Description of Rāmopākhyāna—the story of Rāma in the Mahābhārata: a close English prose translation. By Peter M. Scharf. 2023.

Consisting of about 25,000 verses in Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa, the story of Rāma was summarized in 704 verses in eighteen chapters in the Rāmopākhyāna, which comprises chapters 258--275 of the Āraṇyaka Parvan of the great epic Mahābhārata. The story is introduced in chapter 257 and given an afterword in chapter 276 which bring the number of verses in this book to 728. The book includes a thorough introduction to the various dimensions of the story, a descriptive glossary of proper names with references to where they are used in the text, and genealogical trees of Rāma and Rāvaṇa. The present English translation of the Rāmopākhyāna is suitable for secondary school and university students, and adults.