Skip to main content

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana Part A

This is a depiction of Rama and Sita's wedding, the result of many years of preparation as hundreds of thousands of people had to migrate to the city for the wedding, and the stars had to align to the perfect position.

I have just begun reading Narayan's The Ramayana and am enjoying it immensely. The descriptions of the characters and the great tales of evil and heroism are fantastic, and Narayan does such a wonderful job of conveying the intense emotions in the original poetry through prose.

My favorite part of the story so far has been the background for Rama not becoming king when we was meant to towards the end of Part A. The ultimate importance of keeping one's word that trumps even the love of the entire world, sending Rama into the forest, is something that I think we've certainly lost today, and something that Narayan conveys very well. I also like all of his descriptions of the relationships between the characters - there are some that are so closely tied it is like death to be apart, and others that rely on proximity alone, but carry no emotional weight. The loyalties of all of the characters to certain others are fascinating to read about, as well.

I like that he spends a lot of time describing the landscape, because I imagine that in the original poetry that was such an important part of setting the mood for every scene/interaction.


Citation:

  • Narayan, R. K. (2006). The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic. London: Penguin Books.
  • Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/144060333@N07/30382454521

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to a Nonprofit Enthusiast

I am studying Nonprofit Administration, and graduating in May. I come from St. Louis, MO, where I've spent just over half of my life. I have two siblings, a 9 year-old brother and a 2 year-old sister, both the best little humans to grace this earth. I've enjoyed my time at OU, during which I spent a semester at Kyungpook National University in Daegu, South Korea. During my time there, I was able to hike many of the mountains surrounding Daegu, visit some gorgeous temples and sites of historical significance, and also hop over to Japan for a little less than a week. I've also been to Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and surrounding towns in Germany. I love both places.     My most recent international travel took me to Monterrey, Mexico, with my fiancĂ© and his mother. He was born there, and still has a large part of his family living there. It was lovely to meet them, and they were kind enough to take me all over the city, visiting museums and parks, and eating lots of amazing foo...

Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Women Part E

This will be the last of my reading notes on Nine Ideal Indian Women, so I'll be going over the last stories about Damayanti and Uttara, but mostly just talking about the book as a whole and wrapping up my thoughts about it. Damayanti was the miracle daughter of a maharajah who had not had children for most of his life. A phrase that I really loved in the beginning of the story that described his happiness all blighted by this one sorrow of being childless:      "A crumpled leaf lay in his bed of roses, and whichever way he turned he felt it, for no child had come to bless his manhood and his whole being yearned for the joy of hearing the name of father fall from baby lips" (page 175). I loved that quote because it was the most poetic and graceful way of showing the sorrow of being childless I had seen out of all of the multiple instances in the stories I've read throughout the semester.  This story was also more poetic than most of the others throughout. It remin...