Reading notes: Ramayana D

Source

PDE Ramayana:
I'm a little late on this one, but it has been a busy week.

I like how Rama found a very... obvious loophole to the "unfordable " river. It feels like someone else might have thought of this.

Ravana did not do a very good job of tricking Sita. He kinda gave up really early.

I'm not going to lie, I kinda forgot Rama was leading an army of monkeys. Rally makes this super serious battle have a bit of a humorous tone in my mind.

Kumbhakarna is kinda humorous, especially since he required food before he could fight.

I don't know why, but I really like Hanuman, maybe its just his name. That might be a stupid reason but it makes me think about the importance of character names.

This battle with Ravana is definitely the most epic battle of the entire epic so far and I'm definitely curious to see how it ends.

Even the demons believe it is evil to kill women. That is actually shocking.

Lakshmana I think should have died here as far as storytelling goes, it shows that Rama had to lose something in order to regain Sita, but as is, it doesn't look like that will be the case.

The gods high key cheat by sending Rama help. They can't just force their prophecies to come true, can they?

I like how Agastya comes back, if only for a little bit. It's nice to have some repeating characters.

So Rama completed his destiny. I wonder what is left for him.

Rama not taking back Sita is not a good ending to this story, maybe culturaly, yes. But I'm salty.

Nevermind, he takes her back.. sorta, all is well.

Reading notes: Ramayana C

Source.

Public Domain Ramayana, link to the reading online.

I missed the reading yesterday, so I'll be doing part D as extra credit this weekend. But, here is part C.

I think it's kinda funny that Rama and his brother are apparently striking fear into all the animals in the forest while they're walking about.

Time for a side quest to save the monkey's wife I guess. I feel like the whole getting Sita back thing is only difficult because They don't know her exact location. No one really poses Rama a threat.

To be fair to Vali, a year in this world is a non important amount of time to most of these god like people, so his brothers abandonment must have hurt a lot.

I honestly don't see why Rama felt the need to hide and ambush Vali. Maybe I'm just underestimating Vali though.

I also find it strange that Vali had to die considering it was all just a misunderstanding in the long run.

I hadn't realized Rama's terms of exile made it so he couldn't enter ANY city. I must not have read close enough. That is very harsh.

The rainy season doesn't really do anything to effect the plot. It allows for a bit of contemplation, but it then just leaves. I find this a strange touch.

So do the monkeys rule over the bears? I have to assume so since the monkey king was able to send the bear king to go search for Sita. Kinda makes me think about the animal hierarchy.

I like how some characters, like Sampati tell us their long backstory the first time we meet them.

Hanuman can change size!?! That's kinda awesome.

It's convenient that Hanuman stumbles upon proof of Sita's faithfulness.

The whole monkey's tail on fire and burns the city thing must have been based on a very unfortunate true story.

Well at least one person was smart enough not to go on a suicide mission to kill Rama.