Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana B

As with the previous reading, I'm going to pick a few sections that I liked best! Probably around 2-3 depending on the detail that I get into. Instead of taking notes on ALL of them, this will help me remember the ones that stuck out to me the most and what made them special.

Battle with Khara
Based on Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. McKenzie
The sky is red, animals are howling. Khara shows up to battle. The vibe is really just evil and... bad. The sky eclipsed and a "headless horror" appeared, though I'm unsure if that's referring to the eclipse or literally. Rama shoots smoking arrows and tells Lakshmana to send Sita to a cave. The Rakshasas appear and cowered before him, but Khara forced them to continue the fight. Khara's army continued attacking Rama, who had access to celestial weapons, killed Dushana, and won the fight. Khara, who wanted to avenge is brother's death, met his end with a flaming arrow. Sita kisses the hero.

This section was shorter than I thought it was going to be, but I think it was great at describing their fight. It really shows how effortless everything comes to Rama. I mean, thousands of arrows flying at him and, while I'm sure he's struggling, he ends up okay? Love him! Excellent! Khara is the obvious villain here, though I think he comes off pretty cool too. He has a chariot and an army, which is neat. We also get to see Sita again!

Shurpanakha and Ravana
Based on The Iliad of the East: The Ramayana by Frederika MacDonald
This section was a bit more complicated than the others, but I wanted to do my notes on it because I liked Ravana's introduction a lot. We haven't really seen a villain that might give Rama a run for his money, but this section set Ravana up to be pretty bad, might give him some trouble in the future. The entire section is mostly devoted to the explanation of Khara's battle loss and how extreme this loss was. One Rama did all of that damage. They plan on kidnapping our favorite, lovely bride, Sita. Ravana has 10 heads, so he's interesting but also kind of a jerk, so. I'm not sure where I stand with him right now, though I thought the section was cool.

Rama strikes down Khara (Wikimedia Commons)





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