читать дальшеChandra, about the different versions:
Adbhuta Ramayan was supposed to have been authored by Valmiki himself. Also, Adhyatma Ramayan is said to be authored by Ved Vyas. Tulsidasji was highly influenced by Adhyatma Ramayan.
If u read the different versions, all authors after Valmiki modified the Ramayan to fit 2 things:
1. the soci-political aspect of their time
2. their own creativity and levels of their own bhakthi
3. dramatic effect
Most of the writers of the Ramayan, from what I am reading, seem to be great Vishnu bakhts. They are not just writing for the sake of writing fiction. Many of the translations seem to be very beautiful poetry and verse, coming from the heart as it were. It is not the ramblings of people who just want to write fiction.
When I was reading some of the poetry translated into English, I was sad that I did not know Sanskrit to read all the verses in the original. It was that beautiful.
Soci-political changes:
Many later poets changed the Ramayan to fit the mood of the society they were living in. For examples, Kamb Ramyan has Ravan lifting the whole kutiya with Sita inside it and placing it on the Pushpak viman. There is a reason for this change. People in the South are more conservative than people up North. Now, don't howl because I am going to explain that remark. In the north, it is okay to put a friendly arm around friends and relatives without people looking at u weird. My dad is from Delhi so don't get upset. I still have uncles and other relatives in Delhi. (My mom is from Chennai and I have seen both sides). I am not trying to be rude but trying to explain the changes made by the poets.
U can see that in Bollywood movies too. U will find the heroine putting a friendly arm around her jeejaji. U do that in the South (even today) and people will give u very weird looks. This is what I meant by being very conservative. So, Maharishi Kamb did not have Ravan touching Sita like he does in Valmiki. He has Ravan lifting the whole kutiya instead to please the South Indian conservative sensibilities. Because Sita is a pati-vrata, she cannot be touched even if she was not at fault, by another man. So Kamban changes it for socio-political reasons.
Valmiki has no such problem and he has Sita defending being touched by Ravan, during the agni-pravesha scene after the battle, saying she was unconscious and it was not her fault because she was also defenseless.
Similar changes are made by the Ramayan versions from South-East Asia like Indonesia, Bali, Malaysia, and other places.
Creativity and level of Bhakthi:
Many poets were great bakhts of Krishna and they have Ramji doing many things that Krishna did.
Kumaradasa who wrote Janakiharana was also a great bhakht who changed the story because he did not want Sita to say those very harsh words to Lakshman when she asks him to go in search of Rama after hearing the voice of Marica shouting for help in Ramji's voice.
This is not because they were making things up but many of these authors saw Ramji and Sitaji as avatars of Vishnu and Mahalakshmi only. Valmiki, on the other hand, treats both of them as examples of perfect humans even though he does mention here and there that Ramji is an avatar of Narayana. However, u don't get too much of the bhakthi bhav when reading Valmiki. It is very beautiful work but I do not get the bhakti bahv too much when reading Valmiki as I do when I am reading Tulsidasji. Many poets used their creativity to fit the Ramayan to their level of bhakthi.
Dramatic Effect:
Many of the writers like Bhavabooti were dramatistst. The Ramayan was changed to fit the stage. Therefore it needed to have over-the-top special effects and creative things for the sake of drama. Many Sanskrit scholars including western scholars think Bhavabooti was a great dramatist. In fact, many of them are singing his praises when he introduced the technique of the alter ego coming out of the person to talk.