% Rāmāyaṇa: General information % Last updated: Fri Sep 25 2020 % Encoding: Unicode Roman % ================================== Electronic text of the Rāmāyaṇa ================================== This file contains information about the electronic text of the Rāmāyaṇa. Anyone who intends to make use of the text is asked to read it carefully. It is divided into three sections: * The status of the electronic text * The format of the electronic text * Notes on the electronic text John D. Smith University of Cambridge ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The status of the electronic text ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This text has its origins in the work of Prof. Muneo Tokunaga of the University of Kyoto. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Prof. Tokunaga typed the entire text of the Critical Edition of the Rāmāyaṇa (Baroda, 1960-75) into a computer; he then placed the electronic text he had thus created on the Internet. The enormity of the labour involved in the creation of the text is matched only by Prof. Tokunaga’s generosity in making it so freely available to the scholarly world. This version of the text derives ultimately from that first version, and I am deeply grateful to Prof. Tokunaga for permitting this use of the products of his labour. Unlike the electronic Mahābhārata, this text of the Rāmāyaṇa has not benefited from the attention of a dedicated team working for several years to free it from errors. After converting Prof. Tokunaga’s ASCII-based version to Unicode, and regularising the format to correspond to that of the Mahābhārata, I have merely corrected errors as they came to my attention. In doing so I have received the kind assistance of a number of people who reported to me errors they had found. They include: Robert Chen, Yves Codet, Phillip Ernest, James L. Fitzgerald, Giulio Geymonat, Arlo Griffiths, Krešimir Krnic, Kirti Kulkarni, Christopher Minkowski, Sven Sellmer and Michael Slouber. (Please inform me of anyone I have accidentally omitted.) However, the text is still neither as accurate nor as consistent as I would like, so it should be used with caution. If you believe you have found an error, please report it by email to Suvarna Deshpande (suvarnad09 [at] gmail.com) or Pranav Gokhale (pranavpg88 [at] gmail.com). Before reporting any error, please read the rest of this document! Corrections will be made to errors remaining in the text as they come to light. Check the “Last updated” date at the head of each kāṇḍa against the current dates listed on the distribution website (URL https://bombay.indology.info/ramayana/welcome.html) to see whether you need to download newer versions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The format of the electronic text ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Line-numbers --------------- The text is divided into seven files, one per main book (kāṇḍa) of the Rāmāyaṇa. However, the format of each line is such as to identify it uniquely, whichever file it happens to come from. At the start of every line appears an eight-character line-number specifying the book or kāṇḍa (one digit), the chapter or sarga (three digits), the verse or śloka (three digits), and the quarter-verse or pāda (one letter, specifying the first of the two pādas that form each line). Thus the last verse of the entire Rāmāyaṇa appears as: 7100026a etāvad eva ākhyānaṁ sottaraṁ brahmapūjitam 7100026c rāmāyaṇam iti khyātaṁ mukhyaṁ vālmīkinā kr̥tam indicating that it represents pādas a to d of the 26th verse of book 7, chapter 100. If the line is part of a verse in triṣṭubh or other longer metre, the division between the pādas is marked with a semicolon: 1001079a paṭhan dvijo vāgr̥ṣabhatvam īyāt; syāt kṣatriyo bhūmipatitvam īyāt 2. Encodings ------------ The text is available in three encodings (character sets) commonly used for Sanskrit and other Indian languages: Unicode Devanagari, Unicode Roman (using the conventions defined in ISO 15919), and ASCII (using the Harvard/Kyoto conventions). 3. Spelling conventions ----------------------- Forms such as kiṁ cit (/cana/api) are everywhere spelt as two words in Roman representations of the electronic text (assuming that sandhi does not prevent this, as in kāpi), whatever the usage in the printed text. The word kaccit of course is unchanged, as are compounded forms such as yatkiṁcitkārin “acting wilfully”. In the Devanagari versions of the text, forms such as kiṁcit are spelt as single words to respect normal usage in Indian scripts. The phrase atha vā is always written as two words. The same applies to periphrastic perfects: kathayāṁ babhūva, etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Notes on the electronic text ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Occasionally the electronic text differs from the text as given in the printed edition. The following is a complete list of such differences: each line or stanza is quoted as it is actually printed, followed by a comment explaining the apparent discrepancy. Note that changes made purely to adhere to the spelling conventions listed above are not included. Note also that all corrections included in the printed edition’s various lists of errata, etc., have been applied to the electronic text: they too are not referred to here. (Among the corrections to Book 1, The Bālakāṇḍa, are changes to the line numbering affecting passages 1.9.7–8, 1.13.22–4, 1.15.25–7 and 1.26.16–19: the numbering in the electronic text implements these corrections.) 1001025a paurair anugato dūraṁ pitrā daśarathena ca 1001025c śr̥ṅgaverapure sūtaṁ gaṅgākūle vyasarjayat In the Critical Notes, the editor remarks, “Read 59* in the text after 25.” This and similar insertions have not been made here as they would scramble the line numbering. Star passage 59* reads: guham āsādya dharmātmā niṣādadhipatiṁ priyam guhena sahito rāmo lakṣmaṇena ca sītayā 1001029a mr̥te tu tasmin bharato vasiṣṭhapramukhair dvijaiḥ 1001029c niyujyamāno rājyāya naicchad rājyaṁ mahābalaḥ In the Critical Notes, the editor remarks, “After 29, 70*, 71* and 73* should be read in the text.” Star passage 70* reads: ayācad bhrātaraṁ rāmam āryabhāvapuraskr̥taḥ Star passage 71* reads: tvam eva rājā dharmajña iti rāmaṁ vaco ’bravīt Star passage 73* reads: na caicchat pitur ādeśād rājyaṁ rāmo mahābalaḥ 1001048a hanumadvacanāc caiva sugrīveṇa samāgataḥ 1001048c sugrīvāya ca tat sarvaṁ śaṁsad rāmo mahābalaḥ In the Critical Notes, the editor remarks, “Read 96* and 97* after St. 48 in the text.” Star passage 96* reads: sugrīvaś cāpi tat sarvaṁ śrutvā rāmasya vānaraḥ Star passage 97* reads: cakāra sakhyaṁ rāmeṇa prītaś caivāgnisākṣikam 1006022a añjanād api niṣkrāntair vāmanād api ca dvipaiḥ 1006022c bhadramandrair bhadramr̥gair mr̥gamandraiś ca sā purī In the Critical Notes, the editor remarks, “Put the star passage 243* in the text after 22ab” — i.e., between the two existing lines of this śloka. Star passage 243* reads: bhadrair mandrair mr̥gaiś caiva bhadramandramr̥gais tathā 1073016a tasmiṁs tamasi ghore tu bhasmacchanneva sā camūḥ 1073016c dadarśa bhīmasaṁkāśaṁ jaṭāmaṇḍaladhāriṇam In the Critical Notes, the editor remarks, “Read 1348* in the text as 16ef” — i.e., as a third line of this śloka.” Star passage 1348* reads: bhārgavaṁ jāmadagnyeyaṁ rājarājavimardanam 2095019a sīte mr̥tas te śvaśuraḥ pitrā hīno ’si lakṣmaṇa 2095019c bharato duḥkham ācaṣṭe svargataṁ pr̥thivīpatim In the Corrigenda, the editor remarks, “After 2.95.19, 2179* and 2178* are to be read above in the Crit. Text as 2.95.20 and 21 and 22 respy., with the changes sā sītā (for jānakī) and svargalokagataṁ nr̥pam for b in st. 20.” Star passage 2179* reads: jānakī śvaśuraṁ śrutvā sarvalokaguruṁ mr̥tam netrābhyām aśrupūrṇābhyāṁ na śaśākekṣituṁ patim Star passage 2178* reads: tato bahuguṇaṁ teṣāṁ bāṣpaṁ netreṣv ajāyata tathā bruvati kākutsthe kumārāṇāṁ yaśasvinām tatas te bhrātaraḥ sarve bhr̥śam āśvāsya bhārgavam abruvañ jagatībhartuḥ kriyatām udakaṁ pituḥ