Seeing beyond all the 300 masks... (Ramayana Debate)
Translated from the Kannada Prabha article by Shri. Shatavadhani R Ganesh Lately the debate over A.K.Ramanujan's essay titled '300 Ramayanas' has been going on in the media. This is not new to the scholars of Ramayana. There have been debates over Ramayana in our history and Puranas for thousands of years. However, all the versions of Ramayana deem Valmiki's thought as the original, without accusations, and drew inspiration from it and NOT from sources outside of our Indian tradition. Few contend that Buddhist and Jain versions of the Ramayana are very different and older to Valmiki's Ramayana. But this argument is misplaced. Everyone is aware that the present form of the Tripitakas took shape during the Third Buddhist Council (during 1st century CE) organised by Kanishka. Experts opine that, The Jataka Tales, which are not a part of the Tripitakas were written even later. If contending that one of the Jatakas, the 'Dasharata' Jataka, as the origin o