Ramakien Characters [Photo gallery]
The images depict the main characters from the Ramakien, Thailand's national epic representing the Siamese / Thai version of the Ramayana. They are taken from Professor Satya Vrat Shastri’s book “Ramayana in Southeast Asia�. These images depict in detail the complexions, facial expressions, head-gears, number of arms and heads and the postures, evidence par excellence as how Thai Muse had conceived them. This collection includes photographs of even bulls, horses, elephants ,birds and reptiles. There is reproduction of the story in the form of Hnang Yai in some details.
The Ramakien does not necessarily follow the Valmiki Ramayana in the delineation of the episodes. It takes an independent line in a number of cases introducing a few of the episodes not figuring in it. The present volume deals with them in extenso making every effort to connect them with Indian sources, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain and even folklore. It also brings to the fore the differences, the major an the minor, between the two, the Valmiki Ramayana and the Thai Ramayana bringing out inter alia in detail the influence the story exercises even at present on Thai social matrix.
Gallery: 121 images
Click each photos to see detailled description, exif-information and high-resolution:
