Reading Notes: Ramayana (Part C)

The plot of Part C continued with Rama and Lakshamana's search for the monkey king Sugriva to ask him to help them find Sita. Along the way, the brothers were able to ally with Sugriva, Hanuman (the monkey god), Jambavan (the bear leader), and their followers. After sending four armies to look for Sita, one group found her location on an island in Lanka. As Hanuman went in to retrieve Sita, he was captured and Ravana decided his punishment was to set his tail on fire. Hanuman then retaliated by setting half of Lanka on fire with his tail, and then went back to the rest of his army to tell them what happened. Meanwhile, Ravana's loyal followers are willing to wage war with Rama but Ravana's younger brother Vibhishana thought he should return Sita to him instead. However, after being refused by Ravana, Vibhishana decides to leave Lanka and ally with Rama.

            As I read this part, the end was interesting where Vibhishana, a rakshasa AND Ravana's younger brother is the voice of reason and sides with Rama against his own brother. I also thought it was interesting that Ravana simply decided to set Hanuman's tail on fire instead of having him killed or something more torturous. There is also a character development of Hanuman during this section of the Ramayana. He is a devoutly, courageous follower of Rama, who risks his life to find Sita and revolves his actions around what he should do to protect both her and Rama. Something new I could do this time around is to write in a verse style and/or have a first point of view of one character.

Here are some ideas that I could write about:

• Hanuman's thought process during Ravana's court deciding his punishment, which leads to his burning of Lanka
• Vibhishana's perspective and his last straw with Ravana, causing him to team up with Rama
• His story could correlate to Week 2's story with Shurpanaka
• Sita's perspective awaiting her husband, and her annoyance with Ravana as he tries to seduce her
• Backstory on how the monkeys and bears allied together (maybe a love story?)

Hanuman

Bibliography: Public Domain Edition Ramayana