Śambūka and the Rāmāyaṇa Tradition

Aaron Sherraden is a researcher on the epics of South Asia. He received his PhD in Asian Cultures and Languages from the University of Texas at Austin.

• List of figures; Acknowledgments; Foreword: Śambūka’s Story across Time and India’s Regions; A Note on Transliteration; Abbreviations; 1. Introduction: Śambūka’s Death Toll; 2. Śambūka’s Earliest Death; 3. First Responders ;  4. The Uttararāmacaritaand Śambūka’s Purpose in Death; 5. The Accident or the Execution; 6. Śambūka Lives on Ramtek Hill; 7. The Anti-Caste Revolutionary; 8.Śambūka in the Twenty-First Century; 9. Conclusion: Śambūka and the Rāmāyaṇa Tradition; Bibliography; Index

“Drawing on classical and modern texts in six Indian languages as well as English and on contemporary ethnographic observation, this book presents an impressive diachronic study of a troubling, often elided, yet never wholly erased storyline within the pan-Indian Ramayana tradition. It persuasively shows not only the persistence and ubiquity of the tale of Śambūka—a low-caste man allegedly slain by King Rama in order to uphold dharma—but also its importance as a gauge of sentiments about a range of sensitive sociocultural issues, and thus offers a timely and important intervention in debates about India’s past and present.”—Philip Lutgendorf, Professor of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies, Emeritus, University of Iowa; Author: Hanuman’s Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey; Translator:Tulsidas: The Epic of Ram.“Caste has become the cornerstone of identity politics in India and Sherraden uses many versions of the story of Shambuka, told with its multiple intents and interpretations to map the larger Ramayana tradition anew. More importantly, he shows how the appropriation and dissemination of this story via Dalit and non-brahmin groups provides a counternarrative to the main (often elite and hegemonic) Ramayana tradition.”—Arshia Sattar, Author of Maryada: Searching for Dharma in the Ramayana.