Ramayana Festival, marking 25 years of the Indo-ASEAN ties, began in New Delhi yesterday. The five-day festival is being organised by Indian Council for Cultural Relations. <br/><br/>Cultural groups from the 10 member-nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are staging musicals and plays based on the epic at the festival celebrating the India-ASEAN dialogue. <br/><br/>The masked dance-drama ('Khon') of the Thai Ramayana "Ramakien" was performed by the Thai Artists at the Kamani Auditorium yesterday. The Ramakien, pronounced literally 'Glory of Rama' is the Thai epic, derived from the Indian Ramayana.