��������

Robert Goldman, professor of Sanskrit at the University of California at Berkeley, will speak about India’s monumental epic poem, the &�����ܴ�;�鲹�����ⲹṇa,” which some have described as the greatest story never told in the West, at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Majestic Hall, 1027 N. Forest St. in Bellingham.

This event is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by Western Washington University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Liberal Studies, as well as the departments of Modern and Classical Languages and Anthropology.

Goldman will discuss how “Ramayana,” originally written in Sanskrit with many later versions in other languages and dialects, served originally as a foundational work of Hinduism, while also providing core texts for Buddhist, Jain and Islamic peoples and cultures throughout South and Southeast Asia. For millennia, the book has provided a touchstone for ideas of aesthetics, social relations and statecraft throughout this vast region.

Goldman received his doctorate from University of Pennsylvania, and has since written dozens of works on “Ramayana” and other topics of South Asian religion.

For more information, contact Stephanie Wanne at Western’s Department of Liberal Studies at (360) 650-3031 or stephanie.wanne@wwu.edu.