Two lectures On the Valmiki Ramayana

It gives me great pleasure to present to the world of scholars this small booklet, incorporating the two lectures of the eighth programme of the Lecture Series, organized in the memory of Dr. U.P. Shah. The Late Dr. Umakant P. Shah (1915-1988), a versatile Indologist of International repute, was Deputy Director of the Oriental Institute and Head and General Editor of the then Rāmāyana Department. He was a veteran art-historian, who was an expert in various fields like Jain Studies, Archaeology, Iconography and the Rāmāyana. He had contributed to these fields through prestigious publications in the form of books and research papers. The Critical Edition of the Uttarakanda of the Valmiki Rāmāyana was his forte. Though a staunch Vaisnava, he immensely contributed to the Jain Studies. After the sad demise of Dr. U.P. Shah at the age of 73 in 1988, his colleagues, students, well-wishers, friends and relatives decided to organize some programmes in his memory. A fund was, therefore, raised to which all of them contributed a large sum. The major contribution was especially from his son Shri Dilipbhai Shah. From the interest of the fund so accumulated, three academic activities were proposed and finalized.

1. Instituting a Gold Medal to be given every year by rotation to a student, getting highest marks at M.A. in the subject of Art History, Sanskrit and Archaeology.

2. To publish a commemoration volume.

3. To invite a scholar to deliver lectures annually.

According to these plans, the Gold medal has been instituted and is being given every year to the deserving candidate. Secondly, the commemoration volume, entitled, - Silpasamvit-Studies in Jain Art and Iconography & Allied Subjects, edited by Dr. R.T. Vyas, the then Director, has been published in 1995 in collaboration with the Abhinav Publishers, Delhi. The Lecture Series in memory of Dr. U.P. Shah is organized annually by the Oriental Institute. In this series, we had lectures of scholars, namely 1. Dr. Kalpana Desai (Director, Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai-Topic-Jain Art And Iconogaphy-22nd to 24th March 1999), 2. Dr. Jayandra Soni (Philips Universitat, Germany-Topic-Jain Philosophy 17th to 19th February 2000), 3. Dr. M.N. Deshpande (Ex- Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi-Topic-Iconography of Jain, Buddha and Natha Sects-10th to 12th October 2001), 4. Dr. A.P. Jamkhedkar (Ex. Director, Deptt. of Archaeology and Museum, Govt. of Maharashtra, Mumbai. -Topic- Legends and Jain Monuments-10th and 11th February, 2003), 5. Dr. M.K. Dhavalikar (Ex- Director Deccan College, Pune-Topic-Satavahana Art (with Illustrations)-9th and 10th February, 2004), 6. Dr. Devangana Desai (A well-known Art historian from Mumbai, Vice President, Asiatic Society of Bombay, Mumbai-Topic-Art & Architecture of Khajuraho Temples. (Illustrated)-9th and 10th February 2005) and 7. Dr. Kirit Mankodi (Director Project for Indian Cultural Studies, founded by Franco-India Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai-Topic-To what gods shall we render worship in the Temple at Modhera and the Ranki Vav and other Step-wells of Gujarat-2nd and 3rd February 2006).

On the occasion of the 8th lecture Series, Prof. Dr. Robert P. Goldman, Professor of Sanskrit, University of California Study Centre, U.S.A. delivered two lectures on 1. The work of the Commentators: Commentaries on the Valmiki Ramayana as Windows into the Sanskrit Knowledge Systems of Medieval India, 2. The Elephants' Song: Valmiki Yuddhakanda as Nitiśästra and Dharmasastra on 7th and 8th December, 2006.

The Oriental Institute undertook in 1951 the project of the Critial Edition of the Valmiki Ramayana with the financial assistance of U.G.C. More than 25 Research Assistants worked for about 25 years and the Critical Edition of the same was published in seven comprehensive volumes. Prof. Dr. G.H. Bhatt was the first General editor of the Ramayaṇa Department. After his sad demise, Dr. U.P. Shah became the General editor of the said Department and the seventh volume - the Uttarakanda was critically editited by him and was published under his supervision. It is a delighting fact that the gigantic project of translating all the seven volumes with copious annotations is being carried out by Prof. Dr. Robert Goldman, assisted by his wife Dr. Sally Sutherland, Shelden Pollock and others. Five volumes up to Sundarakanda are by now published. Dr. Goldman and his wife Dr. Sally Sutherland are recently busy in translating, editing and annotating the Sixth Yuddhakanda and the Seventh Uttarakhanda for which they were in need of copies of Manuscripts of some commentaries, deposited in our manuscript collections. We came to know that Dr. Goldman was in Delhi for some months till the end of the December this year. We wished to arrange his lectures in our Institute, for which he immediately agreed due to his respect for Dr. U.P. Shah and the work of the Institute. We immediately conveyed this proposal to Shri Dilipbhai Shah, son of Dr. U.P. Shah, the Member of the Advisory Board-Shri Madhav Gandhi, Prof. Dr. J.A. Jani, Prof. and Head, Department of Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Shri Yogesh Oza, Principal, Baroda Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, which was unanimously agreed. The University Authorities, our respected Vice-Chancellor Dr. Manoj Soni and Pro-Vice- Chancellor Prof. S.M. Joshi also consented to our proposal immediately. We, therefore, were able to organize these lectures on 7th and 8th December, 2006, within a very short notice, due to their whole-hearted support and co-operation.

Prof. Dr. Goldman also agreed to our proposal of submitting to the Institute the ready-to-print copy of both the Lectures. We are extremely grateful to him for immediately supplying the same. We then decided to publish the Lectures first in the Journal of the Oriental Institute Vol. 55, Nos. 1-4 and thereafter in the form of this booklet under the M. S. University Oriental Series as no. 22. We are also thankful to the Shri P.N. Srivastava, Manager, The M.S. University Press and his colleagues for their prompt action and needful support in respect of facilitating quick and neat printing of this book. We are also thankful to the collegues of the Institute for their co-operation and also the University authorities for sanctioning the grant, needed for its publication. Like all our other books in the Series, I am sure this will also be well-received by schaolars and students of Indology.

**Contents and Sample Pages**