Events

Jointly organized by Asia Research Institute, NUS and the Asian Civilization Museum, Singapore

SYNOPSIS

The Ramayana is once of the great epics of Indian civilization. Its legendary composer, Valmiki, is regarded as the adi kavi (first poet). Based on excerpts from the Sanskrit original, this performance will be presented in two parts. The first concerns Valmiki’s discovery of the sloka (verse) form, and his inspiration for writing the epic using the sloka form. The second features the adventures of the popular monkey Hanuman in his search for Sita, who has been abducted by the powerful demon king, Ravana. Ananth Rao will share a sample of Valmiki’s poetry with the audience, with selected verses sung in Sanskrit and interpreted in English

This performance is held in conjuction with the workshop on Replaying the Past: Performances of Hindu Textual Heritage in India and Bali happening on 31 Jan – 1 Feb 2013.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ananth Rao is an academic mathematician by profession. Katha kalakshepa, or storytelling, has been a major interest for many years. He performs in English to multilingual audiences in Australia, and in India both in English and in Kannada. The stories are drawn from the epic and classical literatures of India and make extensive use of original Sanskrit and vernacular texts. He is currently a visiting fellow in the South Asia program, School of Culture, History and Language at the Australian National University, Canberra.

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. We would greatly appreciate if you RSVP to Mr Jonathan Leeat Email: jonathan.lee@nus.edu.sg