Maithili translation of Ramayana unveiled

February 15, Kathmandu: A Maithili-translated version of the Hindu epic Ramayana was unveiled on Wednesday.

At a program organized by Mamaghar Ashram in Badegaon, Lalitpur, former Deputy Prime Minister and Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi released the Ramayana translated into Maithili language by journalist Archana Jha. The translation is based on ‘Balmiki Ramayana’ and Tulsidas’s ‘Ramcharitmanas’.

On the occasion, leader Nidhi said the Ramayana was not only a religious text but also a source of political motivational stories.

Executive chairperson of the Rastriya Samachar Samiti, Dharmendra Jha, said Ramayana was the most widely translated book among books of Eastern philosophy.

The Ramayana in Maithili language is the first one written in a way that everyone can understand. This will create a debate in the Maithili society about how to write in the Maithili language.

Literary figure Dr Manchala Jha said that Ramayana has been translated into more than 50 languages so far and added the publication of this version would help spread the Maithili language.

Translator Archana Jha said that Ramayana, which can be read in Nepali, Hindi, English, Sanskrit, etc. languages, can now be read by the people of ancient Mithila in simplified Maithili language.