The Ramayana: Resources

"Rama and Sita setting up their hut in Panchvati" by Sahib Din - he Mewar Ramayana[/captio

The Ramayana is one of India's most popular epics. Versions appear in literature, plays, movies, and even television.

It's the story of King Rama and how he tries to save his kidnapped wife, Sita. The Indian sage Valmiki wrote the epic about 200BCE in Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language.

Here are some great resources for teaching the epic.

• The Asia Society has an excellent summary of the story.
• The National Gallery of Australia has a terrific collection of Indian miniatures from New Delhi.  The miniatures help tell the story of the Ramayana.
• The British Library's Sacred Texts Online includes the Ramayana. If you go to the site and click, "turning the pages," you can scroll through the Mewar collection of Ramayana images. They are quite striking.
• The animated Ramayana from Nina Paley, called Sita Sings the Blues. You can see the video below.
• Lesson plans from the National Endowment for the Humanities. They include: Following the Dharma, Showing your Dharma, Reading the Ramayana as an Epic Poem
• Asian Education has a good introductory lesson to the Ramayana for middle school students.