[IteseFrusty]

I know the story... I am writing about Ramakien for sweden thats why I wondered if I could use the "how long" info. But thanks anyway

[trettegeani]

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that you didn't know the story. I guess I was just saying that "I" really don't know much about the written version. My knowledge of the story is limited only to what was impressed on me by the mural paintings depicting the epic at Wat Pra Kaew, and the part of Hanuman fighting that is so popular with Thai dance.

Well, the question you posted here got me curious, and I found some interesting websites that gives a lot of information about both Ramayana, the origin of the story, and about Ramakien as well.

Here is a link to "The Ramayana, an Enduring Tradition: its Text and Context" a resourceful webpage by Syracuse University. In a subsequent link, The Oral Tradition and the Many "Ramayanas", I found the following paragraphy by Philip Lutgendorf (Chair of South Asian Studies Program, University of Iowa):

Quote[/b] ]"the Ramayana" (in spite of the definitive article) is not a single book like "the Bible" but rather a story and a tradition of storytelling. For more than two millennia, this tradition has enjoyed a unique popularity throughout the subcontinent of South Asia (comprising the modern states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and beyond - for versions of the tale have flourished in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Although the core story of the travails of Prince Rama and Princess Sita and their companions remains much the same everywhere, storytellers and poets in dozens of languages have chosen not simply to translate some "original" version, but instead have retold the saga in their own words, often modifying and embellishing it according to regional traditions or their own insights and interpretations. At the same time, this tale has been continuously recreated orally - with all the fluidity we expect in oral performance - by a whole spectrum of tellers ranging from traditional bards and singers to modern film and video producers (an epic television serialization of the story held Indian audiences spellbound in 1987-89), and also including countless grandmothers. Indeed, for most modern Indians, the "original" Ramayana is as likely to mean a bedtime story heard in childhood as the 2000+ year old Sanskrit epic of the poet-sage Valmiki.

(I find it fascinating how stories can be told in so many different versions, and how there are recurrent themes in our stories around the world.)

In this other site: The Poetics of the Ramakian, Dr. Theodora H. Bofman gives line by line translation of King Rama I's version of Hanuman's journey to Lanka, each paragraph of translation following its Thai text. There are fourteen major divisions of the translation, which contain 212 consecutively numbered paragraphs. These divisions do not necessarily correspond to divisions intended by the author of the poem. The numbers of the paragraphs are also put in this corpus consecutively.

Lastly, this page of USMTA describes how the epic is related to Muay Thai.

Are you writing a book, or a magazine article? It sounds interesting.

[IteseFrusty]

I wonder if someone know how many pages the epic Ramakien is? I know there is a lot of different versions... someone told me it was more than 3000 pages long, can that be correct?

Thanks!

[IteseFrusty]

Wow thanks for taking time to search for me
I am writing (have written actually..) a book about Thailand for the swedish market (it will be translated, but I dont know much about that yet. Looks like finland and austria so far)
Wrote the book because I want to explain the country to my fellow countrymen with scandianvian eyes, mainly about do’s and dont and why things work as they do. Education for short time tourists!
I do write about Muay Thai and the connection to Ramakien and lots more...
And of course, a part of the book is a guidebook too, otherwise my bookcompany would not publish it

Thanks again!

[trettegeani]

Malee, I just know it is very long. The number of pages properly varies on what font it is printed in and in what language. It's not really a story to be read page to page. The Ramakien comes from an oral tradition where most of the beloved stories are acted out. Different parts of the story was meant to be told by different people. As any mythology, it could also be told in several different ways. Perhaps seeing a play or a movie is a better way to know the story?