gita Press Gorakhpur his research articles were published in June 2016 and July 2023 issues, and his essays in its special issues in Hindi in 2010, 2011, and 2015 and in English also in 2015.

Professor Prasad's book Shakespearean Tragedy Through Bhagavad Gita by Pragatisheel Prakashan New Delhi (2018) witnesses a purely Indian appreciation of Shakespearean tragedies in the light of scriptures, especially Bhagavad-Gita. His book Bhagavad Gita: Essence in Verse in both English and Hindi again published by Pragatisheel Prakashan (2021) has been acclaimed as a successful attempt to create interest in Gita in our young generations in a very lucid and simple style by saint scholars like Geeta Manishi Swami Gyananand Ji, Swami Abadheshanand Giri Ji, Maha Mandaleshwar, Juna Pith, and Swami Ashangananda Ji Mahamandaleshwar, Rishikesh and also by the Ex Vice Chancellor of Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya Uttrakhand, Dr. Mahabir Agarwal now Pro Vice-chancellor, Patanjali University Haridwar.

Dr Prasad whose motto is to cultivate interests of our youth in scriptures has also a deep interest in Bhagavata Puranas and intends to present this voluminous scripture in a very simple, compact, and precise but all-inclusive book form in English to our young generations who shudder at the very idea of reading Bhagavatama. He writes poetry in both English and Hindi and his anthology Ravana Ka Darda and Other Poems is coming soon in book form.

The book Ramacharitamanas: Easy Readings in English Prose and Poetry is in continuation of my earlier books Shakespearean Tragedy Through Bhagavad Gita (2018) and Bhagavad Gita: Essence in Verse in Hindi and English (2021). While I was reading Ramacharita- manas in-depth especially on devotion and duty, aversion and attachment, saints and the wicked, and the ways how to live life and realize God, I came to discover many echoes of Bhagavad Gita in this great epic of Saint Tulsidasa.

Though I have tried to fathom into the deep layers of the ocean Ramacharitamanas, I could catch only a few gems as I could not go much deeper down. However, fortunately by the grace of Sri Rama I have been able to render this great monumental epic in simple English prose and poetry and like Hanumana in Sunder Kand, I must acknowledge with humility "Prabhu ki kripa bhayau sab kaju." by the grace of the great Lord, the whole work has been done. In Bhagavada-Gita (Chapt 3:27) Lord Krishna says, "All actions are done under the inspirations of Nature but the fool and the arrogant think of themselves to be the doers. Here I must confess, "Not I, not I but the grace of Sri Rama which blowing through me has made me do it."

All great literary creations are rich in mythologies which are not tales of fantasy but living, highly relevant and ever fresh in the modern contexts. Our great books like The Mahabharata and The Ramacharitamanas are great mythological works keeping us in contact with our living past and reminding us what India was in the past, and how rich in creative imaginations and spiritual awareness. Therefore, C. Rajagopalachari in the Preface to his Ramayana appeals to the young Indians to read these mythological books:

"I appeal particularly to the young men in schools and colleges to read these books. There is not a page in them after reading which you will not emerge with greater courage, stronger will and purer mind. They are not just story books, although they are very good in that way too. They are the records of the mind and spirit of our forefathers who cared for the good, ever so much more than for the pleasure and who saw more of the mystery of life than we can do in our interminable pursuits for petty and illusory achievements in the material plane. We should be thankful to those who preserved for us these many-centuries-old epics in spite of all the vicissitudes through which our nation passed since Vyasa and Valmeeki's time." (Author's Preface to the third edition page-XII-XIII 19th Oct. 1958)