The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (Penguin Classics)

The greatest Indian epic, one of the world's supreme masterpieces of storytellingA Penguin Classic A sweeping tale of abduction, battle, and courtship played out in a universe of deities and demons, The Ramayana is familiar to virtually every Indian.

Although the Sanskrit original was composed by Valmiki around the fourth century BC, poets have produced countless versions in different languages.

Here, drawing on the work of an eleventh-century poet called Kamban, Narayan employs the skills of a master novelist to re-create the excitement he found in the original.