Critique of the Ramayana Modern Prose Translation Essay

In a just world, Mr. R. K. Narayans estate would be responsible for reimbursing s counterbalanceteen-fifty, plus applicable taxes, to all those who purchased the Penguin Classics 2006 government issue of his book, The Ramayana A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic. Stated codly on the back of the cover is the promise that R. K. Narayan recounts The Ramayana with the narrative flair of a command novelist. The back cover lied. Narayans re-telling condenses the epic poem so much to the point of nearly listing a series of events.No matter the inspiration, Narayans The Ramayana is still a story, and should therefore be able to cornerstone on its own as a captivating talewith further literary research or expansion being used to enhance its arouse, non explain it. Arguably, the narrative flair of this re-telling is little more(prenominal) expressive than unsolicited summaries found on the Internet, and without further literary aide or instruction, does non stand as a solid piece of literature. What is worse, is that instead of allowing a greater breadth of readers to relate and experience tale of the Ramayana, new readers are alienated by its convoluted atmosphere.While the task is grand, Narayans translation is not listed as an aide to a larger, more in-depth version it is still a novel and as such needs to be able to stand ardent in its own right when evaluated alone. People who have no prior knowledge of the original Sanskrit story, and who have not been raised with the Hindu epic as a part of their life, should be able to pick up this book, read it, andregardless of how far the tale may go in global scorebe able to enjoy one hundred and fifty one pages of literature, without having any prior knowledge, or requiring further research.Having more knowledge, and doing more research on the original epic tale should increase what readers are able to receive from the book, but it should not be necessary in order to understand it. As it stands, wi thout knowing the original tale, new readers are left with very little literary flow and a patchy testifyion of what is supposed to be a lush world. At one point, while Bharatha and Rama argue as to who should be the rightful king, their entire episode is related with The argument went on at a highly academic and philosophical level, the entire assembly watching with respect. (Narayan 60)That assertion does not express a deep academic and philosophical argument, but kinda states that one was occurring the reader doesnt get to experience what transpired between the brothers, or garner any emotion from it. It goes on to almost quite literally depict the event with a he-said/he-said monotony So be it if I have the authoritythen I confer it on you as the ruler, said Bharatha at one stage. On my command as the ruler, if you desire to think so, you shall be the King. It went on thus.Rama went on repeating that there could be no word high than that of a father no conduct other than ob edience to it. Throughout he referred to Kaikeyi in the gentlest terms and always as pay off. (Narayan 61) The listed manner in which the plot is unfolded by Narayans re-telling is barely more narrative as a piece of literature than an excerpt from that of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia Bharatha refuses to profit from his mothers wicked scheming and visits Rama in the forest. He requests Rama to return and rule.But Rama, determined to carry out his fathers orders to the letter, refuses to return before the degree of exile. However, Bharatha carries Ramas sandals, and keeps them on the throne, while he rules as Ramas regent. (Wikipedia Contributors) There is very little more efficiency or flair in Narayans telling, and in fact, Wikipedia depicts the stages of the long tale with better clarity if the prose is not going to be linguistically lush and evocative, it may as well be clear (Wikipedia is not only clear, but free of charge as well).It is of course not a simple task t o undertake translating an epic poem from a rhythmic language, into prose with a language devoid of the same musicality. However, to the novice reader of The Ramayana, they would not know the difficulty of the task, and thushowever harsh it may look should not be a factor in the reviewing of the story as it stands alone.Narayan was by no means an incapable writer, and as winner of numerous awards and accoladesnot the least of which being multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature (Rajnish Wattas), he does not need defending that he has great ability as a writer, yet the bottom line remain that when it is stripped of further discussion, research, and introductions, The Ramayana A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic just does not stand on its own as captivating modern prose.With nearly each new episode of the tale, Narayan prefaces the action with even more listed information, take for slip the introduction to the chapter of Vali The characters in the drama that follows are Vali, Sugreeva, Hanuman, and Rama. The action takes place in the mountainous forest regions of Kiskinda, a kingdom ruled and inhabited by monkeys. In the Ramayana, the articipants are not only human beings, but many others from Gods creation, intelligent, cultured and with their own achievements of spirit as well as configuration Jambavan was a bear, Jatayu was an eagle, LakshmanaRamas brotherwas himself a human incarnation of the Great Serpent Adisesha in whose coils Vishnu rested. (Narayan 90) Again, the story is told by listing statements of what is going on.As with the landscape, and even the characters themselves, nothing is depicted in the story-writing of the prose, but stated, as if the entire epic was a news article being reported by Narayan, as contrasted to a vivid history with grand escapades and extreme characters. By translating an epic tale from poetic verse into shortened modern prose, the objective is ultimately to enable a broader audience to re late to and appreciate a classic tale.Poetry is a secluded literary world that does not have the mass appeal that modern prose does yet Narayans re-telling is too constrained and overwhelmed by the amount of story condensed into it. By trying to constrain the length of the story to allow for more readers to get through it, Narayans master narrative flair seems lost, and the epic tale is a heavy list of events that merely occur on the page.