The Sundara Kanda - the bija-kanda or seed-book of the Ramayana of Valmiki - stands by itself as a rounded epic in its own compelling right. Instinct with diverse 'beauties' (like sabdasaundarya and Kavya-saundarya) and all the nine 'Rasas', the work may be viewed as a marvel of a finished epic with an admirable ordering of parts fusing into an effulgent unity, verily a moving relation of events of abiding racial and human interest. In 'The Epic Beautiful,' Prof. ...
