Epics as Novels

Published on 8th January 2017, in Mid-day. Most people in India are not familiar with the Sanskrit Ramayana or Mahabharata. We read popular versions, which in turn are based on regional retellings, which began appearing less than 1,000 years ago, and became very prevalent from around 500 years ago. Many regional works are either lost as they were orally transmitted or exist in fragments, awaiting translations. As a result, not many people in Gujarat, for example, are familiar with the poetic works of Bhalan (15th century) and Premananda (17th century) known as akhyanas based on epic episodes. Outside literary circles, few are aware of the ..