Dandaka is the fourth chapter of Vasantha Yogananthan’s long-term project A Myth of Two Souls, which offers a contemporary retelling of The Ramayana. A seven-chapter tale first recorded by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 BC, The Ramayana is one of the founding epics of Hindu mythology. From 2013 to 2019, Yogananthan has been travelling from north to south India, retracing the itinerary of the epic’s heroes. The end of chapter three sees Lakshmana cut Surpanakha’s nose off. After seeing his sister disfigured, Ravana, the king of Sri Lanka, starts to plot his revenge. Rama and Lakshmana have no idea that their barbaric act – the mutilation of a woman – has sealed Sita’s fate. The fourth chapter tells about Sita’s abduction by Ravana. The Ramayana has been continuously rewritten and reinterpreted through time, Dandaka mixes strips from the comic book version of the epic, which was published in the 1970s, along with Vasantha Yogananthan’s photographs.

Dandaka
First edition of 1.000 copies
Photographs: Vasantha Yogananthan
Graphic design: Kummer&Herrman
Hard cover
24,5 x 30 cm
51 photographs & 13 comic strips
112 pages + 13 inserts
French / English
Publication date: September 2018
ISBN: 979-10-96383-07-8
Published by Chose Commune
Out of print