How many Ramayanas?

“Ma Nishaada prathishtaam thwa magamaha saashthihi samah

Yal krwunch midhuna dekamavathihi kaamamohitham”

Most of us must have heard of this Sanskrit sloka as it is believed to be the first poem in the history of mankind (Evidently it is not true). It is a curse by Rishi Vaalmeeki and is believed to be the cause of writing Ramayana, the epic story of Rama and Ravana.

We have heard of Ramayana by Vaalmeeki, Ramayana by Kambar(Tamil) Ramayana by Ezhuthachan (Malayalam) etc.

How many Ramayanas have there been?, sometimes somebody may ask

Just a list of languages in which the Rama story is found makes one gasp: Annamese, Balinese, Bengali, Cambodian, Chinese, Gujarati, Javanese, Kannada, Kashmiri, Khotanese, Laotian, Malaysian, Marathi, Oriya, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Santali, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Malayalam. These are not just translations of the original Sanskrit Ramayana, but creations with lot of changes in incidents and characters.  

And there are stories about many many Ramayanas. Here is one, quoted from the research paper titled ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation’ by A K Ramanujam.

One day when Rama was sitting on his throne, his ring fell off. When it touched the earth, it made a hole in the ground and disappeared into it. It was gone. His trusty henchman, Hanuman, was at his feet. Rama said to Hanuman, "Look, my ring is lost. Find it for me."

Now Hanuman can enter any hole, no matter how tiny. He had the power to become the smallest of the small and larger than the largest thing. So he took on a tiny form and went down the hole.

He went and went and went and suddenly fell into the netherworld. There were women down there. "Look, a tiny monkey! It's fallen from above? Then they caught him and placed him on a platter (thali ). The King of Spirits (bhut ), who lives in the netherworld, likes to eat animals. So Hanuman was sent to him as part of his dinner, along with his vegetables. Hanuman sat on the platter, wondering what to do.

When he was finally taken to the King of Spirits, he kept repeating the name of Rama. "Rama Rama Rama . . ."

Then the King of Spirits asked, "Who are you?"

"Hanuman."

"Hanuman? Why have you come here?"

Rama's ring fell into a hole. I've come to fetch it."

The king looked around and showed him a platter. On it were thousands of rings. They were all Rama's rings. The king brought the platter to Hanuman, set it down, and said, "Pick out your Rama's ring and take it."

They were all exactly the same. "I don't know which one it is," said Hanuman, shaking his head.

The King of Spirits said, "There have been as many Ramas as there are rings on this platter. When you return to earth, you will not find Rama. This incarnation of Rama is now over. Whenever an incarnation of Rama is about to be over, his ring falls down. I collect them and keep them. Now you can go."

So Hanuman left.