Reading Notes: Part D of Narayan's Ramayana

My favorite character, Hanuman

(Source: astrogems)

As the final section is over, I would like to declare this as my favorite out of them all. Since I did not do any work on Monday, I read both sections (C and D) on Tuesday and then published my reading notes. I could not take the idea of stopping the story to write reading notes and then picking it back up. By reading the second half all the way through, I think I was able to fully appreciate the story.

Hanuman became my favorite character by far after reading this last section. The fact that he was growing to incredible sizes and destroying things was extremely entertaining to read. His desolation of Lanka was amazing even though it was rebuilt.

It was very pleasing to read about Ravana's refusal to consider a curse. This is typical villain arrogance and I was excited to encounter it. It just goes to show he was ultimately doomed for considering himself untouchable.

Vibhishana was a pleasant character even though he was the brother of Ravana. I thought it was wise to advise his brother to let Sita free as the curse declare Ravana vulnerable to a human. The fact that Vibhishana was cast away for this ultimately showed the arrogance of Ravana yet again. I was happy to see Rama trust Vibhishana after he confided in him.

It was sort of terrifying to read about Rama's encounter with Sita after the death of Ravana. I can understand why Rama wanted it so, but it was still concerning to read about the orders of a husband to his wife in order to prove a certain truth.

Rama organizing a funeral for Ravana just goes to show the purity of Rama. Ravana was painted as the big, bad villain this entire epic. He even kidnapped Rama's wife. Yet, when Rama defeats him, he still shows compassion even to his darkest of peers.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading the Ramayana. I look forward to working with this particular epic as we dive deeper into the semester as it was an excellent read.

---

Bibliography: Narayan's Ramayana
Link to this reading guide