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About The Project

About University :
The Ramayana project is being implemented at the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Deemed University, Tirupati, India. The Vidyapeetha is well known for its high standards of teaching, research and training in traditional Sanskrit, including Shastras and Vedavedangas. It is possibly the only University where entire teaching takes place exclusively in Sanskrit, and at the same time keeping pace of Modern technological Advancements. Thus, it acts as a link between ancient knowledge contained in Sanskrit and Modern world and exploring the contemporary relevance of such knowledge. The following are some of the important projects being implemented at the Vidyapeetha, besides the Ramayana project.

In view of the expertise, experience and infrastructure available at the Vidypeetha, it was felt appropriate to undertake the Ramayana project.

Ramayana Project : Valmiki Ramayana is an ancient epic of India, highly valued for its contribution to human values since centuries and has universal relevance. It consists of 24000 verses in seven Kandas or Chapters –Bala Kanda, Ayodhya Kanda, Aranya Kanda, Kishikindha Kanda, Sundara Kanda, Yuddha Kanda followed by Uttara Kanda. Each Kanda is further sub-divided into Sargas (sections) and each Sarga is composed of few Slokas (Verses). Each Sloka is identified with three numbers e.g., 1.1.1, the numbers indicate Kanda, Sarga and Sloka respectively.

Firstly, Late Sri V.V.Subba Rao, Former General Manager IDBI, and a member of Advisory committee of Valmiki Ramayana Project initiated the project with the assistance of Prof. P.Geervani, Former Vice-Chancellor, Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswavidyalaya, presently co-ordinator for Valmiki Ramayana Project.

Though there are a few translations available, this project is undertaken to give the word order and meaning in English and also Summary of the sarga so that readers appreciate the literary and poetic beauty of Sanskrit in Ramayana. To enable those who cannot read Sanskrit it has been transliterated into Indian languages as well as diacritical English. To keep up with the present times it has been presented through electronic media. It is hoped that readers will develop interest in Sanskrit language and improve their knowledge of Sanskrit.

    Objectives
  • To bring out a translation of the original text of Ramayana of Sri Valmiki through Electronic and print media.
  • To bring out selected Sanskrit commentaries on Ramayana along with English translation.
  • To propagate the text and commentaries all over the world through Electronic media in English and in as many Indian languages as possible.
  • To protect and preserve the ancient literary works on Ramayana in Sanskrit.
  • To bring in cultural awareness and universal brotherhood among international community.
  • To bring in behavioral change towards establishing creedless and broadminded society.
  • To develop ability to appreciate the essence of Ramayana at cognitive and co native levels.
  • To prepare glossary of Ramayana in English Language.
The Ramayana project was initially conceived by late Sri V.V.Subba Rao, Former General Manager IDBI, Hyderabad. Later, due to technical considerations, and the necessity of the Sanskrit scholars, it was decided that the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati will be an ideal Institution to carry on the project.

There are several commentaries on Valmiki Ramayana. However, seven of the important commentaries have been selected for translation. The selected commentaries and the names of the translators are as follows:

  • Govinda Raja Pranita Ramayana Bhusana
  • Shree Madhava Yogi Pranita Amritakataka
  • Shiva Sahaya Pranita Ramayana Siromani
  • Rama Pranita Ramayana Tilaka
  • Bhavadeepa
  • Maheswara Thirtha
  • Tanishloki
  • Dhrmakuta
The project aims at translation of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana into English and transliterate the text into major Indian languages, namely, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam and make it available on the Internet. Besides, translation into five major European languages, viz. French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese is also being made available with the help of software. The Southern rescension of Ramayana has been adopted by the project. The Project is carried out with the financial assistance of MHRD, Govt. of India, New Delhi and executed by Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Deemed University, Tirupati with Prof.K.V.Ramakrishnamacharyulu (Co-ordinator : Sansknet project / NLP Programme etc.), RSVP, Tirupati and Prof .P.Geervani, Former Vice-chancellor,SriPadmavathi Mahila University, Tirupati as co-ordinators.

In the First phase, each Sloka together with Prose Order will be presented in Sanskrit and into Indian languages.

In the Second phase, the word -to-word meaning and sloka meaning together with Sarga Summary in English and European languages will be provided. This translation has since been completed for Bala kanda and Ayodhya Kanda.

In the Third phase, explanatory translation in English for each Sarga/Subject of the seven commentaries in Sanskrit will be presented.

    In order to ensure good translation and edition of slokas and summary in English, the following committee has been constituted:

  1. Prof.P.Geervani former Vice Chancellor,Sri Padmavathi Mahila University,Chairman.
  2. Prof.K. Kamala, Professor of Sanskrit (Retd), Osmania University, Hyderabad.
  3. Prof.K.Lakshmana Murthy, Professor of English (Retd), Kakatiya University, Warangal and
  4. Sri V. V. Subba Rao (2000-2002)
    Summary of sargas and kandas :

  1. Ms. Shamala Y.R. Reddy, Hyderabad., documented the sarga and kanda summaries in contemporary English language.
  2. Sri Nathoolal Pal (Professional Translator, South Central Railway) Translated the glossary.

    Audio rendering of slokas: Dr.Dwaramlakshmi, Reader in music, Sri Padmavati Mahila University, Tirupati.

    Music composed by: Sri K. Krishna Mohan, Artist, All India Radio

    Translation of Valmiki Ramayana

    Balakanda and Ayodhyakanda were translated jointly by Late Sri V.V. Subba Rao (2000-2002) and prof. P. Geervani Since May, 2002. Translation of other kandas is continued by Prof. P. Geervani with the assistance of Prof. K. Kamala.
    An Editorial board was constituted with the following as members :

  1. Prof. D.Prahladachar, Vice-Chancellor, Rashtriya sanskrita vidya Peetham,Chairman
  2. Prof. K.T.Pandurangi,
  3. Prof. P.Sriramachandrudu,
  4. Prof. S. Raghunatha acharyulu (2000-2002)
  5. Sri V. V. Subba Rao (2000-2002)
  6. Prof. P.Geervani,
  7. Prof. K.V.ramakrishnamacharyulu,
  8. Sri.Sambaiah, Ex-oficio secretary
  9. Sri.Anand, Finance officer
The translation of commentaries is carried out by the following scholars :

Name of the Scholar Commentary
Prof. M.Narasimhachary, Professor of Sanskritv(Retd),Chennai Bhushana
Prof. Nalini Sadhale, Professor of Sanskrit( retd)Hyderabad Dharmakuta
Prof. C.Ramanathan, Professor of Sanskrit(retd)Bangalore Tilaka
Prof. H.V.Nagaraja Rao, Professor of Sanskrit (retd)Mysore Maheswara Thirtha
Prof. D.Prahladachar, Vice chancellor Rsvp,Tirupati Bhavadeepa
Dr.Shubra sarma ,Newdelhi Amrutakataka
Prof.Laxmanamurthy, Prof.Of English(retd) warangal Tanishloki
Prof.S.N.Joshi,Professor of Sanskrit(Retd)Nanded,Maharashtra Siromani

The completed work of data entry, word-to-word meaning, translation work Summary etc. will be posted on Internet from time to time as the project makes progress and can be viewed at the following website:

				http:// rsvpramayana@eth.net.
The university gratefully acknowledges Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India, New Delhi for the financial support to execute the project.

Dr.Vijay Bhaktar, Chairman.ETH Research Lab has readily consented to host the Ramayana site on the ETH Web Site. The Web Application Development Team at ETH Lab headed by Dr.Vinod Vidwans and his team members are acknowledged for their help. I extend my grateful thanks to all of those who extended help in the execution of the project.

Thanks are due to Shri V. Ramakrishna Raju of Vegesna Software Solutions Ltd for extending excellent support in hosting and maintenance of the web site.

Our grateful Thanks are due to Shri M.S.Reddy (Managing Director), Sabdalaya studios, Hyderabad for generously providing the studio facilities free of cost for recording audio.

The university acknowledges the secretarial and computer assistance rendered by several young students engaged in the execution of the project. Important among them are Kandukuri Suresh, S. Geetha, Srikanth and Subramanian.

For feedback and suggestions on the project, contact:

		kvrk@sansknet.org
		kvrkus@yahoo.com
		pgeervani@rediffmail.com


							Prof. D. Prahladacharya,
							Vice-Chancellor,
							Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati.
							Andhra Pradesh, India.

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