Balakanda

This is the first of seven volumes that will present a complete and fully annotated translation of the "Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa". This great Sanskrit epic of ancient India has profoundly affected the literature, art, religions, and cultures of countless millions of people in South and Southeast Asia -- an influence that is perhaps unparalleled in the history of world literature. For the first time it has here been translated on the basis of the critical edition, which is based on manuscripts representing all recensional traditions. In this first volume Robert P. Goldman has written a major scholarly introduction and has given copious annotation dealing with the poem's numerous textual and exegetical problems, drawing on the contributors of generations of Sanskrit commentators. -- From publisher's description.