Audrey TruschkeNov 11, 2019

Let's do another round on #Ramayana questions. One never exhausts this subject, truly.

Last time, I commented on modern retellings, Rama's birthplace, English translations of Valmiki's text, Shambuka's story, and the number of versions of the story.

If you have follow-up questions or others, have at it. I'll do my best to answer the first five questions. #MastodonThread #Thread #history

Show threadpeelerajaNov 11, 2019
@audreytruschke some say it was written before mahabharata and thus future events retrofitted. anything about this?
Show threadAudrey TruschkeNov 11, 2019

@peeleraja The way to remember this -- The internal chronology and the composition order of the two Sanskrit epics are opposite one another.

So, according to the internal chronology, Ramayana events happened first, then Mahabharata events. In terms of the written Sanskrit stories, most scholars think the Mahabharata was written first (There are some older linguistic forms in the text that indicate this, plus the society it reflects. Also the MBh contains an abbreviated RM story).

Show threadpeelerajaNov 11, 2019
@audreytruschke any references? even jstor paywalled ones ok
Show threadAudrey TruschkeNov 11, 2019
@peeleraja Brockington's Sanskrit epics is probably the clearest source that discusses the issue. Doniger's The Hindus has a timeline that shows this also.
Show threadpeeleraja
@audreytruschke thanks
Nov 11, 2019 at 3:12pmWeb