Week 14: Jatakas Tales: Shedlock (Extra Reading Diary)

This week, for the essay option I decided to read the first half of Shedlock's verison of Jataka Tales. The stories I'm going to talk about in this post are The Hare that was Not Afraid to Die, The King who Saw the Truth, and The Elephant Honored with Old Age.

The Hare that was not afraid to die was the first story that really caught my eye. Most of the animals who actually could have helped the poor by some small hunting or foraging, instead stole the food that they then tried to give away. That seems like it is something that would happen if there was readily food available instead of working for it. I thought the Buddha-bunny was very brave to not only, offer himself up for a meal, but also protect the poor man by jumping on the flames himself so the Brahman didn't have to kill on a holy day.

Black Naped Hair. Wikimedia

The King Who Saw the Truth was a very similar story but I thought it was also very brave, especially since eyes are something that most people would be unwilling to give up. This story continued in the long line of stories where the Buddha was a good and righteous man who promised to do something that most people would never do and when tested, fulfilled his promise.

The last story I'm going to talk about was my favorite from the first half of this unit, The Elephant who was Honored with Old Age. There have been stories I read for the Myth-Folklore class and stories I read for this class that dealt with the issues of humans casting out animals once they become less useful. This was my favorite story that was in that same moral. Most of the times the animals are always cast out, sometimes they may find a way to live a happy life, but often they don't. I liked that in this one, the Buddha/Prime Minister fought for the elephant to be restored to her place of honor and not cast aside after all her long years of service to the king.

Week 14: Jataka Tales: Babbitt (Reading Diary B)

This week I read Babbitt's Jataka Tales unit from the Un-Textbook. The stories I'm going to talk about from the second half of the reading are The Golden Goose, How the Monkey Saved his Troop, and The Elephant and the Dog. (Story source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, illustrated by Ellsworth Young (1912).)

The story of the Golden Goose was what I expected from the White Elephant story that I talked about in the first reading diary this week. The goose was so kind to help the mother and daughters by giving them golden feathers to sell. Not only did the goose give the women one feather, but he continued to return and give more and more feathers to the family until they were rich. Of course, it was not enough for the mother and she caught the goose and forcibly plucked all the feathers.  I was so glad that the woman didn't benefit from her violence towards the goose, as all of the goose's gold feathers turned white when the mother stole them.

The next story I'm going to talk about was How the Monkey Saved his Troop. I really liked this story, not only because of the monkey chief's ingenuity but also the respect and honor the king showed the monkey. I was a little frustrated by how the king just took over the entire tree and tried to keep all the monkeys after it and ordered his arches to shoot any that tried to come down. However, I thought the monkey chief was really creative to make a bridge out of his body for his entire troop to escape on. I was so glad that when the king saw how the monkey saved his troop, the king decided to help and take care of the monkey for the rest of his life.

My favorite story from this entire unit was the story of the Elephant and the Dog. I love friendships between different animals. And this one was so sweet. I loved how happy the dog and the elephant were together and I felt so bad for the elephant when the dog was sold to the farmer. I was so happy though when the king saw how sad the elephant was and decided to pay to bring the dog back. The dog and elephant's reunion with the elephant lifting the dog over his head was so adorable and I'm so glad they lived together happily after that.

Week 14: Jataka Tales: Babbitt (Reading Diary A)

This week I read Babbitt's Jataka Tales unit from the Un-Textbook. The stories I'm going to talk about from the first half of the reading are The Foolish Timid Rabbit, The Princes and the Water-Sprite, and The King's White Elephant. (Story source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, illustrated by Ellsworth Young (1912).)

The story of the Foolish Timid Rabbit reminded me a lot of Chicken Little. I think that this is a great lesson for a story though because so many people do react immediately to things and are mistaken about what is actually happening. Nevertheless they go and spread the word and soon everyone believes the misinformation. I also think stories like this that have the chains of animals talking that just keeps getting longer and bigger are fun to read.

I also liked the story of the Princes and the Water-Sprite. This story was like a cross between Rama and Lakshmana's exile from Ramayana and the story of the Pandavas at the pond in Mahabharata. I liked that the youngest brother went with his two older brothers after his mom had the older two exiled. It reminded me a lot of Rama when Bharata, I think it was, who tried to stop his mother from exiling Rama and didn't want to be king. I liked the fairy question that the sprite asked and I was glad when he gave the Prince both of his brothers back.

The last story I'm going to talk about is the King's White Elephant. The entire story I was expecting the humans to start mistreating the animals. So many I have read are about how bad humans are to other animals so I guess I was just thinking that would happen again. I was very glad that it didn't happen. I was glad that the carpenters helped the first hurt elephant and continued to treat the animal well when it helped them get trees for their work. I was also worried that the king would hurt the young white elephant but I was so happy when he took the elephant back to his palace to live a long good life. 

Week 13: Santal Folktales (Reading Diary B)

Once again, I read the Santal Folktales unit from the Un-Textbook for this week.

The stories that I will talk about in the second half of this reading diary are The Jackal and the Hare and the Fox and His Wife.

The Jackal and the Hare story was fun to read because of all the tricks the Jackal and Hare play on both the humans and each other. It was really creative at the beginning when the Jackal and Hare worked together to steal the food from the humans by using the Hare as a distraction while the Jackal swiped their meal. However, the Jackal was too mischievous and self-centered for his own good. He spoiled the meal of both the old woman and the Hare even though they were both helping him and friendly. In this unit, as well as some stories from others in the Indian Un-Textbook readings, the Jackal fills the spot of the fox in many European folk and fairy tales.

Engraving of Indian Jackal by J. G. Keulemans. Wikimedia

I thought the Fox and his Wife story was good because of how the fox's wife tricked the tiger who was so set on eating them and their children. Especially because she is so modest about her cleverness at the beginning when the husband was so boastful, it was great to see that flipped when they were actually faced with a life or death situation.

Week 13: Santal Folktales (Reading Diary A)

For this week, I read the Santal Folktales unit of the Un-Textbook.

The stories I'm going to talk about from the first half of this reading unit are the story of the Ghormuhas and the Tiger's Bride.

The story of the Ghormuhas was very different from other stories I've read and I thought it was really interesting. The description of how the ghormuhas lived was just disgusting. The part that shocked me the most was when it talked about how when the ghormuhas parents became old, they would be put on the roof to die. When the parents fell of the roof, the ghormuhas would invite all their friends over and feast on the bodies.

 It was also gross how they described the creatures eating humans. They were very specific about how the ghormuhas prepared and ate the humans. One thing I didn't understand was how the ghormuhas were so fast. I would have thought that since they have only one leg and the huge head like a horse, that they would be much slower than the humans. 

The Tiger's bride was probably my favorite of this half of the unit, although I'm not completely sure why. Once again, it's a story that I don't think I've heard anything like before. When the mother promises her daughter in marriage to anyone who helped her, I expected her to try to back out when the tiger approached but then relent.

Instead she happily gave her daughter to the animal. I also thought that the tiger was going to eat the girl. I was surprised when he instead wanted her to make food and cakes for him and his friend. I liked that the girl tricked the tiger, ultimately leading to the tiger being ostracized by his friends. And finally, I thought the outcome of the story for the girl was interesting. I thought she would go back to her mother but instead she just forever lived in the trees singing the songs about her mother's betrayal. I thought this was a really intriguing and unique story.

Panthera Tigris. Wikimedia.

Week 12: Khasi Folktales B (Extra Reading Diary)

For the extra reading diary assignment this week, I read the second half of the Khasi Folktales unit. 

The two stories that I liked the most from this half of the reading unit are the one's I'll talk about here. The first is the story of What Caused the Shadows in the Moon and the second is the story of How Cats Came to Live with Man.

One of the main reasons I liked the moon story is because earlier this week in the Indian Fairy Tales Unit, I read a different version of why the moon has a softer, more shadowy light and the two stories couldn't have been more different. 

In this story, the moon used to be as bright and brilliant as the sun, but because he didn't listen to his mother and disrespected his sister, the sun, he was burned, leaving him dimmer and scarred than he was before.  This is a much more depressing story than the one in the Indian Fairy Tales unit, where the moon was the only child to help her mother, so she was blessed with soft, beautiful light, where the sun was cursed to be harsh blinding. I personally like the Indian Fairy Tale version more, but I did like how this version also explained the shadows and markings that we can see on the moon.

Full Moon by Gregory H. Revera. Wikimedia.

I also thought that the story about how the cat came to live with humans was really cute and different from many of the other similar folktales. First I thought it was cool that they talked about how the cats were related to the tigers, and how the cats began hunting small animals because the tiger wouldn't share his food. I thought the story was really cute how the cat had been so abused by her family, especially the tiger, but when she went to the humans, she was welcomed and loved and played with. After that, she didn't take any more abuse from her brother and she began living with the humans permanently.

By Payman Sazesh. Wikimedia

Week 12: Indian Fairy Tales (Reading Diary B)

As I said in the first reading dairy, this week I read the Indian Fairy Tales unit from the Un-textbook.

The two stories I'm going to talk about in this reading are Pride Goeth Before the Fall and How Sun, Moon, and Wind Went Out to Dinner.

The Pride Goeth Before the Fall story was different than any other story I have read so far and I thought it was a fun one to read. When I began the story, I thought it was going to be about someone coming and helping the traders after they were robbed but I loved that it was different and featured the traders rallying together and taking back control from the thieves. This was particularly impressive because the traders had lost everything, including most of their clothes, and took out the robbers. I liked that ending of the story included that after this the traders always armed themselves and their friends loved hearing the retelling of their fight with thieves. 

I liked the story of How Sun, Moon, and Wind Went Out to Dinner. I've always liked reading myths or folklore that explain why the earth or life is the way it is, particularly when the elements are personified. I thought that this story did a great job showing how the sun and wind were cursed to be harsh while the moon's glow is soft and gentle. I liked the way the writer told the story of this family of elements and how it gave an origin for things in everyday life. 

Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912).

Week 12: Indian Fairy Tales (Reading Diary A)

For this week, I read the Indian Fairy Tales unit of the Un-Textbook.

The first story I'm going to talk about in this diary is the story of Harisarman, which was my favorite from this unit. The second story I'm going to briefly touch on is the Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal. 

I thought the story of Harisarman was really entertaining and fun to read. Stories about men like Harisarman who always get ahead by lying and getting really lucky are so different than most stories, but at the same time there are many stories like that (i.e. the story from the Myth-Folklore class about the archer who lied about his accomplishments but ended up accidentally scaring off an army, giving him even more fame and glory).

The Harisarman story was one of the best of these types of stories that I've read. I liked how the first time, his deceit was so well planned out but the next two, which cemented his power and wealth, were complete accidents. On both of the two occasions, the solution practically fell to him from the sky and his luck continued. Really, how many girls in India are named "tongue"? Stories like this are really fun to read because you can see the pieces coming together before and in the end, everyone usually lives happily as long as their luck holds out.

Storybook illustrations by John D. Batten

The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal was very much like the story from the Bidpai Folktales Unit, which I discussed in depth in the Week 11 Reading Diary B. However, I waned to mention the Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal because it was so similar but I loved the few differences in his story from the last I discussed. 

In other similar stories, the animal or creature trying to kill the person who saved them is tricked back into he cage by something, and usually quite quickly, but I thought this one was so much better because of the confusion the jackal caused in the tiger by pretending to be completely stupid and not mentally stable. I thought the tiger's furied response was so much better than just trying to prove he was locked up. Instead he was trying everything in his power to make, what he though, was an incredibly stupid creature understand a simple situation. 

Week 11: Bidpai Fables (Reading Diary B)

Once again, for this week I read the Fables of Bidpai reading unit from the un-textbook. From the second half of this unit, the main story I'm going to talk about is the Camel Driver and the Adder.

The Camel Driver and the Adder reminds me of a story that I think I read in Laura's mythology and folklore class (I can't remember what unit it was in) about a genie who is saved from the ocean by a fisherman. As soon as he fisherman finds and releases he genie, the genie says that he is going to kill the fisherman. The fisherman tries to convince the genie to reconsider and go on his way, but the genie refuses. In the end, the genie is tricked back into his jar (I think i was a jar) like the fox tricked the adder in this story, and thrown back into the sea.

While these two stories were very similar, I liked the Camel Driver and the Adder story more because of it's connection to how humans treat the world around them. Unlike with the genie, who just decided that he would kill the person who found him, the adder had his ideas about how the world worked from seeing how humans treated others. Because of this idea, he logically decided that if humans would harm animals that helped them, they couldn't be trusted and he should do the same. While it is extremely ungrateful and the Camel driver was right to trap the snake again, there was a least a reason for he snake to do what he did and also let the moral of the story be to treat everything and everyone that helps you kindly and fairly.

Loch Shin Adder. Wikimedia

Week 11: Bidpai Fables (Reading Diary A)

For this week I chose to read the Fables of  Bidpai reading unit from the un-textbook. From the first half of the readings, my favorite story was the Two Travelers. There were many great stories from this unit, but this one was the one that I liked the most.

The Tale of Two Traveler's story I really liked because I had never read anything like it before. I know for sure, that if I was in a situation like these two friends came across have responded exactly like Salem. Ganem was so excited for a chance to do something that was brave and exciting, but Salem thought much more practically about the situation. I was convinced that Ganem was going to die in his trials and his feast would have been in some type of an afterlife.

The tasks of swimming across a strong stream then carrying a stone lion quickly up a hill would not be something that I would ever attempt because it seems reckless and stupid. There's the old saying that there's a thin line between stupidity and bravery, and I think that was shown in this story. In the end Salem misses out because of his realistic view and Ganem becomes a wealthy king because of his bravery in completing the tasks.

I personally would love a version of this where he moral is changed from "be stupidly brave and you could become a king" to "be practical and don't die in a river or crushed by a stone lion". That may be my storytelling assignment this week.

stone lion statue. Pixabay.

Week 10: The War and the End (Reading Diary B)

The ending of this epic was very intense throughout. The battle much more intense than I expected. Often times in epics like this, in the war the good guys are fighting cleanly and the bad guys are being savage and playing tricks on their opponents. However, in this one the Pandavas were tricking people and being acting crazy, perhaps just in the haze of war.

For example, when Bhima killed  Duhshasana then drank his blood. Also when Bhima killed the elephant Aswathama and Yudhistira tried to make the army think it was the man named Aswathama not an elephant. This definitely helped the Pandavas by disheartening their opponents, but it didn't seem like something epic heroes usually do.

Bhima and Duryohana. Wikimedia.

After the battle, everyone not sided with the Pandavas, had their world world crumble around them. Dwaraka's civil war and then being swallowed by the sea suprised me. I figured the Pandavas would have taken over the cities and ruled, like how Ramayana ended with everyone just at peace and Rama becoming the king. The fates of Krishna, Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Kunti were especially dark but that made sense based on the bad karma they had gathered throughout the story.

Week 10: End of Exile and Preparing for War (Reading Diary A)

This section of reading had many different pieces to it. The first part that caught my attention the most when reading was the part by the lake during the Pandavas exile. 

I couldn't believe that all of the brothers besides Yudhishthira drink the water and ignore the warning, especially when they see their other brothers dead around them. I was ridiculous how one after another the Pandavas came across he lake, heard the warning and (in every case but Nukula) sees their dead brother(s) but still they drink the water and die. There were many more questions than I would have thought that Yama asked Yudhishthira. I thought that there would have just been a few questions but it seemed like Yudhishthira was nearly dead of thirst by the time he finished answering the questions. In the end, I was glad that Yama resurrected all the brothers, as the story wouldn't be nearly as interesting if it was just Yudhishthira and Nakula (who Yudhishthira chose to live as well). 

The sections where they prepare and go to King Virata's court was also interesting. They all worked so hard on their cover identities so they would be doing what they wanted but not be recognized and also not be technically lying. I thought it was funny how much they all wanted to technically be telling the truth even though they were trying to stay hidden for the end of their exile. I was very glad with how Bhima protected Draupadi. I was very suprised that the king and queen let Draupadi stay after the death of Kichika.

Bhima and Kichika. Wikimedia.

Week 9: Mahabharata Dice Games and Exile (Reading Diary B)

I thought this section was interesting as it focused so much on the dice games played between Yudhishthira and Duryodhana.

It was crazy how much Yudhishthira was willing to bid on the game. To lose everything you own, everything your brothers own, your (and your brothers) wife, as well as your own freedom was kind of ridiculous. I thought how Duhshasana and Duryodhana treated Draupadi was horrible and terrifying but I liked that because of her prayers, she immediately was wearing a new Sari after hers was ripped away.

Draupadi Disrobed. Wikimedia.

Another interesting part was when Vikarna examined whether Draupadi was actually won in the game since Yudhishthira lost himself first. I have never seen or read anything like this section about kings gambling and how they won and what they won. But this section was extremely important in this part of the story as it helped decide whether Draupadi was a slave. 

I thought it was crazy how even after everything was given back to the brothers, Yudhishthira goes back a second time, leading to the brother's extended exile. It seems like most of the epic stories from India start with an exile.

Week 9: The beginning of Mahabharata (Reading Diary A)

The beginning of this epic took me along time to read as I tried to keep up with who was who. There was so much detail of lineages that it was a bit harder to follow than the beginning of Ramayana. However, once the stories really started, I thought the tale was intriguing and fun to read.

My first favorite part was the was how the Yudhishira and his brothers escaped and caught Purochana in the fire that was planned for them.I couldn't imagine realizing the man who you trust and who is like your father, who has made you his heir, is trying to kill you. That would be so terrifying and I thought how Yudhishira handled it was perfect. The planning ahead to get the tunnel out of the house would have taken a lot of quiet work and secrecy, particularly to keep it from Purochana who was living in the same home. If they would have been caught, I wonder what would have happened. Would Purochana just have killed them or would the king have found another way to quietly dispose of the brothers?

Pandavas Escape the Fire. Wikimedia

Another thing I found intersting in this story was the Pandavas relationships to Rakshasas. While Bhima does fight and kill many, I thought that it was interesting he had a child with Hidimba. While it says she appeared to him in the form of a beautiful woman, did he know she was a rakshasa? In Ramayana, Rama seemed to sense that Soorpanaka wasn't who she appeared to be and refused her adivances. I would think it would be unusual for a hero who kills rakshasas to have a child with one. Although it seems to work out well for him as Bhima has a son to help him when he needs it.

Week 7: Khasi Folktales (Extra Reading Diary)

For the extra half reading, I chose to read Khasi Folktales.

The first story I would like to talk about from this unit is the story of The Goddesses Ka Ngot and Ka Iam. This story reminded me a lot of the story of the race between the tortoise and the hare.

It surprised me when the twins became rivers. While it did say they were goddesses, I wasn't expecting them to become rivers to race. I liked that instead of having something like the tortoise and the hare where each species was naturally fast or slow, they gave each of the girls comparable human traits. Ka Ngot being timid and anxious was great for her being slower and more careful about the path she chose, while Ka Iam was impatient and overly confident and just wanted the most direct path even if she had to struggle through it and in the end it took longer.

I was a little confused about what the part about the sliver necklace had to do with anything, as it didn't seem relevant. It seemed more like an offshoot or side note of the story.

Two Rivers by Albert Bridge. Geograph.

The second story that I want to talk about from the first half of this unit is Hunting the Stag Lamalang. I was really expecting the mother to die in the story instead of the stag and for it to end like Bambi. I thought that the Stag being hunted and dying because he didn't listen to his mother was a good moral, especially for young children who would hear the story of the stag. 

I also liked the ending where the mother deer was so heart broken about the death of her son that the humans around felt her pain and were ashamed at what they did to mourn their own dead. The ending was a great story to explain how and why people now mourn for the dead. 

Week 7: Folktales from Bengal (Reading Diary B)

This week I read the un-textbook unit, Folktales from Bengal.

One of the stories that I thought was very interesting in the second half of this reading unit was The Origin of Rubies. I thought this story was interesting.

There wasn't much of a moral to the story, which was different than many folktales. I kept expecting the spoiled prince to be punished for is lack of listening to his mother or something to happen after he stole the rubies and the woman from Shiva. I was very surprised when nothing happened especially when Shiva woke up from his mediation.

I was also surprised when the young prince married both the beautiful woman who was with Shiva when he was meditating and the princess. The marriage to the princess particularly suprised me because as far as the king knew, the boy was a commoner. But I guess that if you give the king a ton of huge rubies your social status doesn't matter as much.

Illustration by Warwick Goble in Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day

My other favorite story from this reading unit was The Bald Wife. Unlike the Origin of Rubies, this story had a clear motive and rewards for being a good person. I thought that it was great that even after the elder wife became young, beautiful, and rich, she continued to be kind to the young wife who had always been horrible to her. I did think that the husband was almost as bad as the younger wife for how he treated the elder.

It was also good to see that the young wife, when she tried to do the same as the elder, wasn't rewarded. Even if the young wife would have listened to the meditating man, she wouldn't have received the blessings of the plants and animals along the path since she didn't help them like the elder wife did. I also liked at the end when the younger wife becomes a maid for the elder and the husband.

Week 7: Folktales from Bengal (Reading Diary A)

This week I read the Folktales from Bengal un-textbook reading. 

One story that I really enjoyed from the first half of this reading unit was the Evil Eye of Sani. In a couple of my anthropology classes over the years, I've learned about myths and legends surrounding different versions the "Evil Eye" in many cultures around the world. Because of that, I thought this story was very interesting.

I liked how it started with the competition between the gods Sani and Lakshmi. The part reminded me a little of the Judgement of Paris in Greek myths. I also thought it was cool how even when it seemed like Sribatsa was just wasting time like with the gold bars from the cow, particularly after his wife was abducted, in the end everything he did worked together to get his wife back, to end the Sani's evil eye on them, and to restore their fortune.

The Goddess, Lakshmi. Wikimedia

While the other stories in this half of the unit were also interesting, my other favorite was the story of the Ghost Brahman. This story was interesting to me because it was unlike any I had heard before. It was unique and entertaining. I couldn't imagine what it was like for the Brahman to go away for years trying to support his family to come back and see someone who looked and acted exactly like him living with his wife and mother. I also loved the end when the neat king tricked the ghost into changing forms so Brahman could have his life and family back. It would have been a huge shock for the mother and wife realizing they hadn't been living with the real Brahman.

I do wish this story had a few more details about the ghost because it almost seemed more like a sorcerer or witch than a ghost in how it was described to transform in order to take over Brahman's life.

Week 5: Sita's Abduction (Reading Diary B)

This section of Buck's Ramayana was very similar to Narayan's, most likely because this is the section that Narayan went into the most detail during.

My favorite part of this reading was Ravana's encounter with Maricha. I thought that Maricha's character was interesting in Narayan's version, and in Buck's we seemed to go into much more detail with Ravana and Maricha's conversation about Sita and Rama. I like how after Maricha survives the fight with Rama, unlike the other rakshasas, he takes a step back and realizes that he should just walk away from the fighting and live. If other demons had done that, Rama would have had a much easier job and their world would have been pretty peaceful. In this section, Maricha is one of the only people telling Ravana the truth honestly trying to help him. He even tells him that Surpanaka isn't someone who should be trusted and that Ravana would lose everything if he went on this stupid mission.

When Maricha finally agrees to help, after Ravana threatened to kill him, I thought his line "It is better to be killed by the better person" was very interesting. With that statement, it shows that, while Maricha is helping Ravana, he thinks Rama is person who should (and will) win in the end. I understand why he does this, he doesn't want Ravana to kill him, but it would have been interesting if Maricha had warned Rama before he was killed.

Rama stalks the Demon Maricha. Wikimedia

Another section that Buck expanded on was the story that Indra tells Sita about Ravana's curse and how it came to be.  I thought that this story added to the overall narrative, by explaining Ravana's actions towards Sita.

Week 5: Exile before Sita's Abduction (Reading Diary A)

One of the first things in this weeks reading that caught my attention was when Bharawaja blessed the three queens, including Kaikeyi. In Narayan's Ramayana everyone (except for Rama) hated Kaikeyi for a while. People tried to curse her and Bharata was so refused to be near her in the beginning. But in Buck's version, everyone is much quicker to forgive, as seen by Bharawaja blessing her, and then Bharata comforting her. In this version, she also seems to realize at this point that she was wrong to do what she did. I also found it interesting that after blessing Kaikeyi, Bharawaja said that it would be for the best in the end and that Rama would help many people during his exile. I thought that this was a nice touch to Buck's story to give everyone involved more hope than in Narayan's version.

I also like that in Buck's retelling of Ramayana there are more details about people that Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana met during their travels. I thought that the gifts given to Sita by Apsarases were interesting. Through Narayan's tellings and some of Buck's, it seemed that Sita was already the most beautiful woman on Earth, yet Apsarases gave her enchanted jewelry and ornaments which would make her the most beautiful, and stay beautiful forever. While I could see giving Sita gifts to allow her to keep her beauty forever, which is what this seemed to be, it still took me by surprise based on Sita's previous descriptions in Ramayana.

Rama visits Atri. Wikimedia

One thing that I particularly liked about this last section of Buck's Ramayana was that it had the time frame. Throughout Narayan's story, I was trying to keep up with how long Rama had been exiled but it was difficult to follow. I was so happy when I read that at the end of this section, Buck said that Rama had now been exiled 13 years. In Narayan's story, in my mind, Sita was abducted much earlier than that and Rama spent years looking for her, since he seemed to do a lot. But at least in Buck's version, I liked knowing how close they were to the end of the exile. 

The last thing that I wanted to talk about from this section is the differences in Surpanakha's confrontations with Rama and Lakshmana. Until she attacked Sita,  it was interesting because the exchange seemed quite civil and polite. I mean according to Buck, an ugly demon came up to the three, tried to convince first Rama to marry her, then Lakshmana afterwards. Both of them politely declined, saying they were already married. Lakshmana even blessed her and wished her luck with finding a husband. This is very different from Narayan's version where Surpanakha was trying to trick Rama and both he and Lakshmana tried to cast her out before she attacked Sita. I liked Buck's version much more and thought that it was kind of entertaining how they interacted before Surpanakha attacked Sita.

Week 4: Rama's Exile (Reading Diary B)

One thing that I liked more about Buck's version of Ramayana as opposed to Narayan's was how they came to decide Rama should be made king. In Narayan's the decision was made secretly and sneakily while making sure Bharata was away, as though to limit Rama's competition. This seemed kind of low to me, especially when you see how Bharata reacts to his mother's schemes, that they should try to push him out of the way before crowning Rama. I liked that in Buck's version, it wasn't because Bharata was away that the king decides to make Rama king, but because of some special astrological occurrence, they decide to crown Rama, saying that it would be better if his brothers were here but it was a unique occurrence that would favor the event.

While Kaikeyi's betrayal of Rama happened much in the same way as in Narayan, because of the servant making her fear for her and Bharata's lives once Rama took the crown, Buck's version portrays Kaikeyi as much more conniving and self-serving. This was very apparent in the story about Kaikeyi trying to convince Dasharatha to teach her the language of animals, something he had sworn to never do. Even after being told that Dasharatha would die immediately after, if he ever told anyone, she still pushed him to teach her, knowing it would be his end.

I couldn't believe that Dasharatha took it as far as he did, by building his own funeral pyre to be burned on after he told Kaikeyi the secret, and she was alright with that, sitting on the funeral pyre, waiting for the secret and her husband to die. If he hadn't heard the animals, she would have let him kill himself to give up his secret knowledge. After that incident, I feel like the smartest thing to do would be to keep the king away from Kaikeyi as much as possible, because she obviously had too much power over him. Having this first incident included in the story, before Kaikeyi makes Dasharatha exile Rama and make Bharata king, made her character much less sympathetic, as obviously she didn't care about the king.

Much of the exile story is very similar to Narayan's, with only a few small differences. I did like the extra stories, like about Kaikeyi from Gahu, I also liked the extra back story behind Dasharatha's death, with the boy he killed in the forest. It seemed much more believable that that would cause him grief than just his son leaving when he would return after his exile.

Dasharatha and the Blind Boy's Family. Wikimedia.