Skip to main content

Reading Notes- Ramayana Part C

 Done in Pune, India around the year 1800. 
Sita's rakshasi guards.

The most prominent part that stuck out to me about Ramayana Part C was the idea of protection. From both sides, protection of whatever they thought was the priority was the highest matter in order. For Sita, Rama seemed, at least in my opinion, more worried about her being hurt or otherwise more than his loss of a wife. I think it is interesting that these kinds of stories have such a strong force of martyrdom. While there is a lot of history of Rama and how he got to the situations, most of the other characters that are searching all over the "world" are left quite vague in their own history and stories. I think the faith in Rama is rooted in the idea of protecting the most important priority. I certainly don't know all the angles of exactly why the entire population was on his side since many stories that are driven by passion instead of strategy are disregarded and require a special group that embraces martyrdom. And this can also be seen partly as Hanuman goes above and beyond to do just about anything for Rama. At the Ashoka Grove, where Sita is seen to be guarded by the rakshasis, the idea of protection rings true. (Just for a second, I think the culture is so strongly enforced that even the monsters are almost humanized with the painting with the sari and making it to where the guards' features are mostly just exaggerated human features. 

Another thing I noticed was Sita's own idea of protection. While others focused on rescuing the physical body of Sita, her priority was different. She wanted to protect her faith and "purity", even when it was in exchange for not leaving. For example, Hanuman was ready to take her away on his back when he got past Sita's rakshasi guards. Instead of giving into the escape, she focused on the fact she is first the wife of Rama and then she is a trapped being. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2 Story: Snip Snap Fish Crab

Photo by pieceoflace photography on Flikr.   The pond had been the home for generations of fish. The pond had seen generations of schools, all swimming up to feel the warmth of the sun after being burrowed in eggs on the deep floor. As the years passed, the pond kept losing water, kept losing fish. What was once a booming pool of abundant creatures slowly became a warm puddle with fish that were slowly suffocating. The wild crane, the old and cranky one near the bay, watch the water line dip lower and lower every year. Instead of working hard to catch a few fish every day in a deep pond, he waited. Patiently. He watched the waters evaporate from the now shallow pond and saw the booming schools of fish starting to panic. He smiled to himself, knowing his long-awaited moment was almost here. "I don't know what much else we can do, sir," said Lole, the wisest fish in the pond. "I've never seen anything like it," said Boe, the oldest fish in the pond.

Week 6 Story: Bhima and Hidimbi

Ghatotkacha  by Unknown.  The story of Bhima and Hidimba actually made me feel a bit different compared to all the love stories from the Indian Epics. I wanted to focus on more of the emotional aspect of the couple and decided to write it up!                                                                                                                                                                     This felt different. He felt different.  The large family, in the tattered garment and heavy eyelids, took a seat under the tallest tree in my forest. Four of them looked like they were teetering on sleep as they settled into the lush grass.  "Be careful, dear. You are more than just strength. Wake up when trouble comes," said the older woman before curling up, her sleep overcoming her before she could have a word against it. Four of the five men with her followed her suit.  Yet the largest man, with full arms and strong legs, seemed unphased. He looke

Brief Introduction Production

Hi! This is what I look like! Photo by Melanie Foster, personal use.  Cheers to a new blog! Ideally, you, the reader, and I, the writer, have never actually met before. Lucky for the both of us, there's much to learn! I truly believe that writing about anything makes one more knowledgeable than before they wrote about it.  While I don't have an eight-course thesis about myself, there are some basic components I would prefer people to know about me before the rest of who I am. Let us begin.  -I hate frogs.  I do not know where this originated from since this feels like a recent phobia. I remember I was not frightened or even close to crying when I dissected a frog in my 7th-grade math class. In fact, I was the leader of my group that did most of the dissecting and identifying of the innards. Now, however, if I see a frog after a rainy day in Norman town, I will cry. Immediately. It's not like anything traumatic happened, I'm just like this now.