Legend of Ram: Antiquity to Janmabhumi Debate

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Sanujit Ghose draws on a wide array of primary and secondary sources to examine the legend of Ram. Variations of this story can be found in the Veda, the early Iranian and Babylonian epics. Myths relating to Ram travelled round the continents over many centuries until they reached India with the ascent of the pastoral civilisation. There are more than two hundred Ramayanas spread over the whole of South and Southeast Asia, beside tens of thousands of folktales associated with the Ram story. From escalating Muslim invasions around the eleventh century AD unto the appearance of Tulasidas in the sixteenth century, the process of deification of Ram moved on. The birthplace of Ram and a movement for the construction of a temple there dedicated to him are now at the centre stage of India impaling far-reaching changes in the very fabric of society. This fascinating study of the Ram legend dispassionately looks at all the available sources from mythological and oral accounts to historical and archaeological evidence and debates to make a clear picture out of this dilemma. Convincingly argued and eminently readable, this study will attract scholars and students of Indian religions, comparative doctrines, Indian history and civilisation, as well as general readers interested in this topical and perennially ambiguous subject....