The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Smriti texts and Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered in Hinduism, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succession between two groups of princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas.
The Ramayana also known as Valmiki Ramayana, as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism known as the Itihasas, the other being the Mahabharata. The epic narrates the life of Rama, a prince of Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across forests in the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana; the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana, the king of Lanka, that resulted in war; and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya along with Sita to be crowned king amidst jubilation and celebration.
Vishvamitra is one of the most venerated rishis or sages of ancient India. Vishvamitra is one of the seven Brahmarshi. According to Hindu tradition, he is stated to have written most of the Mandala 3 of the Rigveda, including the Gayatri Mantra (3.62.10). The Puranas mention that only 24 rishis since antiquity have understood the whole meaning of —and thus wielded the whole power of — the Gayatri Mantra. Vishvamitra is supposed to have been the first, and Yajnavalkya the last.
The Ramavataram, popularly referred to as Kamba Ramayanam, is a Tamil epic that was written by the Tamil poet Kambar during the 12th century. Based on Valmiki's Ramayana, the story describes the legend of King Rama of Ayodhya. However, the Ramavataram is different from the Sanskrit version in many aspects – both in spiritual concepts and in the specifics of the storyline. This historic work is considered by both Tamil scholars and the general public as one of the greatest literary works in Tamil literature.
Shambuka is a character in some editions of the Ramayana. Some say that the character and his story are an interpolation which is not found in the original Valmiki Ramayana but in a later addition called Uttara Kanda.
Braj Basi Lal was an Indian writer and archaeologist. He was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1968 to 1972 and has served as Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla. Lal also served on various UNESCO committees.
The Chinas, Cīna, or Chīnaḥ are a people mentioned in ancient Indian literature from the first millennium BC and first millennium AD, such as the Mahabharata, Manusmriti, and the Puranic literature.
Bibek Debroy is an Indian economist, serving as the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. He is also the Chairman of the Finance Ministry's 'Expert Committee for Infrastructure Classification and Financing Framework for Amrit Kaal'. Debroy has made significant contributions to game theory, economic theory, income and social inequalities, poverty, law reforms, railway reforms and Indology among others. Bibek Debroy's recent co-authored magnum opus, Inked in India, stands distinguished as the premier comprehensive documentation, capturing the entirety of recognized fountain pen, nib, and ink manufacturers in India. He is also an anchor for the fortnightly show Itihasa on Sansad TV.
Randamoozham is a 1984 Indian Malayalam-language mythological drama novel written by the Indian author M. T. Vasudevan Nair, widely credited as his masterpiece. The work won the Vayalar Award, given for the best literary work in Malayalam, in 1985. It also won the Muttathu Varkey Award in 1994. The novel has been translated to multiple languages. It was translated into English as Second Turn by P. K. Ravindranath in 1997. Another English translation by Gita Krishnankutty published in 2013 is titled Bhima: Lone Warrior.
Depending on the methods of counting, as many as three hundred versions of the Indian Hindu epic poem, the Ramayana, are known to exist. The oldest version is generally recognized to be the Sanskrit version attributed to the sage Narada, the Mula Ramayana. Narada passed on the knowledge to Valmiki, who authored Valmiki Ramayana, the present oldest available version of Ramayana.
Devdutt Pattanaik is a mythologist and writer from Mumbai, India. He is also a speaker, illustrator and author, on Hindu sacred lore, legends, folklore, fables and parables. His work focuses largely on the areas of religion, mythology, and management. He has written books on the relevance of sacred stories, symbols and rituals in modern times; his more popular books include Myth = Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu MythologyJaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata and Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana and My Gita. Pattanaik has incorporated the Mahabharata and the Ramayana into human resource management.
Kṛttivāsī Rāmāyaṇ,; also called Śrīrām Pãcālī, composed by the fifteenth-century Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha, from whom it takes its name, is a rendition of the Rāmāyaṇa into Bengali. Written in the traditional Rāmāyaṇa Pā̃cālī form of Middle Bengali literature, the Kṛttivāsī Rāmāyaṇ is not just a rewording of the original Indian epic, but also a vivid reflection of the society and culture of Bengal across the period of its circulation, from the Middle Ages into the modern period. It was characterised by Dinesh Chandra Sen in 1911 as 'by far the most popular book in Bengal' and 'the Bible of the people of the Gangetic Valley'.
Rama is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being.
Mahabharata is a comic adaptation of the Indian epic poem Mahabharata. The 42-issue best-selling series by Amar Chitra Katha, Mumbai was illustrated by Dilip Kadam. The team of script writers included Kamala Chandrakant, TMP Nedungadi, Subba Rao, Yagya Sharma, Lopamudra, Mihir Lal Mitra, Sumona Roy, Mohan Swaminathan, Shubha Kandhekar and Margie Sastry.
Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri is an Indian historian, writer, and Indologist. He is a specialist in Indian epics, Vedas, and Puranas. In 2012, Bhaduri undertook the large-scale project of creating an encyclopedia of the major Indian epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. The project is freely available online. Due to the difficulty and complexity of the task, it took Bhaduri a decade to conceptualize the project. During the compendium's creation, several Indian journalists stated that the encyclopaedia was poised to challenge many long-held beliefs about the epics.
Anand Neelakantan is one of India's top selling authors with more than 15 books to his credit. Anand is also a columnist, screenwriter, and public speaker. He is known for writing mythological fiction and has authored fourteen books in English and one in Malayalam. He has also written screenplays for popular television series in Hindi on various GEC and OTT platforms. He has been writing a column named Acute Angle in the New Indian Express since 2017. Anand has acted in two Advertisement films and has also played the role of the antagonist Ettappa Naicker in the Doordarshan Television show Swaraj. He follows the style of telling stories based on the perspective of the antagonists or supporting characters of a larger work. His debut work Asura: Tale of the Vanquished (2012) was based on the Indian epic Ramayana, told from the perspective of Ravana—the first book in his Ramayana series. It was followed by series of books based on characters from Mahabharata and Baahubali. His books have been translated to different languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Assamese, English, Sinhalese, Burmese and Indonesian. Anand has written screenplays for popular Hindi television serials like Siya Ke Ram in Star TV, Mahabali Hanuman in SONY TV, Chakravarthy Ashoka in Colors TV, Sarfarosh in Netflix, Swaraj in DD National, Srimad Ramayan in Sony TV etc. He has written the story for the OTT series TAJ in Zee5
Kalmashapada, also known as Saudasa, Mitrasaha, and Amitrasaha is a king of the Ikshvaku dynasty In Hindu scriptures, who was cursed to be a rakshasa (demon) by the sage Vashishtha. He is described as an ancestor of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu and the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana.
Venmurasu is a Tamil novel by writer Jeyamohan. A modern renarration of the Indian classical epic Mahabharata, it is considered Jeyamohan's most ambitious work to date, with "a scope and scale that seeks to match the grandness of the epic itself." It is one of the longest novels ever published. Jeyamohan started writing the work in January 2014 and announced plans to write it every day over ten years. He completed Venmurasu in 2020, spanning 26 volumes and 26,000 pages.
Ram: Scion of Ikshvaku is a one to one replica of the events taking place before the epic tale "Ramayana" and also the fourth book of Amish Tripathi, fourth book of Amishverse, and first book of Ram Chandra Series. It was released on 22 June 2015. It is based on Ram, the legendary Indian king regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu. The title was revealed by the author at the Jaipur Literature Festival. The story begins with King Dashrath of Ayodhya being defeated in a war by Lankan trader Raavan, and the birth of his son Ram. It follows through Ram's childhood and tutelage, along with the politics surrounding his ascension to the throne, and ultimately his 14-year exile, accompanied by wife Sita and brother Lakshman.
Samhita Arni is an Indian writer who writes in English. She is best known for her adaptations of Indian epic poetry. She started writing and illustrating her first book The Mahabharatha - A Child’s View at the age of eight. The book then went on to be translated in seven languages and sold 50,000 copies worldwide. Her second book – Sita’s Ramayana – was on the New York Times Bestseller list for Graphic Novels for two weeks in 2011.
