Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana, Section A

For these reading notes, I decided to focus on the plot and the writing style, since that was the most developed part of the story in the beginning, and was also the strongest. What I liked, in the beginning, was how the story introduced all of the cities and described them. This made it easy to discern one from another, and also painted a pretty picture without being too wordy. Sometimes I can get tired of really long descriptions, and often will skim through them if they give me too much information. Some of the phrases I liked in this part of the story were "bee-loved lotuses" and "white water-blooms."

The next few parts got a little bit more into the story, but I thought the pacing here was a bit confusing. It introduced a lot of people and Gods, which made it difficult to keep up with all of the characters in the beginning since they are older, traditional names that are a bit more difficult to pronounce. After I continued reading, though, it got more clear and I began to understand the story more. I did like the beginning a few sections, as it discusses Rama's origin. One of my favorite lines was, "Rama was the most beautiful: lying in his white cradle he was like to a blue lotus bloom amidst the gleaming waves of the Ganges." The pacing was very quick until it got to the battle, where Rama was older. It slowed down after that. 

Another interesting thing that I liked was the poetry woven in. That definitely reads more like an epic, and I thought it was a good way to emphasize certain parts of the story. One of my favorite stories that was interwoven in the Ramayana was the story of Indra and Ahalya. I thought this was very interesting, especially how there were different versions where Ahalya either becomes invisible or cursed to be stone. 

After these parts, the story started to become more character focused, and I looked into that a little bit more. Some of my favorite character introductions were Parashurama, Sita, and Manthara. My favorite section of Part A was definitely the part where Sita and Rama met. I liked how they knew they would never love another and that their love was eternal, even though King Janaka said they needed to complete the challenge for his daughter. 

Another twist in the plot came towards the end whenever Rama's father was the one that sent him into exile. To me, this part really showed the personalities of the characters. For example, Rama blindly followed his father's instructions to be banished, and Sita and Lakshmana went with hin. 

Vishvamitra speaks with King Dasharatha

PDE Ramayana from here. Sources used: M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder.