Myanmar participates in International Ramayana Festival

The Myanmar Theatrical Association (Central) will participate in the International Ramayana Festival, which will be held from 9 to 17 July in Bangkok, according to the association.
The association is going to perform with the aim of making the world aware of the observances and costumes related to the Ramayana, including the Myanmar traditional Sai (orchestra).
The Ramayana is a long adventure poem written in Sanskrit and is believed to have been compiled and edited between 400 and 200 BC. ‘Ramayana’ is a combination of two words: ‘Rama’ and ‘Ayana’, meaning ‘Rama’s journey’. It consists of twenty-four thousand verses, five hundred chapters, and seven books.
Ramayana has influenced contemporary literature in languages such as Tamil, Hindi, and Bengali, and it also spread to Southeast Asia around the 8th century AD. Ramayana is prominently featured in various forms of art, including literature, music, dance, puppetry, painting, and sculpture.
The festival will feature Ramayana dance troupes from nine countries, including Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, and Cambodia. — TWA/TH