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Week 5 Reading Diary B: Abduction of Sita

In the beginning of part B for Week 5, Sita is abducted by Ravana.  I did not understand why he had not forced himself on her before, but I now understand that it is because of his curse. This makes a lot more sense now because Ravana definitely seems like the kind of character that would force himself upon a woman no matter what. So now I understand why Ravana has been trying to woo Sita into liking him—so she will give in and he can bed her.

Here we see the forces setting up with Hanuman and Sugriva to go find Sita. This is where all of the build up happens because it is exciting to know that there is an army of men and Hanuman that are about to set out to find Rama’s love. Rama gave Hanuman Sita’s ring so that when he found her, she will know that it is someone she can trust. In here, we see symbolism with the ring that Rama gives to Hanuman because a ring is a symbol for eternity. I did not catch that in Narayan’s Ramayana.  The episode ends with them finding Swayamprabha in the underground world.  Although they end up staying there for a month, they are now more determined than ever to go find Sita. Again, I am continuously amazed at the loyalty shown by Hanuman.

I chose to post a photo that showed Hanuman with Rama and the earth in the background. Also, his chest shows Rama and Sita, because his heart and loyalty remains with them. I love that he is on what looks like clouds or heaven. 

Photo of Hanuman found online

Week 5 Reading Diary A: Rama in the Forest

Today’s episode is setting the stage for Sita’s kidnapping. In here, I learned that Kaikeyi was one of Dasharatha’s wives, specifically Bharata’s mother. I was unaware of that when reading the Ramayana from last week. Bharata goes to convince Rama to come back, but of course he is reluctant to return to Ayodhya. Again it is mentioned in Buck's version that Bharata set Rama's shoes on his throne while he was gone. This version of the Ramayana gives  bit more detail of the life of Rama in the forest. It talks about the fourteenth summer so I am wondering how long his exile is supposed to last. I also like that his version of the Ramayana gives more detail into why Ravana kidnapped Sita. It tells the same story but I think the details are much easier to understand.  The readings from part A this week were not very long! Beginning with part B will be the beginning of the abduction of Sita.

Photo found online of Bharata asking Rama for his footwear

Week 4 Storytelling: Ravana and Shiva

Upon the birth of Ravana, Brahma granted him many powers, most of which could not be defeated by anyone including gods and others with supernatural powers. Ravana was an extremely temperamental child from the beginning. He was adopted so we do not know the genetic predisposition from his parents about temperament.

Ravana was married to Mandodari and together they birthed a son named Meghanada. It can pretty much be assumed that he was just as temperamental as his father that was hated by everyone around him. Everywhere that Ravana went, things were destroyed: people, animals, buildings, sanctuaries. 

One day, Ravana was in a particularly bad mood. He lashed out on everyone around him, including his son and wife. People fled as he burned buildings to the ground and caused major earthquakes. One of the people in the town, Freud, decided to further study Ravana’s personality. Freud went to a University in a far off land where he studied Psychology, particularly cognitive psychology. Thus, it is pretty understanding why he was curious to get inside Ravana’s (messed up) mind.

After getting a rich background in Ravana’s family history and studying his personality traits and habits, Freud came up with a psychological conclusion for Ravana’s temperment. Freud officially diagnosed Ravana with Borderline Personality Disorder which is marked by impulisivity and fears of abandonment. This explained why Ravana always made Mandodari stay near him, out of fear of her leaving him. Even that wasn’t enough since he abducted Sita, Rama’s wife. The root of his abandonment was clearly from being adopted at a young age, although his parents often times tried to deny their adoption. At the age of 7, Ravana found the official adoption papers in his parent’s room and that is when his extreme mood swings began.

Freud decided that the only way to get Ravana to calm down was to have a curse put on him. Ravana made Shiva so mad that she imprisoned him and even her bull, Nandi put a curse on him. In this curse, Nandi said that Ravana would be burned by a giant monkey. “A monkey?” Ravana scuffed, “Monkeys don’t even exist you fool!” Little did he know what was in store from the Hanuman in the upcoming episode.

One of the powers that Ravana received from Brahma was being psychic. Ravana knew of Shiva’s ex wife, Penelope. Penelope had passed away many years ago from a rare disease that the doctors could not cure. Ravana sung a song about her and Shiva was so touched that he let Ravana leave. From there, Ravana was on a mission to find Sita and abduct her…….

TO BE CONTINUED……..

Photo of Ravana found online 

Author’s Note: Ravana has been my least favorite character thus far in the Ramayana. Because one of my degrees in psychology, I decided to lay out a psychological stage as to why he acts the way he does. Normally I would write in the first person point of view, however, I decided that I didn’t want to come across as an absolute maniac. I intentionally included the name Freud in reference to Sigmund Freud, quite arguably the most famous psychologist known (although, ironically, if you talk to any psychology professor they all dislike his theories and know it is all rubbish that has been disproven). In my mind, giving Ravana some sort of psychiatric disorder or diagnoses makes him seem a little less terrible as a character. I put to be continued because I think I will continue the story to see how he thinks throughout his abduction with Sita. In the next story, however, I would like to write in a first person point of view now that I have laid out the fact that he has abandonment issues from his adoption as an infant. Because I had put so much psychology into this story, I decided to make Ravana be psychic also and that’s how he got away from Shiva.

Week 4 Reading Diary B: Buck’s Ramayana

The start of diary B readings for Buck’s Ramayana starts off where Narayan’s Ramayana begins. I like having some background information on Ravana. This part of the reading was much shorter than that of part A, the opening address. The exile of Rama in Buck’s epic seems a bit downplayed in comparison to Narayan’s. I was a bit underwhelmed with how he was forced to leave Ayodhya because of Kaikeyi, however, it does mention again that Rama tells his father not to be angry with her. Once again, we are able to see how great of a character Rama is. This epic gives more detail of Rama and his arrival in the forest. 

The reading part B ends with the death of Dasharatha which was of course sad to read again. I felt that this was moving a lot faster with much less detail than Narayan’s epic. I feel that if I read this epic before the other one I may not feel quite as strong of a connection to the characters. I am hoping that in the Week 5 readings we will get into more depth with the characters. I look forward to reading about the Hanuman again and the exile of Sita! 

Photo of Dasharatha found online 

Week 4 Reading Diary A: Buck’s Opening Address

At the start of Buck’s Ramayana, I am reminded of how overwhelmed I was at the beginning of Narayan’s Ramayana. There are so many different characters and so many different backgrounds that I feel it is nearly impossible to fully keep up with the story. However, because I now have somewhat of a background on SOME of the characters I was able to keep up (barely). In here we read about the birth of Ravana. He is a destructive person from the beginning which isn’t surprising at all. In here it also talks about his curse by Nandi, Shiva’s bull. We learned from the first version of the Ramayana that he was cursed and that it was said in his curse that he would be killed by a monkey so it was interesting to learn about that curse in retrospect! There was also a large battle that took place between Ravana and the god of death and it supposedly took place one year before the birth of Rama. I was glad to get a timeline of how Rama and Ravana come into play. This also included the wedding of Rama and Sita which I was happy to read about because Rama is my favorite character! This also clarifies that Rama and Sita are married throughout the whole abduction by Ravana. As ridiculous as it may seem, I was unaware that they were married throughout the whole epic (embarrassing, I know).

Photo of Rama and Sita's marriage found online

Famous Last Words for Week 3

So this week we finished the first version of the Ramayana that we are covering. I felt like I really learned a lot about the character of Hanuman this week!  I really am starting to enjoy reading my classmates Storybooks because it gives me insight to see how others perceive the characters. My favorite story was in the Storybook of Brandon and he wrote from Hanuman’s perspective throughout his journey to rescue Sita. I felt that I perceived the personality of Hanuman very similar to what Brandon did. He is a very loyal friend and servant of Rama. I also went a bit overboard this week with my Pinterest with Hanuman. As it turns out, many Pinners out there have a board specially designated for Hanuman so he must be a very influential character in Indian mythology.

I am really looking forward to read the Ramayana again next week from a different author. I am hoping it will give me new insight on the characters in this epic. I am also starting to get a hang on my website. I still have a lot to learn and I want to make it much prettier but I believe I have picked the theme I am going to stick with for my project!

At the beginning of this week, the weather was extremely beautiful so I went roller blading on campus. I usually go with a couple of friends that like to run but since I have pre-arthritic knees I am unable to run. Thus, I roller blade! We went all over the south oval and we stopped to get a drink inside so I chose to post a picture of me inside Kaufman Hall (I didn't roller blade all over the building like I made it look). I love being outside especially since I feel like my life is consumed with studying. It really helps calm my nerves. 

Personal photo of me skating on campus