Something that I really like about Buck’s version of
the Ramayana is that he includes so
much background information. The
beginning is what is so striking to me.
He sets up the story as happening thousands of years later from the
events of the Ramayana through
someone telling a story about someone else telling a story. It’s a bit complicated at first, but
eventually it all starts to make sense.
What
most interested me in this reading section was Valmiki helping Sita. Buck’s version explains that Valmiki has been
chosen to care for Sita so that she does not commit suicide after Rama has
abandoned her. When I first read this, I
was surprised. I honestly thought Buck’s
version would not have differed so much from Narayan’s but I was obviously
wrong. Something else that is
interesting to me is that the text explains that Sita has done nothing wrong,
but Rama must still banish her because the people within their kingdom do not
like her. Here, I really wish that we
would have been given more details, but I suppose we are most likely not
supposed to know what she is accused of because she didn’t do anything
wrong. However, the suspense and ambiguity
is killing me. Obviously, I understand
that Sita’s banishment is nothing more than a useful plot device so that the Ramayana can be told to us, but it is
annoying.
Overall,
I am pleasantly surprised because I thought that Buck’s version of the Ramayana would have been so similar to
Narayan’s version that I would have been bored and uninspired to write
storytelling posts, but it appears that this version will be very
different.
Valmiki. Source: Wikipedia
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