Changing Ramayana Characters and/in Changing Contexts [Book review of the book Oral-Written-Performed, The Ramayana Narratives in Indian Literature and Arts, Stasik, D. (ed.). 2020]

Oral-Written-Performed: The Rāmāyaṇa Narratives in Indian Literature and Arts is an edited volume of eleven articles and a brief introduction on a diversity of Ramayanas. The quality of the articles varies greatly: some articles are extremely explorative (for example, John Brockington’s “Stories in Stone”); some lack a clear focus or a proper introduction; whereas other articles provide high-quality, in-depth analyses of features and characters of a diversity of Indian Ramayanas. Most interesting are the articles that situate the specific representations of heroes and villains from Ramayana retellings, dramas, ritual performances, poems, and digital media within their particular socio-political contexts. These articles on changing representations of Rama, Ravana and his rakshas, and women (especially Sita and Ravana’s sister Surpanakha) make a valuable addition to existing Ramayana anthologies. The book could have benefited from a more extensive introduction or conclusion with some comments on coherence between the articles and a meta-level analysis of the topics discussed in the book.