Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana , Part D

When Sita is imprisoned on the island with Ravana, the first thing that comes to mind is the story of a prince who crosses a bridge haunted by a dragon to save a princess. In this case, the water around the island is the bridge. At the end of the last reading, Rama sends Hanuman across the water to give Sita a ring as a symbol of him being alive and coming to get her. Just as Sita is about to kill herself, Hanuman presents the ring to her, and she in turn asks him to send Rama a piece of jewelry that she has kept hidden for a while. I like how the use of jewelry reappears in this section, and again saves Sita's life. First, the trail they followed was because Sita dropped jewelry. Now, she is about to commit suicide, but is presented a ring by Hanuman.

                                                   Hanuman presents the ring, Wikipedia

Another part that I really liked from this section was the crossing of the sea. It was inspiring how all of nature helped Rama's troops build a bridge over to the island. The birds and squirrels brought little stones, and larger animals brought mud and pieces of mountains. All the while, Rama and his troops were gathering large rocks as well. It reminded me of fairy tale movies where the birds and woodland creatures start singing with the princess and help her make a cake or something.

Then there was the part with Kumbakarna. When Ravana sees that all of his defenses against Rama are failing, he wakes up his gigantic brother, Kumbakarna, who is a great destructive force. I imagined they kept him in a huge dungeon (like Fluffy from Harry Potter) and sang him lullabies to keep him from waking up and eating everyone. How Rama defeated Kumbakarna is amazing, especially since he looks pretty terrifying.

                                                           Kumbakarna, Wikipedia 

Narayan's Ramayana, link to Reading Guide A.