Deekshitula Subrahmanyam, who works at the Sakshi newspaper, a Telugu-language daily, was inspired by his own experiences as a child when he sought out simplified versions of the Indian epic. In an attempt to connect to today’s youth, he decided to use Facebook as the medium to publish his adaptation of the Ramayana. The work is titled “Seetarama Kathasudha,” or the story of Rama and Sita his wife, two main protagonists of the epic.
Deekshitula explains how his efforts have been recognized since he began his publication. “In first few days I got only 100 to 200 likes and humbly posted in FB that I am not writing for “likes” and appealed to read thoroughly as a daily serial. Slowly the number picked up and comments also increased. The readers from Dubai, London, Rumania, Tanzania, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and other countries started requesting Deekshitulu for printed version of the Ramayana,” he said.
The Ramayana was originally written by the poet Valmiki, who is known as the Adikavi or the first poet in Sanskrit. It was first put into written form somewhere around 300 BC, culminating a long oral tradition. One of the most defining works in Indian poetry, it has been adapted and reworked in various ways and into various languages, Indian and otherwise.The story is about Rama, and his struggles to find his wife Sita, who is kidnapped by the antagonist Ravana. Rama leads an army to Ravana’s kingdom and fights a battle, before killing Ravana and rescuing his wife.
