The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c9.s3.1

c9.s3.1

Along with the Mahâbhârata, the Râmâyaṇa of Vâlmiki ranks as one of the two great Epics of India. It has a unity and individuality which the longer compendium lacks. But its date is almost equally uncertain. In its present form it is certainly later than the kernel of the Mahâbhârata. Jacobi shows that the Râmâyaṇa originally consisted of five books, II—VI, though here, too, some cantos are interpolated. The Seventh Book is certainly so late that it cannot be utilised along with the rest. The first beginnings of the real epic may go back to 500 B.C. but extensive additions were made till the second century B.C., and even later. However, the second century B.C. saw most of the work complete. The Râmâyaṇa arose in Kośala, with its centre at Ayodhyâ in Avadha (Oudh). Its narrative leads much further towards the south, though Laṅkâ, the abode of Râvaṇa, the king of Râkṣasas, is hardly likely to be Ceylon.¹ Whatever the locale of Kiṣkindhâ or of Laṅkâ, the Râmâyaṇa, for the most part, illustrates the political conditions only of the eastern districts of Madhyadeśa just as the Mahâbhârata pertains to its western parts. Unlike the Mahâbhârata, the Râmâyaṇa is a Kâvya; it is called the Âdi-Kâvya, the first ‘artificial’ poem. Its style is certainly polished and graceful, but it has all the naturalness and spontaneity of true poetry.² It was meant to be recited before gatherings. The fourth section of the First Book, the Bâlakâṇḍa, says that after composing the Râmâyaṇa the master reflected as to how he should publish it before assemblies. The Buddhist Jâtakas make it clear that there were several versions of the Râmâyaṇa current. In the Daśaratha Jâtaka, Sitâ is the sister of Râma paṇḍita and Lakkhaṇa paṇḍita as the two princes are called and the other details of the story are also different.¹