Valmiki's Ananda Ramayana is the abridged version of Shatkoti Ramayana. There are hundred crores of shlokas in Ramayan — the original one, which has been divided into three forms, one for the Swarga (heaven), another for the Manushyalok (earth) and one for the Patalloka (the netherlands). So, whatever came to the earth as abridged form is Ananda Ramayan...," informs Rajalakshmi.
While Ramayana has been translated into several languages, other forms of the epic, too, attracts scholars. No wonder, IAS officer Jayanti Ravi and her mother Rajalakshmi Srinivasan, 72, have decided to translate Valmiki’s Ananda Ramayana from Sanskrit to Tamil and English.
Rajalakshmi spoke to dna on the sidelines of Tarjuma — Festival of Translators that came to an end at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IITGn) on Friday. She has translated Ramayana, written in Sanskrit by Sathya Vrata Sastrigal-Ramakirti, into Tamil as Shri Ramkirti Mahya Kaviyam, which has been published by Sahitya Akademi.
“I am interested in all forms of Ramayana from Adhyatma Ramayana to Kamba Ramayana to Tulsi Ramayana. Ananda Ramayana has seven kaand, where so many beautiful stories have been narrated,” said Rajalakshmi.
“There has always been an atmosphere of reading, reciting Sanskrit scriptures like Ramayana and others at home. Thus Sanskrit has come to our children naturally. My husband KS Srinivasan and Jayanti’s husband Ravi Gopalan are also very interested and involved in such activities. So, with their help, we mother and daughter will be taking up the translation of Ananda Ramayana,” she added.
“My mother has been my first guru (teacher) and there was an atmosphere of these scriptures at home. From our childhood, we were taught different shlokas from the Ramayan. Two years ago, we got the opportunity to do full Parayan of Valmiki Ramayan (Nine days of reading Ramayan). I also got the chance to present a paper on Ram Paadukas in the presence of Moraribapu. All this is something close to my heart. We have been reading this for quite some time now. My mother has a lot of knowledge about the different versions of Ramayan,” said Jayanti.
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