("discussion") The Ramnagar Ram
Lila, a theatrical rendition of the Ramayana held yearly in the forti fied town
of Ramnagar, near Benares, is a technical word for the speaking portions.
The talks are punctuated by recitations from the
Ramcharitmanas, a vernacular retelling of the Ramayana penned by the poet-saint
Tulsidas (1532–1623? ), which translate the Ramcharitmanas' ancient vocabulary
into current vernacular Hindi.
In the Ram Lila, the action shifts between contemporaries
and old texts.
