The contributors for this edition of Canto 1 of Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa are:

Śyāma-rasika dāsa: Production management, layout, cover design, visual content management, visual content editing, print management, infrastructural support, overall coordination with unflinching conviction that if we intelligently work hard to fulfil Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desires and instructions, Lord Kṛṣṇa will provide everything and everyone required to do so successfully. Balarāma Govinda dāsa: Financial support. Vraja Kṛṣṇa dāsa: Infrastructural support, proof-reading, distribution. Rasapriyā Gopikā devī dāsī: Devanāgarī conversion, Sanskrit-English equivalent assistance, suggestion of chapter titles, research on collateral passages from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, verse indexing, reference indexing, second proof-reading, infrastructural support. Rasikānanda dāsa: Drawing, painting, visual content management. Parīkṣit dāsa and Sakhī Sundarī devī dāsī (Middle East): Infrastructural support. Rādhā Golokanātha dāsa, Mādhava Sumaṅgala dāsa, Gopījana Govinda dāsa (Mayapur): Infrastructural support. Badarīnātha dāsa, Aśoka Govinda dāsa, Raṅgarāja dāsa and other devotees of ISKCON Srirangam: Infrastructural support. Caitanya-caraṇa dāsa, Śrīvatsa Śyāmasundara dāsa (ISKCON Mayapur): Research assistance. Kālacakra Kṛṣṇa dāsa: First proof-reading, analytical review and feedback on core textual content. Nandalāla Kiśora dāsa: Print supervision, storage management. Venkatesh Prabhu: Online sales administration, legal compliance. Vidvān Gaurāṅga dāsa: Translation, inline notes, footnotes, Sanskrit-English equivalents, revision of Sanskrit-English equivalents and translation, editing, second proofreading, visual content management, administrative supervision, responsibility for any residual error whatsoever.¹

We are indebted to His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Mahārāja for inspiration and instructions to publish appropriately annotated translations of scriptures and writings of the previous ācāryas relevant to the needs of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, to His Holiness Lokanath Swami Mahārāja for encouraging us to endeavor to produce an edition of the Rāmāyaṇa that would please Śrīla Prabhupāda, to His Grace Gopīparāṇadhana Prabhu for instructing us to assemble an explanation relevant to ISKCON’s needs, and to His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami Mahārāja for reviewing a sample of the translation of the Canto Summary and the commentary, and then giving us a strong green signal to go ahead with the detailed textual components of this edition. Without their permission and blessings, we would not even have dared to embark on this venture, as spiritually unqualified as we are. But by the mercy of Hari-guru-vaiṣṇavas, it is indeed possible to fulfil Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desires and instructions.

Special thanks to Acintya Caitanya dāsa and Rādhikā-jīvana dāsa for pointing out the importance of rendering Śrī Govindarāja’s commentary into English to help us understand the great Rāmāyaṇa the way it has been perpetually understood by the Vaiṣṇava disciplic successions.