100 Great Books (Book 11: The Ramayana)
How civilization is maintained through sacrifice and how sacrifice becomes its own tragedy.
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The Ramayana: The Architecture of Obedience
Composed between 500 and 100 BCE, the Ramayana is a major moral dilemma as a story of exile. Traditionally attributed to Valmiki, it unfolds in seven books and nearly 24,000 verses, written in Sanskrit’s earliest epic meter, the anushtubh.
The Ramayana’s most subversive insight is that perfect obedience may be a form of renunciation so complete it borders on self-annihilation.
Can a human become an ideal without ceasing to be human? The Ramayana answers yes, but only through suffering and sacrifice, which often comes at great personal cost.
The Big Questions the Ramayana Tackles
What does obedience owe to conscience, and conscience to order?
Is perfection noble or inhuman?
Why does sacrifice matter? What’s the cost of sacrifice?