Week 2: Reading Diary A: Young Rama

First, a thought on the style of Narayan's Ramayana: I find it a bit strange and jolting how, while reading, the author switches from a fairly standard narrator/storytelling style to talking about "the poet" (Kamban) and how/what the poet wrote. I can certainly see how it is helpful for summing up large descriptive portions of the epic poem, but it doesn't make for a very "smooth" reading experience, in my opinion.

Anyway, about the actual story: I have learned in other classes how the epics The Ramayana and The Mahabharata make up some of the main religious texts in modern Hinduism. I didn't really understand this before, since it seemed like they were stories about a few people who were (more or less) human. But, just from reading this first bit of the Ramayana, I see how stories and myths about various gods, sages, demons, and heroes from all times are woven into the story of Rama. I like that style. It is very different from reading a modern popular fiction book - it truly does feel like I am reading a vast chronicle of cultural myths, morals, and knowledge.

I thought the part where Sita, and even Rama to a lesser extent, get all angst-y and lovelorn was sweet and a bit funny. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet: two young people fall madly in love at a mere glance, physically impacted by the encounter, avoiding the day and vowing to die if they cannot be with their love (interestingly, Sita is the more dramatic in this situation, while Romeo is more poetically woebegone in his own story). It was cute, a tone which was unexpected and added relatability and humanity to the story.

I was also particularly struck by the tales of the various other women in the story: Thataka, who suffered being turned into a demon and ultimately death due to her husband's and sons' misbehavior; Ahalya, who was tricked into bed by one man and then rejected and cursed by her husband; Kaikeyi, who was manipulated by her advisor and in turn cruelly manipulated her own husband, banishing Rama in the process. These women's suffering, which in some cases seems to not be much considered, intrigues me - I feel there are whole stories there in themselves, full of the inner thoughts and motivations of these fascinating women. Rama may be the warrior-hero, Dasaratha the king, and Ravana the big-bad-guy-demon-king, but it seems the women of the story exert a powerful guiding influence over their men's fate.