Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Section A

Rama's Initiation: The sage that appeared before the king is very mysterious and has yet to show what his motives are. For someone to ask another person to take two of their children away from them is a stretch that I am not sure many would have agreed. I could see why the king was hesitant but it still surprised me that he allowed it. Sages must be powerful beings or the king is inherently trying to repay a sage because a sage is what gave him children.

Yagna = ritual sacrifice

Thataka's Story: "A woman of demoniac tendencies loses all consideration to be treated as a woman."

Rama becomes the hero of the world extremely quickly. I am assuming the actually story was much longer. I still have many questions though. How did the sage know? Do most sages know things like this? If so, then a most stories could start with a prophecy from a sage. Lastly, the brother was not mentioned at all in in this chapter.

Mahabali's Story: This is another story of trickery, which seems common. Once again, the sage has no need for Lakshmana even though Lakshmana helped out.

Mahabali treated a random dwarf interestingly for being a conqueror of the earth and heavens.

Ganga's Story: This story was too difficult to understand. The wording halfway through changed the story for me. How they described the river as a person was very well done and gave me a clear picture.

Ahalya's Story: Another trickery and a terrible punishment. It may have been the worst one I have heard of. Ahalya should not have gone back to the sage though. She did not know, why is she getting punished?

The Wedding: The descriptions that come with this chapter are very detailed. Supposedly they were even more descriptive before being cut down. Love stories also seem to be a common theme. Falling in love at first sight is something I wish happened in the real world, but that is a lot to hope for.

Two Promises Revived: More drama with the family would make for a great story because there is much more that could be elaborated on in this chapter. Side stories and such.

Bibliography: The Ramayana, R.K. Narayan. Book

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