Customer Reviews

Ramayana Book Five: Sundara (Clay Sanskrit Library) (Bk. 5)

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The Goldmans' translation of the Ramayana is both beautiful and accurate. The Sundara-kanda or "beautiful section" deals with the aftermath of Sita's abduction and Rama's meeting with Hanuman. There is no definitive reasoning behind the name of this section, but most believe that it is because this section details many "beautiful" persons and places, e.g. Lanka, Sita, Hanuman, the reunion between Hanuman and Sita, etc. The translators really help the English speaking reader understand the poetics and emotion of the Sanskrit original.

The Clay Sanskrit library is a wonderful first step in righting the woefully inadequate attention afforded to Sanskrit vis a vis Greek and Latin. If you are a Hindu who is not fluent in Sanskrit, but is in English, this will be an excellent opportunity for you to see the text in the original language with the English side by side. I personally would have preferred that the Sanskrit text be in the standard Devanagari, but I suppose that for those who are unable to read Devanagari this choice is better.

I highly recommend the Goldmans' Ramayana translation, and the entire Clay Sanskrit library for serious students of Hinduism, Indology, and Sanskrit.

Beautiful dynamic imagery. I can't keep this book on my shelf: I buy a copy, read it, give it away, buy another, read it again, give it away . . .