Two acts of Rāma, the ideal hero-king, might appear questionable to the readers of the Rāmāyaṇa: his treacherous killing of Vālin and his final repudiation of his chaste wife Sītā. The latter is the subject of two Sanskrit dramas: Bhāvabhūti's "Rāma's Last Act" and Dhīranāga's "The Jasmine Garland". The first act of Dhīranāga's play survives in two recensions, the comparison of which sheds light not just on the peculiarities of the Northern and Southern transmissions of classical plays, but also on the differences in the interpretation of the Rāma-story in the Northern and Southern part of the Subcontinent.
