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I am collecting Indian Heritage and culture related vintage postcards, paintings, prints etc. and exhibited them at several locations across India in various events and also sharing them with school and college children by giving presentations to them on Indian Heritage and Culture with my collections and also documenting puppetry etc. intangible performances.

Saturday 7 December 2013

The Ramakien - Thailand Ramayana



The Ramakien (The Ramakien (รามเกียรติ์, "Glory of Rama", sometimes also spelled Ramakien) is Thailand's national epic, derived from the Hindu epic Ramayana. The word is derived from Sanskrit word Ramakhyan (Ram + Akhyan) where Akhyan means a long story or epic.
A number of versions of the epic were lost in the destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767. Three versions currently exist, one of which was prepared in 1797 under the supervision of (and partly written by) King Rama I. His son, Rama II, rewrote some parts of his father's version for khon drama. The work has had an important influence on Thai literature, art and drama (both the khon and nang dramas being derived from it).
While the main story is identical to that of the Ramayana, many other aspects were transposed into a Thai context, such as the clothes, weapons, topography, and elements of nature, which are described as being Thai in style. Although Thailand is considered a Theravada Buddhist society, the Hindu mythology latent in the Ramakien serves to provide Thai legends with a creation myth, as well as representations of various spirits which complement beliefs derived from Thai animism.
A painted representation of the Ramakian is displayed at Bangkok's Wat Phra Kaew, and many of the statues there depict characters from it.


1.The above text courtesy on Ramakien is from the wikipedia web site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramakien

Mr.Sampong Yusoontorn
of Bangkok, Thailand who is a Great Philosopher and Research Scholar and Good Humanitarian having a great aim of educating the people through his presentations. Through his slideshare presentations and also through  facebook he is sharing his infinite wisdom to all people. Through slideshare he shared more than 1300 different presentations on Art, Culture, Psychology etc. many topics. He has 1618 followers on slideshare.

 Mr.Sampong Yusoontorn prepared one presentation on" Ramakien - Ramayana Story of Thailand".
http://www.slideshare.net/bright9977/the-ramayana-story

Sampong Yusoontorn encouraged me very much trough slideshare and gave many valuable and encouraging comments for some of posts which i shared in my Heritage of India and also my other blogs. Sampong Yusontorn sir thank you very much for your kind encouragement to me.

Below are the images of "The Ramakien - The Tahiland Ramayana" from the slideshare presentation of Mr.Sampong Yusoontorn.I use these Ramakien images with the permission of Mr.Sampong Yusoontorn.Sampong sir thank you very much for giving permission for using your presentation.









































































































































It is a pleasure to every Indian that our Ramayana - The Rich Heritage of our Incredible India is indeed itself a Living Tradition or Sampradayam which lead not only the Indians but also to the many people of World those who follow the Path shown in our Incredible Epic Ramayana. Another country other than India, the Thailand preserved our glorious Ramayana in their own way in their folk art form "The Ramakien". The Ramakien murals are similar like our Kerala mural paintings, Kalamkari paintings, Madhubani paintings and also resemble like many tanglible and intangible art forms and mural paintings of India. What a great Epic Ramayana which gave inspiration to the many countries and cultures across the globe. I hope this Ramakien post and these murals are giving inspiration to so many people and also i guess many painters inspired from these Ramakien murals and they draw similar like patterns. 

Hats off to our Great Epic RAMAYANA.Incredible India.

13 comments:

  1. The Ramayana is one of the most interesting texts of culture, literature and religion of India. I'm an expert and lover of literature in India so I think is right to remember an interesting version of Narayan. The Ramayana is a world of stories that can always teach something

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  2. First of all, I would like to thank Dokka, who posts this Invaluable GREAT EPIC RAMAKIEN from Thailand, Dokka also finds more information about them to enlighten the readers and this reflects the deep interest in Thai and Indian history at the level of "CRAZY". Appreciate Dokka in providing the sources for everyone who is interested and would like to study more. I do hope that you continue your work and appreciate your kindness and humanity in inviting me to see your GREAT WORK here friend.

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  3. The Epic Ramayana is a worldwide topic which emphasizes the importance of Truth and commitment to is a lesson to mankind to learn at least few of those ethics to follow to live as a sincere person in the world. Mr. Srinivas has made an excellent presentation of Ramayana in Thailand. Best Wishes to him and his family. Mantha V Sharma, Chennai.

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  4. So much of info in this post.
    It was a learning experience for me.

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  5. Ramayan is a great epic...very interesting to read and see the images of "The Ramakien". Hats off to your effort and research ..Thank you for sharing the interesting elements ..really beautiful pictures..

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  6. You have added so many pics. Really put in effort for this Post.
    Yes, India had trade-relations with SE Asia & that's how our culture spread there. it's reflected even today in their architecture & literature.
    Thanks for sharing :)

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  7. For the first time I have seen the Ramakien or Ramayan of another country other than India, the Thailand preserved our glorious Ramayana in their own way in their folk art form "The Ramakien". Mr srinivas has made an excellent research work on this gret epic. Thanks for shareing.

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  8. Great Post, Thank you so much for sharing.

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  9. This is so informative post. I got to know about 'The Ramakien'. Dokka you put so much effort and every time you come up with such wonderful post. Thanks for sharing!!

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  10. This is incredible! I am going to have to save this one for my younger brother who is just going to love this post! Thank you for sharing this, so many hidden, unknown facts. (At least to me!)
    It is amazing to see natives from the other part of the world praising the same culture like us, so beautifully.
    I cannot think of a single adjective to define how interesting reading this has been.
    Big thanks to you!

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  11. Fascinating. Thank you for posting. I truly enjoyed going through it.

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  12. Very interesting to see the continuity as well as the variations in the representation of the Ramayana in the Thai version. There is so much to learn and discover about our common heritage. Thank you for posting this.

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  13. This post is too good. So artistic and informative. Great work Mr. Srinivasu

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