[INDOLOGY] Modern scholarly translation of Tulsidas' Ramayana?

[Dipak Bhattacharya]

7.03.15

Dear George and friends,

I received this information kindly sent to me by Dr. Nityanand Mishra

“I do not have the contact of George Thompson, so the following response
may be forwarded to him.

The English translation by Gita Press is by far the most popular. It is
scholarly and reliable, but not ‘modern’ as it dates to 1960s. Originally
published in Kalyāṇa Kalpataru, the monthly English magazine of Gita Press,
in its annual editions 15, 16 and 17, the English translation was first
published as a book in 1968. One of the recent editions is:

The Publisher, Gita Press (2004). Sri Ramacharitamanasa With Hindi Text and
English Translation (revised ed.). Gorakhpur, India: Gita Press. ISBN
978-81-293-0146-8.

The latest edition is available free of cost on the website of Gita Press
under
http://www.gitapress.org/BOOKS/English/1318_Shri_Ramcharitmanas_Web.pdf

The best English translation I am aware of is by Dr. Ram Chandra Prasad,
who was a professor of English at the Patna University. He authored both
Hindi and English translations of the epic. For the English only
translation, please refer:

Prasad, Ram Chandra (1999). Sri Ramacaritamanasa (Illustrated, reprint
ed.). Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0762-4. 900 pages.

For the edition with bilingual Hindi and English translation, please refer:

Prasad, Ram Chandra (1989). Sri Ramacaritamanasa or The Holy Lake Of The
Acts Of Rama (Illustrated, reprint ed.). Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
ISBN 978-81-208-0443-2. 894 pages.

If I may add, many of Dr. Ram Chandra Prasad's interpretations were drawn
from discourses and books by my Guru Ācārya Giridhara Miśra (known in the
current Āśrama Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya Svāmi Rāmabhadrācārya). Prasad says
the following on page xiv of the 1999 edition: “Acharya Giridhar Mishra is
responsible for many of my interpretations of the epic. The meticulousness
of his profound scholarship and his extraordinary dedication to all aspects
of Rama's story have led to his recognition as one of the greatest
authorities on Tulasidasa in India today ... that the Acharya's knowledge
of the Ramacharitamanasa is vast and breathtaking and that he is one of
those rare scholars who know the text of the epic virtually by heart.”

Will this help?

Best

Dipak B.

On Tue, Mar 17, 2015 at 8:26 AM, George Thompson <gthomgt at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear List,
>
> I have been asked by a former student for help in finding a modern,
> reliable scholarly translation of Tulsidas' Ramayana into English.  This is
> a topic that I know little about.
>
> Can some one of you help me to steer him to a good translation?
>
> Thank you in advance,
>
> George Thompson
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> http://listinfo.indology.info
>


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