The Ramayana Author:Aubrey Menen The Ramayana is one of the great epics of Hindu literature. Its 24,000 couplets reveal the atmosphere, ideals, and customs of ancient Hindu life, and it embodies the general life ideal toward which Hindu men and women aspire even today. — It is known that the Ramayana has been revised and added to during the 3000 years of its existence, and it oc... more »curred to Aubrey Menen to rewrite the epic in modern prose and in the form he imagined it to have been originally. The result is a completely charming mixture of humor and heroics which reveals the sheer insight and satirical wit with which the author has unfailingly rewarded his readers in previous books.
In his re-telling of the Ramayana, Aubrey Mennen has found a subject perfectly suited to his unique talents. The text is interwoven with sly fables which, amusing as they are, convey basic truths. There is real suspense and excitement in Rama's story, and the epic characters turn out to be more human than god-like. The whole work is as buoyant as a bubble, yet for those who look beneath the surface, it provides some thought-provoking parallels between the ancient Hindu civilization and that of our own day.« less