Week 7: Reading Diary B

In this part, Rama is on his journey back to Ayodhya. He stops in a couple of places before going back home, so he sends Hanuman to inform Bharatha that they are on their way back home. When they return, Bharatha takes care of the coronation ceremony and makes Rama the king once again. Hanuman, Sugriva, and Vibhishana leave; all bearing gifts from Rama for their support.

Rama hears gossip about Sita and how he lets her live with him, even after she stayed with Ravana. So, he orders Lakshmana to take her to the Gangas and abandon her there. Even though he is unwilling, he has to follow the orders of his brother.

It is believed that the separation of Rama from Sita is due to a curse that was cast on Vishnu a while back. Vishnu had killed some demons and a brahmin's wife, after the demon took shelter in the brahmin's house using King Aja's name. So King Aja's priest cursed Vishnu of separation from his spouse.

Once Lakshmana leaves Sita on the banks of Ganga, she gets the help of Valmiki, who was sent by Vibhisha and Narada. She stays at the hermitage of Valmiki and gives birth to Rama's two sons, Kusha and Lava. Kusha and Lava sing the Ramayana at the festival hosted by Rama. Rama finally realizes that those are his children and he talks to Sita. Sita takes a vow to Mother Earth to prove her innocence and goes to live underground. Lakshmana dies because of him breaking a private meeting between Rama and Time. Rama goes to Sarayu river and jumps in to end his life.

Week 7: Reading Diary A

In this part, Jambavan, Hanuman, and Sugriva manage to kill the magicians of Lanka. Then, before the battle Ravana dances and prays causing a wind storm. As he is doing this, Time or Kala comes down and curses his end. Ravana with his ego just blows it off and doesn't pay any attention to Kala.

Rama and Ravan go to war. Each time Rama cuts off a head, it grows back. Ravana takes the disguise of Indra, which scare Rama, but his charioteer knows that this is only a disguise. With his help, Rama slays Ravana.

Once Ravana is killed, Sita is brought back and made to prove her innocence in front of Agni. Then, Vibhishana is crowned king of Lanka and they start their journey back to Ayodhya. If they don't get there in time, Bharata had promised to kill himself if Rama didn't return in exactly 14 years. This is why they must hurry back.

Week 6 Storytelling: Ravana's reaction

On the third day of the war, Ravana’s servant woke him up early in the morning. Ravana angrily yelled at them, “ Why do you fools bother me so early in the morning? Do you not realize that we have just won the war and you should let me just enjoy this morning?”  The servants scared, replied, “But the sentries of the wall have some important news they want to talk to you about?” Ravana said,  “ What could they possibly want now? Okay, let them know to wait in the court while I get ready.” After saying that, he went to go get ready before he went to his court.

Ravana appeared in court and asked, “ Why do you disturb me so early in the morning?”

One of the sentries of the wall replied, “ We haven’t won the war yet.”

Ravana angrily said, “ What do you mean? Do you question my abilities?”

The sentry scared to reply said, “ No, sir. It is just that we saw Hanuman, who was wounded; bring the Medicine Hill to Rama at the commands of Jambavan, the King of the bear. This hill had some medicinal herbs that helped revive Rama, Lakshmana, and many more that were killed.”

Ravana thought about what had just happened and the told his servants bring him his son. The servants replied, “ We haven’t seen him since yesterday, when you sent him to kill Rama, and Lakshmana.” Ravana then looked at the sentries and said, “ Do you guys know anything about where he is?” The bravest sentry replied, “ His hiding place was revealed by Vibhishana and he was attacked and defeated by Lakshmana. He was heavily wounded and unfortunately, didn’t make it.”

Ravana thought to himself, “ How could my own brother do this? How could he help my enemies? What could he possibly want? Had he done this for my kingdom? No, he never wanted the money and the fortune. Did my son do something wrong? “ All of these thoughts went on inside of Ravana’s head. He was really confused. How could his brother help get his own nephew killed. What were the circumstances that Vibhishana had to betray his own family?

While all these thought went on inside his head, he ordered his servants to get his stuff ready for combat. It was his time to go into war and avenge his son’s death.

Ravana in Lanka. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Bibliography
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Author’s Note

I really liked this story because I didn’t think Vibhishana would actually help Rama’s troops at all, but he helps them because he knows who is right and who is wrong. In this part of the story he actually helps them in a way that got his nephew killed and so I thought it would be really hard on Vibhishana and Ravana and it would good to see what was going on in their heads.

Week 6: Reading Diary B

In this part of the Ramayana, Rama leaves Kishkanda to go to Lanka with his allies and troops. He faces a minor problem. Lanka is an island and doesn't have a bridge to get his troops to the other side. He gets angry and curses Samudra, the king of the Water, who tells him that a monkey named Nala has a boon that allows anything he throws in the water to float. So everyone comes together and helps them build a bridge.

Vibhishana, Ravana's brother, gets in a fight with Ravan and goes to help Rama. His only condition is that he won't get involved in the fight.

Rama crosses over to Lanka and gets situated with his troops. Ravana sends over many different spies to see what Rama is planning, but each time the spies get caught by Rama's peoples. Ravana even goes to Sita and gets his magicians to create an illusion of killing Rama.

The war finally begins. Ravana starts off by sending Prahasta to attack Rama. Rama's troops manage to defeat and kill Prahasta.  Ravana then sends Kumbhakarna to attack Rama. Rama's arrow manages to cut off Kumbhakarna's head off.

Now, he turns to his son Indrajit. Indrajit attacks Rama and his people from his invisible chariot and he kills Rama, Lakshmana, Sugriva, Nala, and Angada. He also wounded Hanuman, and Jambavan. Jambavan orders Hanuman to get the reviving herbs from the Medicine hill. He goes and gets the whole mountain and revives everyone that was hurt.

Ravana brings Sita to the battlefield and shows her Rama's dead body, but this is just an illusion to scare Sita. Indrajit then creates an illusion to kill Sita in front of Rama, but Vibhishana figures out it is just an illusion. Then, Indrajit and Lakshmana get in a fight and Lakshmana slays Indrajit.

Week 6: Reading Diary A

In this part, Hanuman is telling Jambavan, king of the bears, about Sita's abduction and as he is doing so nearby laid Sampati, Jatayu's brother. He learns about Jatayu's death and is sad, but informs Hanuman that Ravana had taken Sita to Lanka.

While Hanuman is on his way to Lanka, he gets tired and learns of a mountain that escaped from Indra, when he was clipping the wings of mountains. Hanuman seeks this mountain and uses it as a rest area. When he continues his journey, he comes across one of the rakshasi, who eats Hanuman whole. Hanuman terrified goes inside her body and rips her heart out and escapes through the ears.

Hanuman arrives in Lanka and takes the form of a cat and fights Lanka, who finally realizes this is the end of a curse. Then, he continues to look for Sita, but when he gets in trouble, his father, Vayu helps him come across the Ashoka grove. He sees Ravana trying to talk to her, but Sita just refuses to talk to him. Ravana tells his guards to go ahead a kill her, but a nice rakshasi had a dream of Rama and Lanka's destruction saves her.

When Hanuman gets a chance, he goes over to Sita and talks to her all about Rama and takes a message to give to Rama.When leaving, Hanuman due to his character, decided to create some mischief. So he pulls out the lawn and breaks a temple. He even kills Jambumali, and some royal guards. He finally gets captured by Indrajit, due to the boon given by Shiva.

When being captured, Ravana orders his brother, Vibhishana,  to cut off Hanumans head. He refuses and instead burns Hanuman's tail. Hanuman sets all of Lanka on fire and before leaving checks on Sita one more time, who gives him a pearl to take back to Rama. He then goes back to Kishkindha and reports his findings to Rama, who his enlightened to hear this.

Week 5: Storytelling styles.

The first story telling method that I would like to talk about is having Vishnu as the storyteller. This would be great because Hanuman is one of Rama’s (a incarnation of Vishnu) biggest devotees and is also a god so he knows all about Hanuman and his life's tales. In this way, I could tell all of the stories through Vishnu’s perspective and have them all combine to show how helpful Hanuman was throughout his lifetime in helping Vishnu accomplish his mission of defeating Ravana as a human.
Source: The Brother's of Rama.

The second story telling method I thought of was using Hanuman as a role model for children these days. A lot of Hanuman’s stories have and can contain good morals that kids need to learn today. Most of Hanuman ‘s stories can be turned into children’s stories easily. One example is the story of when Hanuman is cursed by the sage of forgetting his powers. That story can be turned into a story for children to learn that they must not disrespect their elders and can turn into bad consequences for them.
Source: Tales of Ganesha.

The third story telling style I was thinking and was my favorite was telling it from the different gods perspective. Like the story of when Hanuman reaches for the sun, thinking it is a mango, can be told by the god of wind or Vayu. This storytelling style is my favorite because I actually got this idea from one of the storytelling projects I read earlier on this year. This project really kept me interested and I think it was really one of the best that I saw because it really kept me interested in the stories and I never felt like I needed a break.
Source: The Brother's of Rama.

The fourth storytelling style that I was thinking about doing a children's storybook, where one could find different stories that include different kinds of morale. This was one that caught my attention because I have read a lot of different children's stories that were written using many different styles.
Source: Vishnu's Bedtime Stories.

The last story telling style I chose was the TV show storytelling. I think this would be one of the more fun ideas because everyone is glued to their TVs nowadays and no one can live without it. It might be fun to see what a hanuman TV show would produce and show. This might also be one of the harder story telling style’s because it requires me to tell them in sequence like a TV show and I don’t think I have four Hanuman stories that can be put together like episodes of a TV show.
Source: How I met your mother.

Week 5 Storytelling: Bharatha's return to Ayodhya.

After King Dashratha passes away, Kaikeyi sends some men to brink bharatha and Shatrughna back from their grandfather’s place. She informs the messengers not to tell them about anything that had happened here in Ayodhya.

As the messengers reach Bharatha’s grandfather’s place, they tell Bharatha and Shatrugna that they have to return at once and that was an order from their mother.

The first thing that came out of Bharatha’s mouth was, “ Why? Has something gone wrong? Did we do something?” The messengers were told to stay quiet, so they didn’t respond. Bharatha and Shatrunghna got their stuff together and got ready to head home. When they entered the city, the city that used to be full of joy and happiness seemed to be gloomy and depressing. Bharatha turned to Shatrughna and asked, “ Something doesn’t feel right. Do you know what has happened?” Shatrughna shook his head in denial.

When they got to the palace, they went straight to Kaikeyi, who had ordered for the retrieval. As soon as they got to her, Bharatha asked, “ What is wrong, mother? How come you had us come back without anykind of other information? How come no one is telling us anything?” Kaikeyi replied, “It is because I have told them not to. I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that your father has passed away. And the good news is that before he died I used the two promises that your father owed me to crown you the king and exile Rama for fourteen years. “

Bharatha froze for a second in shock. How could the mother that had raised him to be such a sincere man asked for such a thing? How could she ask for one of her sons to go on exile? He turned to Shatrughna and asked, “Did you know anything about this?” Shatrughna answered, “ No, but why do you seem so upset with this.” Bharatha angrily said, “ What do you mean? I am upset because the mother that I thought always looked in the best interest of her sons, just asked one of her sons to leave all of his friends, family, and possessions and go live in a forest.” Shatrughna said, “ Don’t you see? She only did this for you. She still has the best interest in mind. She just didn’t want some one else to steal the opportunity from you.” Bharatha still angry said, “That someone that she stole this opportunity from was my brother and after she stole the opportunity from him, she sent him away on a punishment. What did he do wrong? He was the rightful heir to this throne and still will be. There is no way I will let my brother be exiled from his own kingdom. We shall go get him as soon as we complete father’s cremation ceremony.” He then turned toward his mother and seemed like he was going to say something, but nothing would come out. He just walked away in distress.

Bibliography
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

 

Rama, Sita, Hanuman, and Rama's three brother, Lakshmana, Bharatha, and Shatrughna. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Author’s note

I really liked this story because it shows the true character of Bharatha and in this story I didn’t make any big changes because I really like the way that it was. The only real big change was that I added some of Bharatha’s and Shatrughna’s thoughts.

Week 5: Reading Diary B

In this part of the Ramayana, Ravana convinces his uncle, Maricha, to help him abduct Sita. So Maricha transforms into a golden deer and appears in front of Sita. Sita thinking it is the most beautiful thing ever; she wants it and sends Rama after it. Sita gets worried and sends Lakshmana to go help her husband, Rama. When she is by herself, Ravana comes in front of her disguised as an old man. He grabs her and is running away, trying to get back to the South. When Jatayu sees what is going on, he goes to go help Sita, but after fighting with Ravana, Ravana finally wins and cuts off Jatayu's wings.

Sita learns that Ravana had been cursed by Vaishravana's son, Nalakubara, to have his head explode if he ever raped another women. She learns this from Indra, who had brought her food in Lanka.

When Rama and Lakshmana return, they see Jatayu and he tells them what had happened before he dies. Hearing all of this, Rama and Lakshmana decide to head south and go find Sita and win her back. When they are heading south, they come across Savari, who tells them all about Vali, Sugriva, and Sugriva's best friend, Hanuman. She tells them all the details of their lives unto the point of who their parents are, how they obtain the powers they had, etc. She also tells them about the fight between the two brothers, Vali and Sugriva. Sugriva had trapped Vali in a cave under the impression the Vali might have been dead since he didn't appear for a really long time and this was the cause that Sugriva had been exiled from his kingdom. Rama hearing this goes to Sugriva and Hanuman and helps Sugriva fight and kill Vali. Seeing what had happened, Vali feels bad because of his anger and tells his son, Angada to help Rama.

Sugriva thanks Rama and tells him that they will continue the search for Sita as soon as the rainy season is over. He becomes very happy with recent power he has achieved and starts drinking all the time because he could and so when Hanuman comes to him after the rainy season he finds Sugriva drunk and have forgotten about his promise to Rama. Hanuman reminds him and gets him sober and they go meet Rama. Sugriva sends an army full of his men including Hanuman, Angada, and Jambavan, the king of bears in search of Sita. The men come to their one month deadline and still don't have anything, making them stressed. They knew that if they returned everyone would be disappointed with them.

Week 5: Reading Diary A

In this part of the Ramayana by William Buck, we start of with Dasharatha found passed away in bed after the exile of his son, Rama. Seeing this, Messangers are sent to have Bharatha and Shatrughna return back to Ayodhya. When they get back, they go to Kaikeyi, who tells them what had happened and explains her story. Bharatha becomes upset and at once tells everyone to get ready to go get Rama and Lakshamana back. So as soon as Dasharatha's funeral ceremonies are completed, Bharatha takes people of Ayodhya and the queens to go get his brother, Rama. In the forest where they are looking for Rama, they get the help of Gahu, the forest king, and Bhadrawaja, a hermit. Both of these people only accept to help because they sense that Bharatha's intentions are well and is trying to do the right thing. When they finally reach Rama, Rama refuses to go back. Bharatha asks Rama for his footwear so it can be placed on the throne for the duration of Rama's absences.

Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita are visiting the hermit, Atri, who tells them the story of Mandakarni. Mandakarni performed many rites that got him to be really powerful, to a point where the gods were even scared of him and so they sent five Apsuras to seduce and make sure he didn't do anything irrational with his power. They succeeded and lived in the lake in harmony.

During one summer, they meet the sage, Agastya, who warns them about entering the Dandaka forest. He tells them that a demon named, Ravana is the master and controls it.

One day when Rama is telling Sita a story, she is abducted by a demon named Viradha. Lakshmana and Rama manage to capture him and kill him, but before they do Viradha says he is actually a gandharva named Tumburu, who was cursed to live as a demon until Rama killed the demonic form of him.

As they continued to live in Panchavati, they meet Surpanakha, who is the sister of Ravana. She falls in love with Rama and tries to get Rama to marry her, but Rama refuses to. So she attacks Sita in jealousy. Seeing this, Lakshmana attacks Surpanakha and mutilates her. She runs to Ravana's army chief, Khara, who then attacks Rama and Lakshmana. When Rama and Lakshmana defeat Khara, she runs to Ravana and tells him her situation.

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Week 4: Reading Diary B

One day when Bharatha is at his grandfather's Dashratha decides that it is time for his successor to takeover, in this case Rama. He starts by setting up the crowning ceremony and telling everyone. When Kaikeyi hears this, she is really happy, but then gets convinced that this is the worst decision for her by Manthara. She reminds Kaikeyi about the two pending gifts that Dashratha owes her. She tells her that Kaikeyi should ask Dashratha to crown Bharatha as king and ask Rama to go on an exile for 14 years.

Rama, without questioning his father, started to get ready to leave for the forest. Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita set off to leave for the forest without their possessions, but had to stop because the elders of the village had caused the river to rise up and block their roads. The next day as they set out for the forest, they were greeted by Gahu, who tells them his story.

Gahu had been upset with Lord Shiva and got angry with his priest as well. He got up everyday and kicked Shiva's statue in anger. When he died, Shiva himself came to get him before Yama got to him. Shiva said that Gahu had been his biggest devotee, getting up everyday and remembering Shiva. Once they hear Gahu's stories, they end up heading south and send Sumantra back to Ayodhya. As he gets beck to Ayodhya, he reports to King Dashratha in his death bed. At this time, King Dashratha remembers the time about the Kid he killed and his blind parents and understands the true meaning behind this incident. The next day the people of Ayodhya wake up to see that their king had passed away.

Week 4: Reading Diary A

The story starts off with Narada asking Valmiki to get up and help him Sita needs help. She is about to drown herself, since Rama exiled her due to what people were saying about her. Narada tells him to rescue her and teach the Ramayana to Rama's two unborn sons, who are still in Sita's womb. Valmiki following Narada's instruction teaches the original Ramayana in the poem form to Kusha and Lava, Rama's two sons. Rama organizes a festival in the forest and Kusha and Lava happen to here about it. So, they decide to perform the poem they have learned from Valmiki there.

King Dashratha asks the priest, Vasishtha, what he can do about not being blessed with children. He advises the king to have a religious sacrifice. At this same time, Indra mad because of his defeat to Ravana goes and complains to Brahma, who granted Ravana's boon of protection from gods and underworld demons. Brahma says he has no answers and Indra should go to talk to Narayana or Vishnu. Vishnu tells Indra not to worry and that he will answer Dashratha's sacrifice and also help Indra by incarnating as Dashratha's sons and defeating Ravana. With the sacrifice being completed, Dashratha becomes the proud father of Rama, Bharatha, Lakshmana, and Shataruga.

One day Vishwamitra comes by and asks Dashratha for a favor. He tells him that he is going to be needing assistance because some demons and rakshasas had been disrupting his prayers in the forest. One question that immediately came to King Dasharatha's mind is how did these Rakshasas come about? So Vishwamitra tells Dashratha the story of how Brahma created the Rakshasas and Yakshasas to guard the water. Eventually there becomes too many rakshasas, and they start to get themselves in trouble and flee underground due to Narayana's attack on them.

A sage named Pulastya impregnated the daughter of hermit Trinavindu due to a curse he had placed. Their son is named Vishvarava, who then has a son named Vishvaravana, who becomes the carrier of treasure through great meditation and praying to the lords. Sumali sees this as Vishvaravana is going to Lanka and becomes jealous and tells his daughter to go to Vishvaravas and create kids like these. She follows her father's order and creates Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana, and Surpanakha. Ravana sees Vishvaravana and becomes jealous and prays in hope to become like him. Every thousand years, he would cut off one of his heads and sacrifice it to the gods. When he was down to the last head, Brahma came down and asked each of them what they wanted. Ravana wanted protection from the gods and demons, Vibhishana wanted to always remember Dharma, and Kumbkhakarna asked to sleep 6 months for every day awake.

Ravana knowing he couldn't be hurt starts creating problems. He angers Indra, Nandi, Shiva's bull, and one day even shakes the mountain where Shiva is residing. Shiva infuriated imprisons Ravana but later forgives him for his beautiful singing. Once released Ravana creates problems amongst the humans. He challenges all the human kingdom. Out of fear, all of them surrender except King Arjuna's kingdom. When trying to fight King Arjuna, King Arjuna defeats Ravana and is only released due to the pleas of Ravana's grandfather Pulastya. Thinking about the defeat, Ravana wonders what he could do and Narada recommends he defeats the Kind of death. Ravana being powerful achieves that along with a whole bunch of other gods. During this time, Rama is born to King Dashratha and that is why Vishwamithra is there.

He asks the King to allow Vishwamithra to mentor Rama and Lashmana. The king accepts and allows them to go along with Vishwamithra. On their journey, they come across Maricha and Subahu. They defeat Subahu, but allow Maricha to escape. Continuing on their journey, Rama frees Ahalya of her curse that turned her into stone for being unfaithful to her husband with Indra. When reaching Mithila, Rama completes King Janaka's challenge of breaking Shiva bow and gets married to Sita.

Week 3: Reading Diary B

Once Hanuman reaches Lanka, he goes through every house and building looking for Sita. He finally finds her meditating under a tree, ready to commit suicide, thinking Rama is not coming for her. That's when Hanuman introduces himself and explains why Rama hasn't been able to come to her. He then presents Rama's ring as proof that he is Rama's messenger. Unfortunately, one of Ravana's guards finds him and ties him up and takes in front of Ravana and his chiefs. Ravan tells his chiefs to place cotton on the monkey's tail and set it on fire. Hanuman able to set himself free, sets the who city on fire except the tree that Sita was sitting under and returns back to Rama with the news.


Ravana upset with what happened, asks his commanders and chiefs what he should do. Most suggest that they should cross the ocean and fight Rama at his camp. In the end, they decide they shall wait because it might be a little pathetic if it seems Ravana and his army is scared of puny humans and monkeys.


Rama, on the other side, is trying to figure out how to get his army to cross the ocean. He meditates and fasts for seven days. Finally, the god of the ocean appears and asks Rama how he may be of help. When Rama asks if he can move the water so his troops can get through, the god says , unfortunately he has to play by the rules of nature. Angrily, Rama threatens to shoot the ocean dry. The ocean god scared, says that he will allow anything they throw in the water to float. So using this gift from the god of the ocean, they create a bridge.


When Rama reaches Lanka, Ravana's troops are waiting for him and start fighting him one by one. One by one Ravana loses his troops and chiefs. When Indrijit goes out to fight Rama he is able to wound Rama and Lakshmana with serpents venom, but the eagles the enemies of serpents come to their aide and revive them. Finally, Rama and Ravana come head to head in a fight and even though Rama cuts Ravana's head off, they just grow back. So with one last weapon that was Brahmashtra, he shot Ravana in the heart (the only vulnerable place).

Week 3: Reading Diary A

After killing Jatayu, Ravana runs off to Lanka with Sita. Upon returning to the house, Rama and Lakshman realize what had just happened and how they had been tricked. Rama depressed thinks to him, " How could I have let this happen? What does Sita now think of me? I unnecessarily allowed her to get in harms way, what a foolish husband I am." Lakshman trying to help consoles his brother and tells him everything is going to be okay.


They start traveling south in the direction, which Jatayu had advised them to go. They came across Hanuman and Sugreeva. Hanuman tells Rama the story of Vali and Sugreeva, the two brothers. The gods with immense strength and power blessed Vali. He would take on any challenger, knowing that he could destroy them. One day, Mayavi challenged Vali. Mayavi getting scared seeing that Vali accepted the challenge ran inside a cave. Vali didn't seem to come out and so the chiefs appointed Sugreeva King, even though Sugreeva wanted to go in search of his brother. When Vali returned, he misunderstood what had happened and out of anger tried to fight Sugreeva. Sugreeva ran to the one place where Vali wouldn't follow him, Mount Mantaga. Sage Mantaga had cursed Vali, that if he ever returned to Mount Mantaga he would lose all of his powers and therefore Sugreeva came here. Hearing this story, Rama asked how he could help. Sugreeva asked for his help when he would ask Vali to fight him. When the fight actually takes place, Rama shoots Vali with an arrow and ends Vali's life.


After the rainy season, Sugreeva gets an army together to help Rama. First, Rama sends Hanuman, a small army and Sungreeva's son, Angada to find Sita with one month’s time. After searching everywhere for one month, they still don't find anything and when they have lost hope meet Sampathi, Jatayu's long lost brother. He tells them where they can find Sita in exchange for the story of Jatayu's death. Sampathi leaves depressed about what had happened to Jatayu, leaving Hanuman and Angada to find Sita. Lanka was on the other side of the ocean, so how were they to get there. Then, Jambavan reminds Hanuman of his powers and tells him he is the only fit to cross the ocean.