Watch the Ramayana come to life through Cambodian dance. Dancers Charya Burt and Reaksmey Lath introduce audiences to the history and form of Cambodian classical dance. The two then demonstrate gestures and movements of three main characters, Seda (Sita), Preah Ream (Rama) and Reab (Ravana), and unpack their meaning in Reamker, the Khmer version of the Ramayana.

UC Berkeley Professor Robert Goldman chants a passage in Sanskrit from Valmiki’s Ramayana and recites the English translation.

Video for UC Berkeley by Roxanne Makasdjian and Stephen McNally.

UC Berkeley professors Robert and Sally Goldman led the 40-year project to translate Valmiki’s Ramayana, the Sanskrit epic, into modern English.

Video for UC Berkeley by Roxanne Makasdjian and Stephen McNally.

Hear a performance of the Hanuman Chalisa, a devotional hymn to Hanuman thought to have been composed by the sixteenth-century poet Tulsidas. Read an English translation of the hymn here.

At the end of his live, Rama leaves earth and is absorbed into the god Vishnu.

After Ravana abducts Sita, he propositions her, but she ardently rejects his advances. Hanuman then finds Sita in Ravana’s island kingdom and vows to send Rama to rescue her.

Nalini Malani: “I’m attracted to the myths because, for me, it’s a language to link with people.”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Artist Project is an online series which gave artists an opportunity to respond to their encyclopedic collection. For more information, visit The Artist Project.

The Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (Taiwan) presents an animated version of the Ramayana. For more information on this film, visit the NPM Children’s Creative Center.

Asian Art Museum Storyteller Miriam Mills tells an excerpt from the Rama epic in the Southeast Asian galleries at the Asian Art Museum with the use of artworks from the museum’s collection, particularly a golden deer headdress.

In this stop for The Rama Epic: Hero, Heroine, Ally, Foe exhibition audio tour, the demon Maricha tries to dissuade Ravana from abducting Sita.