After a gap of 83 years, a seminal edition of the Ramayana has been returned to bookstores. Reprinted by Biswabani Prakashani, this 15-volume Ramayanam has 6,500 pages of Sanskrit slokas (in Bengali script) by the sage Valmiki, along with a Sanskrit commentary by Loknath Chakraborty, a follower of Chaitanya, and a Bengali translation by Amareshwar Thakur, a Sanskrit teacher at Calcutta University before Independence.

The edition was relaunched recently in the presence of Sanskrit scholars Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri and Kinkar Shyamananda, and author Nimai Bhattacharya.

Shyamananda, a teacher at Sanskrit College, spoke of the various editions of the Ramayana brought out over the years. "The epic has been written in many languages across India. The version being launched today is a Bengali initiative all the way, right from the manuscripts followed."

He also spoke of the similarities between human and demon society.

"Vedic culture was prevalent in Lanka too. After spending the night, when Hanuman wakes up at dawn in Lanka, he sees the sky clouded with the smoke of morning rituals. When Indrajit was killed, he was doing the Nikumbhila yajna. So, it is as if two faces of the same individual emerge depending on the values followed. When demonic forces rise in him, he is Ravana; when the godly side supersedes he is Rama."

Bhaduri, who is now translating the Mahabharata, pointed out that Sanskrit had no script of its own. "Each version was written in the regional script, be it in Kashmir, Bihar, Maharashtra or Bengal."