Avadhi Ramayan

[Robin Kornman]

>> On Wed, 23 Dec 1998, Ashish Chandra wrote:
>> > What do we say about Ramayana then ? It has been popularized
>> > in the North by Kavi Tulsidas who wrote in Avadhi (I think).
>>
>        This is correct. And incidentally, TulasI's RAma-carita-mAnasa has
>indeed been compared to the Bible, on numerous occasions, by various
>authors. Baburam Saxena says that Baisvari, or KosalI, are other names
>that have been used for the dialect of Avadhi which was spoken around
>Lucknow and adjacent areas. For more on TulasI's RAmAyaNa, see Phil
>Lutgendorf's _Life of a Text_.
>
>        MT

I'm very interested in this issue of the propogation of epic literature and
motives into popular media and the re-entry of classical motives into epic
literature. What is Lutgendorf's _Life of a Text_ about? Why should I look
there to find out more about the TulsI?

Robin Kornman

Robin Kornman
Fellow, National Endownment for the Humanities
Associate, Joint Center for International Studies
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
414-967-0311
fax 414-967-0064
rkornman at csd.uwm.edu