Reading Diary B Week 4: The Language of Animals

            A really interesting excerpt from this reading section was Kaikeyi asking Dasaratha to teach her the language of animals.  I found this section to be really interesting because it just seems so unexpected.  It literally feels like it comes out of nowhere, but I have a guess as to why it is inserted into the Ramayana.  Now, I could be totally wrong, but I believe that this is put into the story to possibly show Kaikeyi as having a past of being selfish.  Kaikeyi has just used her two boons to banish Rama and make her son Bharata king.  This story follows up that event by showing Kaikeyi asking Dasaratha to teach her to speak to animals in exchange for his death.  To be honest, how the Ramayana describes their relationship is sickening.  It is honestly like a teenage romance.  My reaction to this section is just pure disgust.  I’m not necessarily getting worked up about it but I’m just over it. 

            Other than that reaction, I thought Kaikeyi’s behavior was odd.  I mean she wanted to know how to speak to animals at the cost of her husband’s life.  Within the excerpt, she is described as sitting nonchalant waiting for him to tell her then die.  It’s insane.  At least within her exiling Rama and demanding Bharata to be king, the reader may see that she is doing this in order to protect herself.  However, this shows her as completely selfish.  I kind of hate it because it puts Kaikeyi in a worse light.  

Kaikeyi and Dasaratha.  Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary A Week 4: The Beginning

            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

Famous Last Words Week 3

            This past week has definitely brought some normalcy into my life.  I’m so glad that I was actually able to breathe and relax.  It was quite refreshing.  I’m glad that within this week we were able to finish reading Narayan’s Ramayana.  I can’t wait to start reading Buck’s version and see what the differences are between the two.  I know Buck’s is definitely longer just by looking at the size of the book.  While Narayan’s version was not bad, I wish that some parts of the story had been elaborated on or put more detail into because I felt like I needed to know more.  Hopefully, Buck’s version will give me more of that.

            As far as reading other stories this week, I enjoyed reading a lot of my classmates’ stories.  They all vary in creativity and writing styles, but I like that the ones that I have read always tell the story from someone else’s perspective.  Instead of telling the story the same way but only changing the setting to something more modern, everyone’s story that I have read this week wrote from a secondary characters perspective such as Vali, Sugreeva, or Vayu.  I also chose to write my storytelling post using this same technique because I believe that by not changing the story in some significant way, the reader will possibly find it boring and redundant.

           I’m looking forward to next week’s readings but I’m also a little nervous about the storytelling posts because we are going to be using the same story but just a different version.  I’m sure I’ll be fine because I know that I’ll get the assignment done either way.  However, I don’t know if things will catch my attention the same way as certain parts of the story within Narayan’s version.  I’ll guess we’ll see when I start reading for week four.  

The battle at Lanka, Source: Wikipedia

Week 3 Storytelling: Sita's Trial

            After months of existing in that place, feeling miserable, and living in fear, I was reunited with him.  From fourteen years of exile to months of abduction and war, we were together again.  I received a message to dress in my finest clothes.  I had never been so excited in my life.  It reminded me of the first day I met Rama.  My stomach dropped.  I felt weightless but so intense at the same time.  I couldn’t wait any longer to be in his embrace.  Just to be in his presence was enough to satisfy my ache at the moment.

            Once I arrived, I saw him.  The biggest smile flew across my face.  My eyes even started to sting with raw tears.  I just couldn’t wait any longer to be apart from Rama.  Before I approached him, I told myself that we would never be apart again.  I wanted to run and leap into his arms but I knew that would be inappropriate.  Instead, I walked slowly and hated every second of it.  When I finally stood before Rama, I couldn’t wait for him to hold me.  All I wanted was his touch.

            Instead of Rama holding or kissing me, or even him lightly touching my arm, Rama looked at me without emotion.  At that moment, my world collapsed.  I threw myself at his feet, begging for him to love me as he did before.  But he said nothing for several minutes.  Then the cruelest words came from his mouth.  He couldn’t trust me.  Rama accused me of doing the worst possible thing to any husband.  I had stood by his side through all these years and all these trials, but he needed me to prove myself again.  I didn’t understand why this was happening to me.  I did everything I could do to impress Rama.  Rama was the only reason why I wanted to live, but he threw me away without hesitation.  I didn’t want to live anymore.  My soul died in that very moment.  I had lived for Rama for so long that I didn’t know how to live for myself.  The only thing that I could do next was prove myself or die.  

          Once the fire was started, I was fully prepared to leave this life or prove to Rama that I was still virtuous.  After I came out of the fire, I thought everything would go back to normal for Rama and me, but it didn’t.  I didn’t feel the same.  I would have never questioned Rama if he had been the same situation, but he questioned me.  He immediately took me into his arms and declared me pure, but I never felt the same about him.  I thought I wanted to die without him, but now, I never wanted to live my life for him as I had done before.  Everything had changed.  He wasn’t the man I had fallen in love with, and I wasn’t the woman who had dedicated her entire life to him.

Sita enduring the trial by fire to prove her purity to Rama. Source: Wikipedia.

Author's Note

Sita is on trial because Rama must declare that her purity and virtue are not tarnished due to living with Ravana. Ultimately, the trial is done to stop the doubt that everyone must have about her living with another man. Within the original story, Narayan describes the trial from a third person perspective.  He also includes that it is the god Agni who stops her from being burned.  I left this out because I wanted to make the story realistic.  I wanted to focus on Sita’s perspective through the whole ordeal. I didn’t want to include dialogue within this story because I wanted the sole focus to be on Sita’s feelings of being betrayed by a man that she has devoted her life to. I felt that dialogue would take focus away from her thoughts. Of course, I understand that within the Ramayana this trial was done to appease the doubts of everyone else, but surely, Sita would have felt a bit sad. Aside from changing the point of view from this section, I also added Sita feeling hurt by this ordeal. Within the original, Sita and Rama’s relationship never changes due to this situation. However, within my story I wanted to show that she is so hurt by this that she is changed forever from being completely devoted to Rama. Other than these major changes, the rest of my story is true to the plot.

Bibliography

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.

Week 3 Reading Diary B: Sita's Mistreatment

            Within this section of the reading, I found the treatment of Sita to be very interesting.  At different points within the readings, she is blamed as the cause of all this or falsely accused.  Surprisingly, she is falsely accused by Rama, who is supposed to be wise and understanding beyond human capability.  I found it odd that Sita was put into this category as the cause when she had no choice in being kidnapped.  Furthermore, why is Rama suddenly judging Sita? He just helped Sugreeva rescue his wife who was taken by another man and he made no objection about Sugreeva taking her back without question. 

Quote:

“...Ravana shed bitter tears and swore, ‘This is the time to kill that woman Sita, the cause of all this misery,’” (Narayan 137).

           

I picked this quote because it shows how Ravana instantly blames Sita for being the reason why he has lost so many people at Rama’s hand and for his ultimate loss of power.  I can only wonder if this was a common thing within Valimiki’s life.  Furthermore, Rama even mistreats Sita, who he believes is the most virtuous woman in the world.  She must endure a trial by fire to ensure that she did not have a relationship with Ravana.  This ending seems a bit odd because Sita is put on a pedestal the entire epic and is shown as being completely devoted to Rama, but Rama still needs this assurance.  I suppose it was put into the epic to show beyond doubt that Sita was virtuous and perhaps to show Rama as less than perfect, but it still rubs me the wrong way. 

Sita enduring the trial by fire. Source: Wikipedia

Brainstorm Topics

Rakshasis:

Throughout the Ramayana, I found the female demons to be some of most interesting characters.  I was so interested in Thataka’s back-story that I wrote about it in my storytelling post.  Furthermore, I also found Soorpanaka’s unwavering affection for Rama to be odd but interesting.  I did do some research such as Wikipedia pages on the characters and I tried to search the Internet to see if female demons were viewed differently than male demons.  However, I could not anything about the views of female demons, but it is something that I would be interested to know.  I also looked through past storybook projects, and found “Misunderstood Women of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata” by Bethany Magley.  Within her story, she gives an accurate account of both rakshasis.

Kooni/Manthara and Kaikeyi:

First of all, I am very intrigued by Kaikeyi’s and Kooni’s relationship.  Even though Kaikeyi is a queen, she still allows Kooni to manipulate her.  Furthermore, within the Ramayana, there is one point in which Kausalya is described as having “several dwarfs and hunchbacks and other freaks” as her servants (Narayan 31).  I was wondering if there were specific reasons why people with physical deformities are the servants of the queens.  I tried to do some research about the issue, but only managed to find out details about each character—such as how Kooni never liked Rama due to a past event.   I had no luck in discovering the significance of deformities.  For this topic, I also read some past storybook projects—“Evil Women of the Ramayana”—which describes Kaikeyi’s and Kooni’s relationship. 

Mistreated Women of the Ramayana:

Throughout the Ramayana, I felt like many of the women—Sita, Tara, and Ahalya—were either mistreated or discredited because of their sex.  I was surprised while doing some research on Wikipedia that women in ancient India were actually treated quite equally to men, but their freedom declined due to the occurrence of various religions such as Islam and Christianity.  I know I will have to do more in depth research on this topic, but this contradictory find to my beliefs sparks my interest immensely.

Monkey Characters within the Ramayana:

One very important aspect of the text is the use of monkey characters such as Hanuman, Vali, Sugreeva, and Angada.  I know monkeys are one of the sacred animals within Indian culture.  However, monkeys are also described as fickle minded.  I am wondering if there is a connection to their fickle mindedness and Sugreeva’s lack of urgency in helping Rama.  I did research using Wikipedia and other Internet sources, but I was not able to find out why people dress like monkeys in Indian culture.  I know that it is a part of their culture to dress up like monkeys because I have seen it before and I believe they do it to enforce protection against evil, but I am not exactly sure.  After searching the Internet for a while, I could only find recent accounts of Parliament using men dressed up as monkeys to scare real monkeys away from government buildings.

A sculpture of Hanuman. Source: Wikipedia

Week 3 Reading Diary A: Vali Ignores Tara

Something that really stuck out to me within this reading section was the treatment of Tara by her husband Vali.  It reminded me of the story of Ahalya because of how both were treated unfairly.  Although the book never explicitly states that Ahalya was punished because she was a woman, I feel that it definitely made the difference in her having such a severe punishment.  Like Ahalya, Tara is also discredited because she is a woman.  She tries to warn Vali to not be too rash about fighting his brother Sugreeva, but he basically ignores her insight because she is a woman.  I decided to write about this because I feel that it is a common theme within the Ramayana. 

Some of my favorite lines include:

“‘Oh foolish creature, you are betraying a woman’s intelligence and a gossiping tongue...I know more about Rama—more than you do,’” (Narayan 98).

“He looked at it and brooded over his own recklessness in castigating his wife for mentioning Rama’s name.  That poor creature showed better judgment than he,’” (Narayan 100).

The first quote shows Vali’s complete disregard to Tara’s knowledge on the situation because she is a woman.  I’m almost certain that if she was a male character, her warning would have been taken seriously or at least more serious than it is currently.  Similarly, the second quote also discredits Tara.  Even though, both Vali and the narrator have realized that she was ultimately right, the narrator still refers to her as a “creature.”  By doing this, Tara is still referred to as something less than human.

Painting of Tara by Raja Ravi Varma, Source: Wikimedia