Reading Diary A: Week One

I am really enjoying the book so far! I am having to work extra hard to keep up with all the names and whose mother is who’s! I find it interesting that Rama does not know that he is an incarnation of Vishnu; I would have thought that he would have possessed all the divine knowledge of Vishnu himself. I was surprised to find that Kaikeyi, Bharatha’s mother, did not actually intend to take the throne from Rama initially—but rather she was convinced to do such by her (somewhat crazy) friend, Kooni. I liked reading about Rama and his brother Lakshamana’s travels in the beginning, with Sage Vishwamithra. For me, seeing Rama’s attachment to his brother and willingness to do the sage’s bidding showed his character and made even an incarnation of a deity feel more human. Reading about the Rama’s wedding to Sita was extra interesting because I had previously read a retelling of this story from a past student for one of our earlier assignments. I liked getting to read the story in full for myself,instead of just going off of tid bits of others’ and not knowing exactly what had been changed. This part made it difficult for me to relate to the characters though, as it was clear Sita and Rama only fell in “love” because they were attracted to one another. It seemed like a depthless love story. They made eye contact from afar, Rama strung a god’s bow—proving his inhuman strength—and suddenly they were a match made in heaven? Oh, yeah. They were. Apparently Sita is an incarnation of the Vishnu’s divine lover as well. Cool. Here is a picture of Rama's father grieving over the turn of events and his realization that the reason he is being forced to give his thrown to Bharatha instead of Rama is due to his having accidentally killed a boy years ago, and being cursed for it.

(Image of Dasaratha's Grief)