ABSTRACT
The Indian epic Ramayana came to Myanmar and other countries of Southeast Asia with the early Indian traders and merchants, some of whom settled down to form Hindu communities. Between 1968 and 1972, the All Burma Hindu National Central Council published a direct translation from Sanskrit into Myanmar in six volumes of Valmiki's Ramayana. The Thais taught the Myanmar to perform the Ramayana as a great dramatic art. Both in Myanmar and in Thailand, the Ramayana is a Jataka story, the hero and heroine are figures of moral uprightness fighting against the cruel demons, the maleficence of the world, and eventually triumphing. Myanmar scholars, musicians, and even performers of the Ramayana in Myanmar all say that the dramatic presentation is derived from the Thai Ramayana Court Drama of the late Ayutthaya period. Unfortunately, there is no Thai literary version from the Ayutthaya period which we can use for comparison with the early Myanmar versions of the Ramayana.
