The Chinese Ramayan: How the Dai Epic Laṅka Sip Ho Reimagines Rama’s Story Through Buddhist and Chinese Traditions
Discover the Chinese Ramayan, Laṅka Sip Ho (Ten Heads of Laṅka), a remarkable Dai-language adaptation of the Ramayana preserved in Yunnan, southwestern China. This Buddhist retelling presents Rama as a Bodhisattva and incorporates distinctive Dai, Southeast Asian and Chinese cultural traditions, revealing how the Ramayana travelled, transformed and flourished across India, Southeast Asia and China over centuries.
The Chinese Ramayan
By Justice Markandey Katju
There are Ramayans in several languages in India, the original being Valmiki's Ramayan in Sanskrit.
But I had never heard of a Chinese Ramayan until yesterday, when I was informed about the Ramayan in the Chinese Dai dialect by Irfan Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Department of Chinese, Sikkim University, Gangtok ( who will be meeting me in Delhi today ).
https://cus.ac.in/index.php/en/department-of-chinese/shri-irfan-ahmad
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The Chinese Ramayan |
Tulsidas, who wrote the Ramcharitmanas in Avadhi ( to make it accessible to the common people ), writes :
“हरि अनन्त हरि कथा अनन्ता।
कहहिं सुनहिं बहु विधि सब सन्ता॥”
i.e.
''The story of the Lord will be told by saints in many ways''
The beautiful Chinese version of the Ramayan, which probably no one in India has even heard of, bears out this statement
It is called Laṅka Sip Ho (LSH), meaning "Ten Heads of Laṅka" in the Chinese Dai dialect—a direct reference to the ten-headed demon king Ravaṇ.
This epic remained unknown to the academic world until 1956, when Chinese scholars conducting a Yunnan ethnic literature survey discovered it among the Dai people of southwestern China (Fu 1997: 40). The Dai community, a Theravada Buddhist ethnic minority living in Yunnan (China) near the borders of Myanmar and Laos, have been preserving this epic for centuries through oral storytelling and palm-leaf manuscripts, with one manuscript dated as early as 1312 CE (Dao 2017: 218). The published Chinese edition appeared in 1981 (LSH 1981).
What makes Laṅka Sip Ho so fascinating is how it transforms the Ramayaṇ tradition into something uniquely Dai and Buddhist. Unlike the Valmiki Ramayaṇ, where Ram is an incarnation of Vishṇu, here Ram is depicted as a Bodhisattva (LSH 47). The exile lasts twelve years instead of fourteen (LSH 74), the princes are born from bananas rather than rice pudding (LSH 45), and the epic opens with the story of Ravaṇa's origin (LSH 2-39). The ending is also much happier—Rama and Sita reunite with their sons and live together peacefully, unlike the bittersweet separation in the original Ramayan.
Several distinctive motifs in the Dai Ramayaṇ have clear parallels in Indian Ramayaṇ traditions, particularly from eastern and northeastern India.
The motif of the mango birth of Ravaṇ is also found in the Khamti Lik Chao Lamang (LCL 97–99) of Arunachal, while the motif of Rama's birth from a fruit appears in the Karbi Ramayaṇ of Assam (Chābin Ālun 11). The twelve-year exile appears in the Buddhist Daśaratha Jātaka (Jātaka 461), the Daśaratha Kathānakam (Taishō 203), the Assamese Kārbi Ramayaṇ (Chābin Ālun 31), and the Jain Ramayaṇ, Vasudevahiṇḍī (Bulcke 220). The Mahirāvaṇa episode—where a warrior of Ravaṇ abducts Ram to the netherworld—appears in the Bengali Kṛittivāsa Ramayaṇ (Kṛittivāsa 2:163), and the Mizo Ram and Khena (Ghosh 1994: 45-46). The portrait motif—where Sita draws an image of Ravaṇ, leading to her banishment—is found in the Bengali Kṛttivāsa Ramayaṇ (Kṛttivāsa 1:326) and the Assamese Kārbi Rāmāyaṇ (Chābin Ālun 71). The motif of Kuśa as a mind-born son appears in the Kathāsaritsāgara (Katha Sarit Sagara 1: 487) and the Assamese Kārbi Ramayaṇ (Chābin Ālun 75). The happy ending too has parallels in the Uttararāmacarita of Bhavabhūti (Uttararāmacarita 80) and several other Indian Rāmāyaṇas. Mention must also be made of the Tamil Ramayan of Kambar, and a scene of the Ramayan in Urdu by the poet Chakbast.
The Chinese Dai Ramayan is a beautiful cultural localisation of the Indian epic. It brilliantly incorporates local Dai and Chinese cultural elements. In the Sugriva-Vali duel, Rama colours Sugriva's face with red betel nut to distinguish him from his brother (LSH 117)—a culturally familiar element deeply embedded in Mekong region societies. The Indian Naga is replaced by the Chinese Dragon (LSH 30), a figure transmitted through Buddhist channels and naturalized within the Chinese mythological landscape (Ji 1982: 127). The mythical Nariphon tree—a Southeast Asian mythological tree believed to bear fruits resembling female figures—serves as the source of Sītā's rebirth (LSH 35; Di Paolo 2025: 89-103). The epic also features jade ornaments (LSH 26), elephant-leg drums replacing classical Indian instruments (LSH 23), and local cuisine like sticky rice and betel nut chewing (LSH 58).
The text is deeply rooted in Dai performance culture. Traditionally, it was sung by Zanha (ballad singers) during Buddhist temple ceremonies, weddings, and the famous Water-Splashing Festival (Kong 2018: 54). In 2006, the Dai Zanha tradition was inscribed on China's Intangible Cultural Heritage list (State Council 2006).
What these parallels suggest is that Laṅka Sip Ho does not derive solely from the Valmikian mainstream but draws upon a broader Ramayaṇ tradition that circulated across South and Southeast Asia over many centuries. It represents a remarkable Buddhist reimagining that travelled through Southeast Asia's trade networks, eventually finding a new home in Yunnan, China—a testament to the Ramayaṇa's enduring power to adapt and inspire across cultures and centuries!
Valmiki's Ramayan says :
यावत् स्थास्यन्ति गिरयः सरितश्च महीतले ।तावद् रामायणकथा लोकेषु प्रचरिष्यति ॥
i.e.
"As long as mountains stand and rivers flow upon this earth, so long will the story of Rama prevail among the people." (Valmiki Ramayaṇa, 1.2.35)
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India and a former Chairman of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
