Reading Diary B: Week 3 RK Narayan The Ramayana

1. The first story that caught my attention for this reading was when Hanuman purposefully got himself captured in order to tell Ravana to surrender. Ravana wanted to kill Hanuman, but was advised against killing the messenger, so he set his tail on fire. With his tail on fire, Hanuman burned Ravana's city to the ground. After this, Ravana decides to go after Rama and Lakshmana and defeat them.

2. Ravana was cursed that his end would come from a monkey. One of his brothers, Vibishana says that all of the signs from his curses have come and that he should just give Sita back to Rama.  Ravana is very confident and believes he cannot be hurt. He did not ask for protection from humans because he did not feel he needed it, and still doesn't. Vibishana was banished because Ravana believed him to be a traitor, even if he had his best interests at heart.

3. In order to cross the sea, Rama asked the the sea god to allow his armies passage. The sea god could not do much, but the animals all joined in to create a land bridge across the sea to Lanka.  

4. When Ravana began losing the battle, he created a creature that looked like Sita and killed it in front of Rama's army. Vibishana came and helped rally the troops again.

5. Indra's chariot was sent down for Rama to use in the battle against Ravana. After a long battle, Rama finally defeated Ravana and retrieved Sita. He said that Sita could no longer live with him because she had lived in a strangers house, so she had them start a fire and she jumped into it. The fire god confirmed her integrity, so she could live with Rama. 

Sita's test by fire: Image from Wikimedia Commons
Created by Raja Ravi Varma

6. After everything he had been through, the gods were worried he was changed, so they sent Dasartha down to talk to him. After fourteen years, Rama was crowned in Ayodhya.

RK Narayan's version of The Ramayana epic was a fascinating read and I loved it!