John Brockington is Emeritus Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He has published many books on the Sanskrit epics (Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Harivaṃśa).Mary Brockington is Research Fellow at the International Association of Sanskrit Studies, Austria. She has published many articles on narrative strategies in traditional literature, including many on the Sanskrit epics.

• Foreword Gavin Flood1: Re-creation, refashioning, rejection, response ... : how the narrative developed John Brockington 2. Śūrpaṇakhā in the Jain Rāmāyaṇas Eva De Clercq3. Betrayed by the beloved: lustful wives and devoted mothers in the Jain Rāmāyaṇas Mary Brockington 4. The Adventures of Rāma, Sītā and Rāvaṇa in Tibet Ulrike Roesler 5. Afflicted mothers and abused women: the words behind the pictures John Brockington, Mary Brockington and Rachel Loizeau-Pajaniradja 6. Women in crisis: South Indian pictorial versions of the Rāmāyaṇa narrative Anna Dallapiccola7. Designing Women: Felicitous Malice in a Bengali Rāmāyaṇ Mandakranta Bose8. Can Sages and Women Dance Side by Side? contested text and gender in the Kavitāvalī of Tulsīdās Imre Bangha9. Transmission and response in a grandmother’s tale Mary BrockingtonAfterword: Tales of the Dispossessed: women in the Rāmāyaṇa Mandakranta BoseAppendix: Retellings of the Rāma story with dates, and variant names