Ramayana

[Jan E.M. Houben]

On Epic Sanskrit see now: 
Thomas Oberlies
A Grammar of Epic Sanskrit
Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2003.

J. Brockington wrote a few articles which
appeared in the Journal of the Oriental Institute
Baroda, vols. 19 (two articles) and 31 (one
article). Collection of his articles in: Epic
Threads, ed. by G. Bailey and M. Brockington,
Delhi 2000.

Cf. also 
J. Brockington, The Sanskrit Epics. Leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1998. 

Still controversial is the thesis of L. van
Daalen that Vaalmiiki's Sanskrit was originally
highly "sa.msk.rta" but became epicized
("irregular") in the course of the transmission
[this is my own formulation]. This is the inverse
of the view at the basis of the Baroda critical
edition. 
See van Daalen's: 
Vaalmiiki's Sanskrit, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1980. 
According to van Daalen's thesis the southern
manuscripts should not be given greater weight as
is done by the editors of the critical edition;
instead the northern manuscripts, minus additions
(books I and VII) and minus insertions
(characterized by significant numbers of
"irregularities") come closer to Vaalmiiki's
original in "chaste" sanskrit. 
The problem in van Daalen's thesis is: how to
characterize "correct" and "irregular" without
making Paa.nini into the decisive standard (since
it cannot be assumed that in Vaalmiiki's time
"correct" meant "in all details paa.ninian"). 
Best, 
Jan Houben

--- Ramdas Lamb <rlamb at HAWAII.RR.COM> wrote:

> jagan nadh wrote:
> 
> > Any body can suggest some books or  articles
> on Linguistic study of 
> > Ramayana. 
> 
> If you are thinking of Valmiki's work, you may
> find something of value, 
> in J.L. Brockington's "Righteous Rama."
> 
> Ramdas
> 


Jan E.M. Houben,
Directeur d'Etudes,
Sources et Histoire de la Tradition Sanskrite
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes,
A la Sorbonne,
45-47, rue des Ecoles,
75005 Paris -- France. 
J_E_M_Houben at yahoo.com
Homepage: http://home.planet.nl/~j.e.m.houben
Website: www.jyotistoma.nl

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