Title: Valmiki’s Illustrated Ramayana Balakanda: Prince Rama’s Early Adventures for Children
Re-told by: Gauranga Darshan Das
Illustrations by: Anshuman Pandey
Published by: Wonder House Books
Type: Paperback
Length: 96 pages
Age recommendation: 6 years and above
The Ramayana is a much beloved and hallowed epic which extols its divine characters. Each individual in the Ramayana has virtues that are worth imbibing as mortals. Balakanda is the first book in the Ramayana series which showcases the childhood of the prodigal prince of Ayodhya.
Gauranga Darshan Das is a distinguished educator and philosopher who aims to spread spiritual wisdom to young minds. Through this simple yet engaging retelling of Rama’s childhood, we are struck by the virtues and valour of the prince.
The book starts with how the epic came to be written and it was fascinating to learn about Sage Valmiki’s story. The story seamlessly shifts to how King Dasharatha strives to be blessed with children. The author presents a lesser-known story of King Romapada and Rishyasringa which was fascinating to read about!
The stories seamlessly shift as we learn about how and why Prince Rama and his beloved younger brother, Prince Lakshmana were chosen by the mighty Sage Vishwamitra for the completion of a ritual.
The childhood stories are narrated with simplicity and the colourful, eye-catching illustrations are a treat to the eyes!
There are many religious stories out there for the kids, but what truly make this book stand out are the nuggets of wisdom highlighted in each chapter. It’s easy for children and adults to feel overwhelmed by philosophical concepts, but the author’s notes gently prompt the reader to introspect and reflect.
The author guides you to spiritually ruminate and discover what you can do to imbibe the virtues of Prince Rama.
There are also discussion prompts at the end of each chapter which ask probing questions about the child understood the gist of the story and whether they struck a chord with similar experiences. These prompts led to conservations while we read, about small ways in which we can apply Rama’s teachings of kindness and honesty in our lives.
My six year old son, Siddhanth, loved reading about Rama’s childhood stories. He was intrigued to know that Rama defeated demons right from a young age (contrary to what he knew earlier — that Ravana was the only demon Rama defeated). The book culminated with Rama marrying Sita and returning to Ayodhya.
It was enriching to know how Rama’s childhood set the foundation for the epic showdown with Ravana which would follow later.
I would definitely recommend this book to parents who are looking to organically introduce this timeless epic to their kids. We can’t wait to read the other books in this promising series!
If you enjoyed this review and wish to order the book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),
CLICK & BUY NOW!Disclaimer: Sowmya is a part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher via kbc.
