Publication highlights (2018): The life of Padma, Volume 1

The first English translation of the oldest extant work in Apabhramsha, a literary language from medieval India, recounting the story of the Ramayana.

The Life of Padma, or the Paümacariu, is a richly expressive Jain retelling in the Apabhramsha language of the famous Ramayana tale. The work was written by the poet and scholar Svayambhudeva, who lived in south India around the beginning of the tenth century. Like the epic tradition on which it is based, The Life of Padma narrates Prince Rama’s exile, his search for his wife Sita after her abduction by King Ravana of Lanka, and the restoration of his kingship.

Book details:

Eva De Clercq, ed. and trans. The life of Padma, Volume 1. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2018

ISBN 9780674660366

Publication date: 01/05/2018