Week Eleven: Reading Diary B: Burning Down the House

So the cousins tried to burn down the Pandavas, which seems pretty extreme to me but so does their jealousy, so it makes sense in a way. I like that the Pandavas did not simply escape, but they tricked the cousins into believing that their plan was a success! I wonder where they got the corpses though... I also wonder why the wanted the builder to die in the fire as well, but were not worried about getting revenge on the mastermind of the plan, at least for now...
The scene with Arjuna winning Draupadi still seems very odd to me. It seems a huge risk to take, given their circumstances. It also seems like the brother who decided all brothers must share the wife was just desperately lonely, because no one seemed happy with his answer and it was clearly not a comfortable concept within their culture.

(Image from Wikimedia)

Week Teen: Reading Diary B: The Battle

I found the end of this story a little startling. It seemed like the battle took forever to finally happen and forever to end once it had finally began—and suddenly it was over in a flash and everything has resolved itself and the book is finished. I feel a little dazed, haha. I found it interesting how the book managed to wrap everything up so quickly, though. I had mixed feelings about Krishna’s people and city both being destroyed in one way or another. There was a lot of death in this reading. It was depressing, especially taking into account how much of it was unnecessary. 

(Image from Wikimedia)

Week Ten: Reading Diary A: War Is Coming

I think the most interesting part of this reading for me was when Draupadi was raped, as well as the events that followed. Although it was difficult to read about this—not that there was much detail given—I found it very interesting that such an old story even identified this. Many cultures—past and present—tend to ignore rape, preferring to blame the woman or brush it under the rug, so to speak. I like that this story identified the injustice. I also appreciate that when the woman asked for help and protection from her partner she received just that. I felt this was a pretty progressive story, given it’s age. Below is a picture of Draupadi complaining to Bhima about Kichaka.

(Image from Wikimedia)

Week Nine: Reading Diary B: The Gambling Story

I am going to discuss the dice game because it is the most ridiculous part of the reading for today, in my humble opinion. I cannot believe that moron gambled away all of his ridiculous wealth over a stupid game. But I want to know why the hell his brothers did not intervene!? I would NOT stand by and watch my sibling throw away all of the SHARED wealth within my family, let alone my own freedom and that of my wife! What kind of person just stands by and watches this? And also, how is it fair for one man to roll the dice whilst another gains the winnings? Why was this not argued? It was a pretty obvious trap from my point of view! It was cool that the wife was protected from the disgusting men trying to undress her, though. I did actually like that part. Personally though, I would have left his ass if my husband did that. I liked how she was smart enough to argue that her husband no longer had the right to bet her freedom, since he had already lost his own. She was smart, even though they ignored her. I chose the image below because the queen looks serene, as if she has so much faith in her protector that she is not even disgruntled by her present situation, plus she looks pretty!

(Image taken from Yessy)

Week Nine: Reading Diary A: Beginning A New Epic

So my favorite part of this reading was the beginning, even though it was completely insane when I first began reading it. It was interesting because I was at a complete loss as to why the mother—aka the Ganga river/goddess—was killing her children so coldly. Though we now have most of that explained, I still wonder at how the father managed to remain silent throughout the first seven deaths. I cannot even imagine the pain of losing one child, let alone seven, and to their own mother, no less. That is a type of pain I simply cannot imagine. I wonder how he continued to love his wife in spite of all of this. I would think we would grow to hate and resent her for not only having killed seven out of their eight children, but then simply leaving him after he finally questioned her! Even though she was there only to serve a purpose, he had no way of knowing all of this and had surely come to care for his wife deeply over the years. (Image Information)

Reading Diary B: The Battle Continues

 

I am most interested in the scene in which Nala kills Prahasta—during the battle for Sita on the island of Lanka. This takes place on page two hundred and forty-two in my book, which is pretty different from the page numbers listed on the reading guide, so I thought it would be helpful to write it down instead of having to track it down later. I like the scene because the battle feels about even and I actually almost thought one of the “good guys” was going to die, which is not a common theme! Luckily, rage took over and fuelled Nala’s passion, which enabled him to successfully rise up and kill Prahasta instead of himself being killed! The specifical wording used was actually quite interesting: “and drove the life out from his [Prahasta’s] body.” I just think that is such a dramatic, moving way to describe the killing of someone. I would like to utilize such powerful wording in my own writing, when appropriate of course. I also enjoyed the scene just before Prahasta goes into battle. When he is offered a drink from Ravana, Prahasta drinks the entire liquid gone and proceeds to eat the glass itself, along with some pepper seeds. Even Ravana seems to be disturbed by this strange and interesting occurrence!

(Wikipedia) 

Reading Diary A: Rama Goes Away

So this began even worse than I recall it being in the previous version we read of the Ramayana. Not only was Rama sent into exile, he was also disinherited!? Geez. This story gets worse and worse. And now the king has died? This is depressing. Bharata is still loyal as ever to Rama, his brother. Bharata’s crazy mother, Kaikeyi is included in the group of people who follow Rama into the forest. She should have been forced to stay home after all the trouble she caused. Vinata is now a slave because she lost a bet—one which was rigged? People really can’t play nice in this story can they? Who loses their freedom over a little bet? So Ravana’s sister falls in love with Rama on site, and Ravana falls in love with Sita only from haring her physical description. Goodness, this must be one sexy couple! But seriously, what is this nonsense? Why does everyone in this story fall in love for such shallow reasons? I noticed Rama and Sita are one of few couples who are not in a polygamous relationship. I wonder if this has something to do with their status in India and Hindu culture as a “perfect couple” or if it is a mere coincidence…

(Image from Indian Epics Resources)

Reading Diary B: Searching for Sita

Reading the actual story behind Ravana’s curse was really interesting! It added a lot to the story—in my opinion—to include this information.  Though, the story itself made me rather sad because even though Sita and others who might catch Ravana’s interest in the future are protected, this curse did nothing for Rambha herself. The issues between the two monkey brothers are still rather sad. It seems silly they did not communicate better, but I guess that’s the way the world works… Also, WHY DO WOMEN JUST KILL THEMSELVES WHEN THEIR HUSBANDS DIE??? Stop it, right now. It seems pretty ridiculous that Sugriva was too drunk to pull it together and help Rama, after everything Rama did for him. He would still be hiding away on a hill without Rama! Angada thinks he screwed up so he decided to meditate and die. What? Why does everyone want to die? Seriously? This is so dramatic—not in the good way. They waited an entire rainy season to even begin looking for Sita and he thinks one extra month means he should just die? Why is everyone so intent on death and destruction in this story?

(Image from Indian Epics Resources)

Week 4: Reading Diary B

So it has been really interesting getting to read this story in greater detail and having many of my previous questions answered as a result. One scene that still really irritated me was when the king grants his queen the two owed wishes, which she designated as having her own biological son become the new king and having Rama sent away for twelve years. This is simply nonsense to me. I have noticed this theme in Indian culture and it is something that is difficult for me to wrap my head around. I understand that once you have agreed to something you should not back out of it. However, it seems unthinkable for me to consider promising not one, but two, requests be fulfilled without any stipulations or clue as to what those requests might be. I cannot imagine agreeing to such a thing myself! But also, it is madness to think that the so-called stepmother of Rama could be so malicious, even if provoked by the other woman. Everyone is responsible for their own decision-making. It is very hard for me to imagine a justification for the queen’s actions, even if she did truly believe she would fall under such harsh circumstances if Rama were to become king. 

(Image from Wikimedia)

Week 4: Reading Diary A

 

(Image from Wikimedia) 

I am really enjoying this new book; it is a very fast-paced and interesting read! I am getting  a little confused with all the names, once again. I was really horrified by the first chapter, the one where the woman drowned her firsts even babies! But I was fascinated by the five brothers all taking the same wife. I thought it was ridiculous how the mother thought she was advising the brothers to share their alms--not a wife--and yet they had to follow through with it. But it also bugged me that the wife-to-be would not speak up and share her own opinion on the situation, after all, she only agreed to marry one brother, not all five! Then again, she was already allowing her husband to be chosen via a competition, so I guess at this point she was fully resigned to her fate... One recurring question I had was in regards to the brothers conception: do they/the general public/their cousins know of their godly lineage? I do not remember this being discussed anywhere in the story, but it seems relevant. I wonder if the family relations would have went over more smoothly had their cousins known of the divine origins, or if this would have only made them even more jealous...

Week Three: Reading Diary B

So this was the end of the Ramayana—at the least short version of it anyway. The fight scene was very long and dramatic, which made me curious to see what the original will be like! Of course our protagonist, Rama, won and the evil Ravana was defeated. Ravana’s brother took over as ruler of Ravana’s kingdom, which was pretty cool since his brother had turned to the side of Rama and the monkeys. I was a little skeptical of this however, because although the brother did not agree with Ravana’s choice to kidnap and imprison Sita he never interfered in these actions. In the end, he only fled and helped Rama because Ravana kicked him out of their side. He would not have helped to save Sita in any way—in my opinion—were it not for his exile, which did occur due to his speaking out against Ravana’s actions, in his defense.

My least favorite scene in the entire epic came at the very end. This was when Sita attempted to immolate herself due to Rama’s rejection. This irritated me for two reasons: Sita should value herself as a person beyond being Rama’s partner and Rama should also not have held Sita to such an unfair standard. Sita was strong-willed, yes. But had Ravana not suffered from a curse that prevented him from touching an unwilling woman, Sita would have been raped long before Rama’s arrival. In that case, she would not have passed Rama’s test and would have been burned to death and forever kept from Rama. This is an unrealistic, sexist, patriarchal standard and I am not a fan of it. It seems to me that the older the religion, the worse the outlook is for the women. I will say though, this tells me nothing of how Hinduism regards women today, and it is the oldest religion on Earth, after all. I'll keep my hopes held high, for now.

(Image from Wikimedia)

Week Three: Reading Diary A

I was most interested in the section of today’s reading when Rama ‘helped’ the brother to fight his older brother and ultimately kill him. This scene was strange for me because I really did not agree with Rama’s actions and I feel like Rama is supposed to be such a pillar of good morality throughout the Ramayana Epic—as well as the entire Hindu tradition, I suspect. The scene was complicated because at the end Rama explained his reasoning for shooting the older brother whilst he was completely unaware of Rama’s presence. Rama thought that it was right because the older brother had completely mistreated the younger (who had taken on the role of ruler while under the false impression that the older brother was dead). Rama’s reason for shooting him without facing him was in order to avoid the older brother attempting to plead with him after Rama had already made a promise to the younger brother. I guess I was expecting something along the lines of Rama acting as a mediary between the two brothers in order for them to work out their differences and realize what a big misunderstanding it all was. But no, Rama just killed the guy because that was “simpler”…. I did like reading the fight scene though. I also enjoyed the jab the older brother made about how humans fight with weapons while monkeys do not. I actually really, really agree with the sentiment that winning a fight using a weapon does not make you a strong warrior, and I think that’s something most people today forget. But I also wished someone in the story would have pointed out the unfairness of the fight between the brothers—one of which had an obvious advantage thanks to the gods!

(Image of Vali dying from Wikipedia)

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)