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Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana Part B



Two thing stood out to me most in this last part.

First, the devotion of Sita to Rama, as well as everyone's devotion to Rama. She had the chance to stay behind in splendor and wait for him to come back, and Lakshmana had the chance to stay behind and be treated as a royal, but they both followed Rama into the woods to face whatever was coming at his side. I was a little surprised by how ready a few people were to kill themselves when Rama didn't get to be king or when they found out that Dasaratha was dead (see the giant eagle), but that's just ancient devotion I guess.

The second thing was the trickery of Soorpanaka, and the fact that all of her tricks in this story came because she, as the embodiment of evil, fell hopelessly in love for Rama, the embodiment of good. It was funny to read when she was talking to Ravana and trying to cover up her feelings - everything I've encountered so far has made me want to read the poem itself rather than just the prose version.

I'm also greatly enjoying all of the art coming along with the research over these stories. This style of art is gorgeous!

Citations:
Picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shurpanakha
Reading: Narayan, R. K. (2006). The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic. London: Penguin Books.

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