The Slaying of Meghanada: A Ramayana from Colonial Bengal


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"The poem is rising into splendid popularity. Some say it is better than Milton-but that is all bosh-nothing can be better than Milton; many say it licks Kalidasa; I have no objection to that. I don't think it impossible to equal Virgil, Kalidasa, and Tasso." Michael Madhusudan Datta wrote this in a letter to a friend about his verse narrative, The Slaying of Meghanada (1861). The epic, a Bengali version of the Ramayana story in which Ravana, not Rama, is the hero, has become a classic of Indian literature. Datta lived in Bengal at the height of what is frequently called the Bengal Renaissance, a time so labeled for its reinvigoration and reconfiguration of the Hindu past and for the florescence of the literary arts. It was also a period when the Bengali city of Kolkata was a center of world trade-the second city of the British empire-and thus a site of cultural exchange between India and the West. Datta was the perfect embodiment of this time and place. The Slaying of Meghanada is deeply influenced by western epic tradition, and is sprinkled with nods to Homer, Milton, and Dante. Datta's deft intermingling of western and eastern literary traditions brought about a sea change in South Asian literature, and is generally considered to mark the dividing line between pre-modern and modern Bengali literature. Datta's masterpiece is now accessible to readers of English in Clinton Seely's elegant translation, which captures both the sense and the spirit of the original. The poem is supplemented by an extensive introduction, notes, and a glossary.The Slaying of Meghanada: A Ramayana from Colonial Bengal Review
Datta's revisioning of the Ramayana is truly majestic. Sophisticated and subtle, shimmering and muscular, it deserves to be included in the Western contemporary global canon. I actually prefer it to the Illiad--to my mind, its equal in heroic gravitas. An appropriately lucid and rich introduction firmly grounds the reader in the matrix of the work's origins as well as its relevance for the contemporary reader of global literature. A timeless work of art.Most of the consumer Reviews tell that the "The Slaying of Meghanada: A Ramayana from Colonial Bengal" are high quality item. You can read each testimony from consumers to find out cons and pros from The Slaying of Meghanada: A Ramayana from Colonial Bengal ...

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