Week 7 Reading Diary A

The people of Lanka think Ravana is being ridiculous; he should join Rama, not fight him

When Ravana began to dance, the wind came in very powerfully, not to help Rama

Ravana is still in denial of the approach of the end of his life, despite numerous warnings

“All loss of love or life is a lie, old age is an illusion, and only bad things perish.”—Ravana page 339, not realizing that he’s bad

“Good Love never dies”—Ravana page 339, does he not remember that he kidnapped hundreds of women and forced himself on them? Then captured someone else’s wife in hopes of making her his own?

Ravana made time vanish by lightly touching him

“I offered you my life and you accepted it.”—Ravana in his letter to Rama page 351, if he was so serious about offering his life, why didn’t he fight sooner? Why did he resist the coming war? This could also be one reason why he kept Sita for so long and didn’t listen when people told him to give her back

Suka was so happy at the news of the letter that he evaporated

No matter how many times Rama is told he is Narayana/Vishnu he doesn’t believe it and acts clueless as to his true self

There’s a vast store of treasures under Lanka page 366

“And giving gifts, giving to the poor and to others, that is always right; or else, what you save is spent to buy a homesite for you in Hell.”—Vibhishana to Hanuman page 368

Storytelling Week 6: On a Walk in the Park

Park

 Jayden was a curious child. He was very curious indeed. He spent his days exploring the world, studying all of the bugs and leaves and cracks in the sidewalks. The world was just so big and complex. He loved it.

Every day he asked his father and mother and teacher and grandmother and friends and mailman and strangers walking down the street “Why?”

“Why are some plants green and some not?”

“Why do people wear shoes?”

“Why don’t dogs talk like us?”

One day when he was walking through the park with his mother he looked up at the sky. He stopped on the sidewalk and just stood there looking. He looked for a whole five minutes before he finally asked, “Mother, why do clouds fly? Why are they up there? Why don’t they ever come down? You never see a cloud on the ground. Why?”

His mother thought for a moment. “Well, dear,” she said, “a very, very long time ago, before you or I were born, mountains had wings. They flew gracefully through the air. All of the people admired their beauty while they were in the air, but, like all things that fly, sometimes they would get tired and land.

“When they landed, they didn’t look where. They would crush people and animals and trees. They would crush whole cities!

“Now the gods saw this and were unhappy. The lives they were looking out for kept getting crushed. The Lord of Heaven took his lightning bolts and threw them down at the mountains to cut off their wings. He cut off all of the mountains’ wings except for one. That mountain flew away and hid in the ocean, but never comes out for fear that he will lose his wings, too.

“All of the wings from the mountains flew up into the sky and stayed there. Now they fly around up there wherever they please, but they’re too light to come back down to earth on their own. Those wings are what we call clouds.”

“Oh,” said Jayden. “If the only reason they don’t come down to earth is that they’re too light, why won’t anyone help them?”

His mother wasn’t quite prepared for that question, so she answered, “well, people are afraid that if the clouds come down to earth, they’ll join the mountains again and they will fly around carelessly crushing whatever they land on again.”

“Oh,” said Jayden, “okay.”

And they continued their walk through the park.

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Author's Note:  This story is based on a story in William Buck's 1976 version of the Ramayana on page 226. I really wanted to paint a realistic picture of a realistic child having a conversation with a parent. The parent in this case isn't being too honest with the child, but parents lie to their kids about all kinds of things (Santa, the Tooth Fairy, where babies come from, etc.).

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Week 6 Reading Diary B

A group went before the army and levelled the path

Samudra has a wide soul—it says so twice

This was written at a time when people believed in everything being comprised of the four elements? One of their elements seems different—light instead of fire

How did they repair all of the damage from the fire in about a week’s time?

“The superior person will gladly take good advice before acting”—Ravana, page 278, right before he ignores his Vibhishana

“sneak-thief” is such a great insult, page 279

“Do you think I’ll stop and change my ways though the whole world says I’m wrong?”—Ravana page 279, before saying that Vibhishana is just envious of the throne

“I’ll pay you back some day”—Vibhishana to Rama page 281

Sarana was never seen by anyone again after he disappeared when he was caught

Ravana refused Sarana’s knowledge when he returned and resigned

“[Sita] quietly opened her hand, and let life slip and fall away through her fingers.” Page 286 after Ravana shows her Rama’s severed head

Kumbhakarna tells Ravana to give Sita back, R. says it’s not his fault she’s so beautiful but she won’t sleep with him

“What I don’t like I don’t hear”—Ravana page 300, very characteristic

Vibhishana has loyalties to both sides

Rama’s army abandoned him when Kumbhakarna came

Hanuman took a bite out of K.’s ear

How did K. know about Rama shooting Vali in the back?

“This sad peril is all my fault. I have banished Vibhishana who was my conscience, and my young brother who loved me is dead”—Ravana page 307

Ravana has mood swings

“All is Dharma”—Indrajit page 318

Ravana tries to kill Sita, but  Suka stops him saying, “Majesty, do not draw the sword of an Empire to kill a woman, or else you let anger lead you into shame!” page 324 and Ravana actually listens to him

Week 6 Reading Diary A

Another vulture tried to fight Ravana when he took Sita, but R. conceded and V. wouldn’t fight someone who surrendered

The monkeys and bears say they can jump 100 leagues, but they can’t get back; if they can jump that far one way, why not the other?

Hanuman didn’t ask to go to Lanka, but agreed to when he was pointed out

Mountains had wings. Those wings are now clouds

You can hold on to a shadow and it will have a similar effect as holding on to the person

Demons have a large range of appearances

A mantra is a thing that can be worn? I thought it was a chant thing

People still thought the earth was flat when this was written

Sita changed a lot in captivity, looked worn out and disappointed, was still beautiful

Who is Kalee?

Hanuman is preparing to fight the Rakshasis—does he think he can win? Is he not turned away by the fact that they’re women? does he even consider them to be women?

Hanuman has a very “act now, think later” personality

Trijata’s dream is full of white except for Ravana, who wore red, then was dragged to the Land of Death

Sita says she will save the Rakshasis when Rama defeats Ravana

“Ravana had the patience and strength to protect all Creation from harm, but he did just the opposite and took the worlds for his possessions” pg 258

“Any kind of evil can be easily done in thoughtless anger”—Hanuman, thinking he’d burned Sita

Hanuman told Rama that Sita said things that she didn’t; things that were more insulting than what she did say

Week 5 Storytelling: Ravana's Curse

There was once an Apsarasa named Rambha. Everyone who saw her praised her beauty. “What a heavenly creature!” they’d say. That Apsarasa woman happens to be me.

I’ve always been close friends with Lord Indra. I want the best for him. So when a mortal king started encroaching on his power I didn’t think twice about going down to try to tempt him away from living a goodly life.

I did everything I could think of to try to seduce him or draw him away from goodness, but he would not give in. After several weeks of ignoring my attempts, he finally got fed up and turned me to stone. It was terrible! I kept all of my senses, but lost my ability to move. You don’t realize how agonizing it is to see and hear and smell everything but never be able to reach out and take part in it.

The king left me behind and people forgot that I was actually human. Some new men came by one day and thought I was a statue. “What a lovely ornament! Let us take it back to Lord Vaishravana so he may praise us for finding this beauty!” they exclaimed. So they picked me up and took me to their Lord, who put me in his garden.

Many years later the spell that held me in stone form wore off and I could move again. Oh, how happy I was! The first thing I saw after regaining my humanity was Vaishravana’s son, Nalakubara. He was such a beautiful man, so kind and gentle looking. We fell in love with each other immediately.

I knew that I did not belong on Earth, but in heaven. This was such a terrible feeling for me. I wanted to be with my love. So every night I would sneak down from heaven and be with him. Those nights brought so much joy and happiness to my life.

There was another king, the king of the Rakshasas, named Ravana. Ravana and his armies had taken control of much of the world and the heavens by force. He decided that he wanted many wives of all different races. He cared nothing for the women, just their beauty. He’d take them away from their homes and families by force and would force himself on them. He kept them as prisoners.

Of all his hundreds of forced wives he did not have an Apsarasa. Since he had heard rumors of my beauty, he decided that he wanted me. He drove his chariot all the way to Vaishravana’s kingdom and waited for me to come down to meet my lover in the garden. As soon as I was in his sight, he jumped out and started harassing me. “Who are you seeing? What lucky man gets to get drunk on your love tonight? You should want me! Love me!”

I naturally was not interested in this man of such hideous character. I told him, “I cannot love you because I am already married.”

“Apsarasas don’t marry!” he growled back. “How can you be married?”

“You do not need a ceremony to join the hearts of two people who love each other,” I told him.

As I said that he jumped on me and raped me. He just used me and left me there to suffer. I got up and ran to Nalakubara, who was waiting for me across the garden. I told him all that happened as tears streamed down my face. “Please forgive me for my weakness, for you are my husband and another man has been with me,” I pleaded.

“I have no need to forgive you. You did not give in to him, he forced you. Please stop crying, love,” my lover gently said. As Nalakubara was trying to console me, a tear fell from his eye and he shouted out in anger, “Ravana! The next time you try to force yourself on a woman, may all ten of your heads burst!”

Though Ravana had already made it back to his home thousands of miles away, he still heard the curse. To this day he has not forced any woman and cannot, lest he die.

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Author’s Note:  I chose to tell this story from Rambha’s point of view because she was already disrespected enough when she got raped. She deserves to be able to tell her side of the story. I added the part where Nalakubara doesn’t see the need to forgive her; there should be absolutely no blame put on rape victims. The original story did not specify whether or not she was forgiven for her “weakness,” so I thought that the story needed to specifically say that there was no reason for blame to be put on her.

Bibliography:  Buck, William (1976). Ramayana. Pages 177-180.

Image Source:  Wikipedia