Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana, Part D


Figure 1: Depiction of The Ramayana  Wikimedia

As the Ramayana is mostly plot focused, I will focus my notes on that.

Rama and his army march on Lanka using a magical bridge. They lay seige to Lanka and a massive battle ensues. Rama emerges victorious, and he kills all of his enemies and retrieves Sita. However, he doubts Sita's loyalty, as she has lived with Ravana for over a year now. She sets herself on fire and emerges unscathed to prove her purity. Rama goes home and reclaims his throne. Now some really weird stuff happens. 

First, Rama is forced to banish Sita (while she is pregnant), due to machinations within the kingdom that doubt Sita's purity. Lakshmana goes with her for a while too. Rama rules for 16 years, while Sita raises their children alone. A horse sacrifice goes awry and leads to a conflict between Rama and his children, who manage to defeat even Lakshmana. The children are then explained to be the ones who spread the tale of the Ramayana to the world. Sita returns to godhood and so does Rama.

I suspect that Rama was inspired by a real individual, and he engaged in the political manuevering described in the story.

I think the story that I would most like to retell is the battle between Lakshmana and Indrajit. Indrajit did arguably the most damage of any demon during the battle and is effectively the second in command of the demon forces. Lakshmana is Rama's brother and is often overshadowed by him. I've also wanted to try writing an action scene for a while. I'll make sure to research legendary Hindu weaponry to more accurately describe the battle. I think I'll also give them different fighting styles, mostly because I like JoJo's bizarre adventure. I'll also be sure to give them distinct personalities too, Indrajit in particular seems very level headed and calculating.

Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition by Various Authors

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