Rama Setu -2

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Setu row fuels Ramayan sales</b>

Publishers of Ramayan might consider giving M. Karunanidhi a slice of their royalty for opening a new chapter of gains.

Sales of the text have zoomed to a new high after the chief minister's controversial remarks over the Sethusamudram project. Bookstores, too, have been quick to turn the raging setu row into a marketing opportunity.

<b>Even small outlets are stacking Tamil translations of Valimiki's Ramayan. Many are offering attractive discounts.</b>

“Pick up a Tamil translation of Valmiki Ramayan at an attractive price” reads a promo in a shop in the Mylapore area. The tome, an authentic translation from Sanskrit, has been published by the Gorakhpur-based Geeta Press, reputable publishers of Hindu religious texts.

Karunanidhi himself fuelled, though unwittingly, the rush for the texts by citing a translation in the columns of DMK mouthpiece Murasoli. He asked critics of his controversial remarks to look up the Ramayan translated into Tamil by scholar C.R. Sreenivasa Ayyangar.

Many find it ironical that sales of the text should get a fillip from the words of a “non-believer” like Karunanidhi.
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