Adbhuta Ramayana: Sanskrit Text with Transliteration, English Commentary alongwith Explanatory Notes, Relevant Appendices etc.

by Sri Ajai Kumar Chhawchharia

Adbhut Ramayan authored by sage Valmiki, who is famous for his classic epic 'Ramayan'. Describes a highly strange, mysterious and fantastic version of the epic story of Lord Ram, the legendary king emperor of Ayoydhya and an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the supreme Lord in creation. It reveals many hitherto little known events in the life of Lord Ram and his divine consort Sita which Valmiki knew but desisted from incorporation them in his fill that gap and put the record straight.

This classic book can be broadly divided into two parts. The first (canto 1-16) elaborately describes some mysterious and strange circumstances pertaining to the birth of Lord Ram and Sita; it also contains profound Vedanta philosophies when Sri Ram preaches Hanuman about them.

The second part (canto 17-27) presents the story of Sri Ram's campaign against the thousand headed demon king Ravana of Pushakar who was the elder brother of the ten headed Ravana of Lanka, and much stronger and powerful than latter. In this war, Sita assumed the form of Makhakali, the dark-skinned Goddess worshipped as Shakti, to slay this Ravana and his demon force. The demon army has been described in great detail.
 
The climax of the book and the aspect which makes it so unique and holy is when lord Ram prays to the cosmic Goddess or Shakti uning 1008 divine names or mantras which describe and enumerate the various glories virtues and attributes of the magnificent Shakti of Mother Nature. This is the only classic Composition where the Shakti has been worshipped using these profound mantras.

This volume describes the text in great detail, incorporating commentary explanatory & relevant notes when required. An elaborate life sketch of sage Valmiki incorporating numerous little known facts about him, have been included to give a special unique flavour to this book. Besides this, important metaphysical concepts appearing in the text have been explained in a separate appendix.

Table of Contents:

• A Humble Word from Author 
• Preface
• A Note on Pronunciations
• Key to Transliteration
• Declaration about the supreme and transcendental divinity of Sri Rama and Sita
• King Ambarisa gets a boon from Narayana (Lord Visnu)
• The episode of sage Narada and Parvata desiring to marry Ambarisa’s daughter
• The causes for Visnu’s incarnation as Sri Rama
• Kausika and other devotees of Visnu find succour and residence in the Lord’s abode in Visnu Loka
• Narada curses Laksmi; the episode of Hari Mitra and the owl
• Narada leans the skills of singing
• 10-headed Ravana’s boons and his recklessness; Sita’s birth
• Sage Parasurama sees the divine, macrocosmic, Virat form of Sri Rama as Visnu
• Sri Rama meets Hanumana and shows him his 4-armed divine form of Visnu
• Sri Rama preaches Hanumana on metaphysical and spiritual concepts; Sankhya Sastra expounded
• Sri Rama continues with his discourse highlighting the philosophy of the Upanisads
• Sri Rama highlights the importance of devotion for his divine self; Sri Rama’s glorious form which is praised by the Vedas
• Sri Rama’s divine, supreme, transcendental cosmic powers and stupendous potentials
• Hanumana’s devotional prayer to Sri Rama
• Slaying of Ravana of Lanka and Sri Rama’s coronation at Ayodhya
• Sita unfolds the story about the senior Ravana with one thousand heads
• Sri Rama goes on a mission to conquer the thousand headed Ravana of Puskara; description of the demon army
• Description of the numerous sons and the rest of the army of the thousand headed Ravana of Puskara
• The war at Puskara-its description
• Ravana trounces and disperses Sri Rama’s huge army
• The fierce Sri Rama-Ravana war at Puskara and Sri Rama’s fainting in the battlefield
• Sita enters war, and assuming the ferocious and horrifying form of Mahakali, the great Goddess of death, she finally kills the thousands headed Ravana
• Sri Rama revived back to life and gets terrified when he saw Mahakali and the havoc all around
• Sri Rama prays to Mahakali using 1008 divine epithets to honour and praise the cosmic Goddess
• Sri Rama prays to Sita; her reverting back to her original form; preparation to return to Ayodhya
• Sri Rama’s arrival at Ayodhya’ conclusion of Adbhuta Ramayana; the benefits of hearing, reading and discussing it; the genesis of the story; summary
• Appendix 1 : Sage Valmiki - Life and works - a portrait
• Appendix 2: Sage Valmiki’s Rg Veda Sukta
• Appendix 3 : Metaphysical concepts explained
• Index to Verses.