The Indian cultural and social tradition has been built through the stories and legends of two epics – one is Ramayana and the other is Mahabharata.  Out of these two, the story of Ramayana is considered older and possibly it lived through oral literature among people for several thousand years before finally put in formal composition.  As a text, the book of Ramayana appears as authored by a single individual.  The text of Mahabharata appears to have a more complex evolution.  In their final form, both the epics were written and compiled about two thousand years ago, the exact dates are uncertain.

While the epic Mahabharata is a storehouse of analysis of human dilemma in various conditions in life, the epic Ramayana is a linear story of a righteous man confronting the problems in life in normal living.  While the story could be fictional and based on a legend, the poetic rendering of the story has made it endearing to the people of India and to many in Southeast Asia.  The principal character Rama is considered as an ideal man and has been the basis of modern day Hinduism in its iconic depiction.  Rama’s consort Sita is considered an ideal wife and has been the signature ideal of Indian women through the centuries.   

The credit of transforming a skeletal story line into a twenty four thousand stanza epic is attributed the Poet Valmiki, whose origin and habitat have not been researched yet.  We know his name through the book and we learn that he might have witnessed the story of Rama during his lifetime.  The beauty of his creativity comes through his mastery of the language of Sanskrit and the poetic exploration of geography and nature along with the analysis of human mind.  He excels in his characterization of women.  Besides Sita - Kaushalya, Kaikeyi, Tara, Mandodari and others come as powerful characters to depict different aspects of feminism and its vulnerability.  The story of Ramayana is a drama to celebrate the dignity of woman on earth.

Through a group of students and friends, we read the text every two weeks on Sunday afternoons in the local Sai Temple in Billerica.  We completed our third year of reading last May.  We are now in the fourth book out of seven that comprise the epic.   In association with our reading, we are organizing a stage production of a few episodes from the text to be rendered in music as a theater.  Valmiki claims in the book that he taught the lyrics to two young sons of Rama, who happened to be living in Valmiki’s hermitage because of turn of events.  Through their renderings the text apparently reached the general population and finally got etched into the tradition.

The Full Moon day in the month of Asvina in Indian calendar, has been considered as the birthday of  Sage Valmiki made through the astronomical calculations.  Our stage production is scheduled for Saturday, October 15, 4 PM to 6 PM. We plan to host three episodes: (i) Mother Kaushalya’s blessings to Rama, (ii) Rama and Lakshmana’s meeting Sugriva and Hanuman in the forests of Kiskindha, (iii) Queen Tara’s reaction seeing her fatally wounded husband.  The music for the production is composed by Dr. Ravi Mosurkal with the help of the vocalist Ms. Srilakshmi Srinivasan. 

The role of Rama in the production would be played by Mr. Sanjeev Tripathi, Lakshmana by Mr. Ravi Teja, Sugriva by Mr. V. Ramapriya, Hanuman by Mr. Janmejay Shishupal, Tara by Ms. Bhavani Vankineni and Kaushalya by Ms. Srilakshmi Srinivasan.  There would be a musical chorus led by Ms. Poornima Goli, supported by Ms. Roshini Saluja, Mr. Ajay Kewale, Mr. Baldeep Gandhi, Mr. Rajpreet Saluja, Mr Balubhai Patel and Mr. Ramanbhai Patel.  The play would be staged as a production simulating the popular ecstasy that has been the spirit of Ramayana as a living tradition in India.

The announcement of the production is here: https://www.dwarkamai.com/vidyapeeth/events/events-calendar-view?task=view_event&event_id=601

Dwarkamai Vidyapeeth is located at 267 Boston Post Road, Suite 9 in Billerica.  The event is free but seating would be limited.  We advise registration through the event site. To celebrate Valmiki, here is a piece of music from the play https://soundcloud.com/bijoy-misra/audio-10-11-2016-16-45-51

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