The Ramayana is a story that has shaped and reflected the cultural beliefs of Indians over millennia. But at the heart of it, the epic is a story of love lost, found, and then lost again. In this seminar, attendees will get a brief glimpse of how the Ramayana has shaped notions of love and relationships, and begin to understand how the Ramayana still impacts the lives of Indians today.
Upcoming 4-Module Course with Samhita Arni:
The Ramayana, a five-thousand-year-old epic tradition, still rules popular imagination. In India, court judgments refer to the Ramayana, advertisements frequently depict the ten-headed villain of this epic, Ravana. The main hero and heroine of the epic, Ram and Sita, are still spoken of as ideals and role models, prescribing the way men and women should live, and relate to each other. This epic tradition has constructed and mediated relationships between god and man, man and woman, ruler and subject, poet and patron.
The Ramayana has been retold countless times over millennia, in art, performance, and in words, with each storyteller inscribing their own life experience onto the epic, and reinterpreting it’s legacy for subsequent generations. In this course, we will examine how this epic tradition and it’s complex legacy, influence ideas of life, leadership, power, and relationships in India and beyond. The epic tradition still influences the culture, lifestyles, and beliefs of the Hindu diaspora, from the US to Guyana.
This course is designed to accommodate all levels of understanding, including those curious non-Hindus who seek to understand the impact that this story has had on Hindu history and culture and enable them to perceive the continuing legacy of this epic today.
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