Chandamama India, the publishing house of the popular Chandamama range of children's magazines, Thursday offered its young readers epic Ramayana richly laden with colourful illustrations.
According to the publishers, 'Ramayana - An Epic Journey' is the first of its kind attempt when the great Indian mythological saga has been published as a single book with illustrations.
The book was released by management and spiritual guru Swami Sukhbodhananda. "The book has a touch of contemporary world," he said. It is a 430-page book with hand drawn illustrations.
Asked why Ramayana was being brought in the market when there is no dearth of such books, publisher and CEO of Chandamama India L. Subramanyan said research by the publication house shows that today's children had not read the epic in full finery.
"The idea to come up with Ramayana is to give young readers a story full of layers, accompanied by visually captivating illustrations. The book does not belong to comic genre, rather it is in illustrated format with visuals having contemporary messages," he said.
Chandamama's Ramayana is based on Kamba Ramayanam, written by Tamil poet Kamban during the ninth century.
"We chose Kamba Ramayanam as base for the book instead of Valmiki's original Ramayana or Tulsidas Ramayana, also known as the Ramcharitmanas, as we found Kamba Ramayanam to be more structured and layered," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"We chose Kamba Ramayanam as base for the book instead of Valmiki's original Ramayana or Tulsidas Ramayana, also known as the Ramcharitmanas, as we found Kamba Ramayanam to be more structured and layered," he said.
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