The Ramayan through the Theatre of Ramlila

This book tells the story of the epic Ramayan. But it is not the story as found in premodern textual sources familiar to many readers. Rather, it is the story as contemporary theatre practitioners and audiences in one Hindi-speaking region of North India know and remember it.
The Ramayan through the Theatre of Ramlila tells the story of the Ramayan through Ramlila, a Hindu theatre festival, in which community groups and professional troupes enact the story of the god Ram on outdoor stages and fields all across North India over multiple days every fall. Over 50 photographs of Ramlilas shot between 2010 and 2019 in four cities and towns in the Rohilkhand region vividly animate the story of the Ramayan. Accompanying narrative, meanwhile, explains the plot, staging practices, and the influence of an early twentieth-century work, the Radheshyam Ramayan, on the performances featured in the book. All of the Ramlilas highlighted in The Ramayan through the Theatre of Ramlila draw inspiration, to various degrees, from this Ramayan by Radheshyam Kathavachak, himself a resident of Rohilkhand. Through the Ramlila performances, we can see the ongoing impact of his modern epic, even as Ramlila organizers continue to innovate in their productions, in terms of both the story and its staging.
Richly illustrated and accessibly written, The Ramayan through the Theatre of Ramlila is designed for both those new to the Ramayan and those already well-versed in it. It also explains the Ramlila tradition for students and scholars of Hinduism, as well as all those interested in epic storytelling and theatre.