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                       The Poetics of the Ramakian
                                                                   By Dr. Theodora H. Bofman

The Ramakian (The Glory of Rama), the national epic of Thailand, is a written poem that shares many features with works belonging to a purely oral tradition. The story of Rama, the hero, is practically unknown in the Western world, although it is central to the literature of India and mainland Southeast Asia, as well as China and Tibet.

This page contains a 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.

 


                                Hanuman Travels to Lanka

 

Major Divisions of the Translation

1. Hanuman receives orders from Rama                  8.  Hanuman and Monk II play tricks

    (Paragraphs 1-11)                                                      (Paragraphs 105-140)

  2. Paklan the Giant fights Onkot                            9.  Hanuman fights a devil

    (Paragraphs 12-26)                                                    (Paragraphs 141-147)

3. Hanuman courts Busmali                                     10.  Hanuman enters the palace

    (Paragraphs 27-48)                                                    (Paragraphs 148-161)

4. Hanuman meets Thep Apson                               11.  Hanuman meets Monk III

    (Paragraphs 49-55)                                                    (Paragraphs 162-166)

5. Hanuman meets Monk I                                      12.  Hanuman re-enters the palace

    (Paragraphs 56-65)                                                    (Paragraphs 167-170)

6. Hanuman rescues Sampati                                    13.   Totsakan visits Sita

   (Paragraphs 66-95)                                                      (Paragraphs 171-189)

7. Hanuman fights Phi Sua Samut            14.   Sita attempts suicide and  Hanuman saves her                                                                                                               
   (Paragraphs 96-104)                                                     (Paragraph 190-212)

                                                                         

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