Week 10 Reading Diary B: Shiva

For part B, I read Nivedtia's other book that talks about Shiva. Shiva was described as the Great God that is holy and all powerful. He was benevolent and rarely angry (which is surprising to me because one of the first stories that I read about Shiva, he killed all the gods out of rage). Shiva accepted praise in the form of pure water and leaves or flowers. His purpose in the world was to rid ignorant souls and to shed light on Earth. Nivedita described Shiva as an omnipotent being that was protects those who are truly and sincerely devoted to Shiva. There are two concepts associated with Shiva, knowledge, and.insight or Jnanum.

Sita was described as the perfect wife for Shiva. Sati represents purity and goodness. The word Sati means being and existence, meaning in her being exists only goodness. The story went on about how Sati's father resented his daught and son-in-law (Shiva). Sati then died due to her anger towards her father. Shiva became depressed and angry with the gods once again. Interestingly, Sati was reborn as Uma. She became the daughter of a king who never resented her, instead he loved and accepted Uma. Uma still yearned for the Shiva's love and praised him.

The goddess Sati. Source: Deviant art.

Week 10 Reading Diary A: Shiva

Shiva's wife was Sati who was the youngest of 16 daughters of Daksha, chief of gods, and Prasuti. Daksha and Shiva weren't on great terms because Shiva never offered homage to Daksha. Sita was in love with Shiva though, and she praised him in secret. When Sati became of marrying age, her father held a swayavara (owm-choice) that included bachelors from all over the land except for Shiva. Sati was upset that she didn't see Shiva, so she threw her wreath in the air and called upon Shiva to receive it. Out of nowhere, Shiva caught the garland and wore it around his neck. Since it was meant to be, Daksha married Shiva and Sati.

However, Daksha continued hating Shiva. He held a gathering with all the gods and goddesses but didn't invite Shiva or Sati. Sati went anyway because that's her own house. She wasn't received well by her father. Sati tried to talk some sense into her father. She claimed that he was the only person that spoke ill of Shiva. "Shiva is the friend of all' no one but you speaks ill of him." She was so angry with her father that she said she would rather die than to be his daughter. Somehow, her fury released an inward consuming fire which killed Sati. She fell dead at her father's feet.

Infuriated, Shiva called about a demon, Virabhadra, to kill Daksha, and mutilate every god. The gods feared Shiva and called upon Brahma (creator of the worlds) for help. Brahma told all the gods to make peace with Shiva. Vishnu had to calm Shiva down and restore life to all the gods, even Daksha whose head was replaced with a goat head.

In one chapter, a hunter found a shrine of  Brahma whose eyes were bleeding. In order to stop the bleeding, the hunter took his arrow and gouged out his right eye. He then applied the eye to the image, and the bleeding stopped. Then the other eye began to bleed as well. The hunter placed his foot against the bleeding eye and cut out his left eye in order to find the spot that he could no longer see. Shiva saw the devotion of the hunter and made the hunter his greatest servant. From that day forth, the hunter was known as the Eye-Saint.

A painting of Shiva. Source: Deviant Art.

Week 9 Reading Diary B: Krishna

Krishna is now twelve years old. He returns to Mathura, the kingdom ruled by King Kansa, with his brother. Upon entering the kingdom, there were several assassination attempts by King Kansa. One of those attempts included releasing an angry elephant to destroy Krishna, but the boy slain the elephant. After defeating all of his enemies, Krishna killed King Kansa as predicted by the prophecy. Instead of becoming king himself, King Ugrasena (the father of Kansa), became king while Krishna became a prince.

Later, Krishna runs into the Pandavas when they were competing for Draupadi's hand in marriage. Krishna befriends Arjuna, one of the Pandavas. Arjuna and Krishna became such great friends that they even fought in the battle of Kurukshetra together as Arjuna's charioteer.

 An interesting point about Krishna was that he had eight wives known as the Ashtabharya. The Ashtabharya include his first wife Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Lakshmana. That's way too many wives with such complicated names that I probably will never remember.

Overall, what I learned about Krishna is that he's portrayed as a playful boy with super human powers. He can destroy everything and anyone. So far as I read, he has only used his powers for good. Everyone who meets Krishna admires him as a leader and praise him. He is known a protector of the universe from great evil.

Krishna battling the elephant. Source.

Week 9 Reading Diary A: Krishna by Nivedita

Kansa was the king of Mathura. He had a sister named Devaki and a best friend named Vasudeva. He played matchmaker and brought them together in a marriage. Then a voice from heaven told Kansa that the couple's 8th child will kill Kansa. So Kansa threw the couple in a prison and killed each baby when their were born. The 7th child, Bolarama, was hid secretly so that he wouldn't die. The 8th child was born with shining 4 arms that held symbols (battle-trumpet, discus, mace, and lotus) that represented the god Vishnu. The extra arms disappeared, and it was clear that the baby was a reincarnation of Vishnu sent to destroy King Kansa. In order to protect the new born Krishna, they sent the baby to be raised by foster parents Nanda and Yasoda in another city. In exchange, Nanda gave the couple a baby girl. Kansa knew that the prophecy said that a boy would be the death of him. Realizing that he was tricked, Kansa killed the baby girl and sent out his army to kill every newborn child in his kingdom.

Back in the other city, baby Krishna killed Putana, a demoness, by sucking the life out of her during breast-feeding. He also destroyed the tornado demon Trinavarta. When Krishna grew to be 8 years old, he was reunited with his brother Bolarama to be a cow herder near the forests.

One day in the forest, Krishna battles a hundred-headed serpent of Lake Kaliya, but to Krishna, it was just a game he was playing with a serpent. As the serpent snapped at Krishna and had the intention to kill him, Krishna felt like he was in no real danger. Unlike Krishna, his friends died by the snakes poison. It's okay though because when Krishna cried, his tears brought them back to life. In the end, Krishna defeated the snake.

Another day, Krishna told the village it'd be cool to offer praise to the mountain and the cows that protected them and given them food. The god Indra was jealous that the village wasn't offering their sacrifices and praise to him! So Indra made it rain for days. In order to protect his people, Krishna ordered everyone to pack their belongings and their cows (can't forget the cows) and to come under the mountain for protection of the rain. Krishna lifted the mountain with a single finger for shelter for his people. He kept holding the mountain high up in the sky until Indra exhausted his powers to make it rain.

Young Krishna battling the serpent. Source.

Week 7 Reading Diary B: Nivedita's Mhabharata

The feud continued between Drona and King Drupada. The king begged Shiva to give him a son to defeat his rival. So then Shiva said, "Yeah no big deal except I'm going to grant you a daughter who will then turn into a son." Fair enough. The daughter, Shikhandini, was raised as a boy named Shikhandin. Shikhandin was married off to a princess, but then her dad realized that his new son-in-law was actually his new daughter-in-law. Bummer. So then the king wages a war on Drupada. Feeling sad that everything was her fault, Shikhandin ran away and found a male spirit. They traded genders (so now Shikhandini became Shikhandin). Bhishma found out that Shikhandin was the reincarnation of Amba, a woman who was plotting revenge on him. Why? Because Bhishma was supposed to marry Amba who was already engaged to another man. So he let her return to her lover, but that guy rejected her as well as the king. She became angry, ran away, and vowed to kill Bhishma in the next life (after jumping into a funeral fire). Then the huge war between Duryodhana's army and the Pandava's army ensued. During the war, Shikhandin attacked Bhishma, and he died. Actually, a lot of people died so they had a huge funeral.

Yudhishthira and his dog. Source.

A chapter that I found interesting was the pilgrimage of death. The Pandavas and Draupadi left the world, and a dog followed them. While climbing the Himalayas, only Yudhishthira and the dog survive. Indra was prepared to take Yudhishthira to heaven, but no dogs were allowed in heaven. Yudhishthira refused to leave the dog, who turned out to be Dharma, Yudhishthira's father. So then Yudhishthira went to heaven, but noticed that his brothers, wife, and friends were in hell. He vowed to stay in hell with his family. I guess this action brought Yudhishthira and his family back to heaven.

Week 7 Reading Diary A: Nivedita's Mahabharata.

As much as I wanted to watch the film, I just couldn't devote 2.5 hours of my day watching a movie when I have so much studying to do. That's why I decided to read Nivedita's Mahabharata. The story line was about the same compared to last week's reading of the Mahabharata, but there were some interesting changes. Drona and King Drupada of Panchala have a feud going on because King Drupada humiliated Drona as a brahmin beggar. I thought that was pretty mean since they were childhood friends. Drona swears revenge so he decides to train the Pandavas along with the adopted Karna as part of his revenge plot. Arjuna and Karna become rivals.

I pity Ekalavya because everyone rejects him since he's part of a lower caste. He wanted to be Drona's pupil so badly that he but his right thumb off as a teacher's fee. He was such a skilled archer until he had to cut off his thumb. I believe he was a better archer than Arjuna, he just wasn't appreciated.

Another interesting chapter of the story was when Karna becomes king. Kunti, mother of the Pandavas, also happens to be Karna's mother. So in other words, Karna is technically a Pandava. His father is Surya, the sun god, while Arjuna's father is Indra, the storm god. Maybe that's symbolic of why they are rivals since storms hide the sun.

Back to the revenge plot, Drona had the princes capture King Drupada, who then had to give up half of the Panchala kingdom so Drona can not be king. King Dhritarashtra (father of the Kauravas) decides to replace his eldest son Duryodhana (Kaurava) with Yudhishthira (Pandava) as his successor. Out of jealousy, Duryodhana convinces his father to send the Pandavas away so that he can be king in their absence. So then Pandavas are sent to a different city in a house of lac. The plan was to set the house of fire to kill the Pandavas but the Pandavas were forewarned of the evil plan. So Bhima (Pandava) sets the house on fire while the Pandavas make an escape to make it seem like the Pandavas died in the fire. They live in hiding with disguises.

Of course on their journey they want a wife so they enter an archer's contest to win Princess Draupadi's hand in marraige. Karna wanted to string the bow, but Draupadi didn't allow him since he was the adopted son a charioteer. Arjuna wins her hand, and she's married to all five of them. Why would anyone want five husbands? That is so much work. Is she expected to cook and clean for five grown men? No thank you. Hard pass.

Long story short, Duryodhana and Yudhishthira engage in a gambling match where Yudhishthira loses everything (twice) and the Pandavas go into exile. Good job, Yudhishthira.

The Dice Game. Source.

Reading Diary B: Narayan's Mahabharata Part 2

The Pandavas and Duryodhana prepare for war! Again! Except this time Duryodhana has one million soldiers from Krishna while the Pandavas have Krishna on their side. Yudhisththira tries to be a peacemaker, and he pleads for peace on multiple occasions. In an attempt to establish peace, Krishna travels to Dhritarashta's palace as a messenger for negotiation, but the king is set on war. With little hope, Krishna tries to convince Karna to leave Duryodhana, but fails. Karna tells the Pandava's mother, Kunti, that he only has beef with Arjuna so he'll just kill Arjuna and spare his brothers. What a kind enemy...

The war begins! Long story short:

Dhrishtadyumna (Draupadi's brother, and commander of troops) attacks Drona (Duryodhana's side).
Bhishma attacks Krishna. Arjuna becomes mad.
Krishna attempts to slay Bhishma, but Arjuna stops him.
Ghatotkacha (demon son) joins the battle.
Amba joins the battle as Skikhandin to attack Bhisma, but he doesn't attack her.
Arjuna kills Bhisma.
Karna joins the battles.
Abhimanyu (Arjuna's son) is killed by Jayadratha (Duryodhana's bro-in-law).
Arjuna kills Jayadratha before the sun sets.
Dhrishtadyumna kills Drona (they tricked Drona into believing that his son was dead by killing an elephant names Ashwatthaman. Drona was traumatized. Why an elephant?! They couldn't kill like a bug or something?)
Arjuna kills Karna.
Yudhishthira kills Shalya.

Tha pandanvas confront Duryodhana who decides to hide at the bottom of the lake. So many people died, so the Pandavas perform burying rituals out of respect. Yudhishthira is now king.

Bhishma's Death Ritual. Source.

Reading Diary A: Narayan's Mahabharata Part 2

Dhritarashta developed an plan to humiliate the Pandavas on the battlefield, but his plan backfired when Duryodhana became captive to the gandharvas (heavenly beings). Because they have good hearts, the Pandavas freed Duryodhana from captivity. The Pandavas continued their adventure! While they were trying to help a brahim capture a mysterious deer, they came across a mysterious lake. To drink from the lake, they must answer a question, but the Pandavas ignored the question and drank the water. Nakula, Sahadeva, Arjuna, and Bhima died. Yudishthira actually answered the question and passed the test (made by their father Yama). So all the brothers are brought back to life but are cursed with unrecognizability. For their last year, the Pandavas hide in King Virata's court disguised as other people. Draupadi was violated by the Queen's brother, and asked Bhima to avenge her. So Bhima kills Kichaka (Queen's brother).

The part that stood out to me the most was the cattle raid. There was a huge battle to save the cows and that idea was pretty funny to me. I can just imagine flying arrows shooting in the sky while someone yells, "SAVE THE CATTLE!" The cattle raid was proposed by Susharman, an ally of Duryodhana, who took King Virata prisoner. Virata's son, Prince Uttara, took Arjuna (but he doesn't know he's Arjuna) on a mission to save the king. However, the prince was a wimp and couldn't confront the enemy, so Arjuna took the lead and fought Karna. It was then that Uttara learned Arjuna's real identity as a Pandava, but he promised to keep it a secret. They saved the king!

Bhima Avenging Draupadi from Kichaka. Source.

Reading Diary B: Narayan's Mahabharata

Continuing the story, Arjuna and Yudhishthira (we'll call him Yud for short) share a wife name Draupadi. Why did they think that was a good idea? I'll never know. Arjuna gets exiled because he intruded on Yud and Draupadi. The good news is that he marries a naga princess named Ulupi and Krishna's sister Subhadra. Some beef happens between Dhritarashtra and Yud, so they decide to gamble. A LOT. They play a dice game where Yud gambles his brothers, his wife, and himself away. Draupadi gets wishes from Dhritarashta so she wishes for all of her husbands to be freed. They get all of their possessions back, and everything is back to normal... UNTIL a second game is declared! I though Yud would learn his lesson but instead he gambles himself into thirteen years of exile. So now all of the Pandavas are in exile but luckily the sun god Surya grants them an endless supply of food for survival. Then there is this huge war plot to get revenge on Duryodhana and his allies. Arjuna obtains specialized weapons from the gods and reunites the Pandavas. However during his journey, a female spirit named Urvashi falls in love with Arjuna. He rejects her which makes her really mad so she curses Arjuna by making him live as a eunuch with women. I've noticed this trend a lot. Guys tend to handle rejection well most of the time, but when girls are rejected, they bring hell onto the guy. I wonder why that is.

Arjuna with his new weapons. Source.

Reading Diary A: Narayan's Mahabharata

This story really started off with an intense introduction. Shantanu, ruler of Hastinapura, falls in love with a river goddess known as a river Ganga, who drowns her newborn babies because they are reincarnations of gods that must be punished (they stole some cows). However, she keeps the eighth baby who grows up to be Devavrata aka Bhishma. Shantanu finds another girl to marry, Satyavati (let's hope she's not crazy), but in order to marry her, Bhishma, his son, had to renounce his claim to the throne and the right to have sons. Bhishman then gets two new brothers from the marriage named Chitangada and Vichitravirya. The latter gets two wives, Ambika and Ambalika. I guess having children is really important to this family because once people start dying (like Vichitravirya did), people frantically start looking for bachelors to sleep with Ambika and Ambalika. Bhishma refuses to sleep with his dead brother's wives because he vowed to be celibate. Long story short, Ambika sleeps with Vyasa, son of Satyavati and Parashara, with her eyes closed so their son Dhritarashtra was born blind. Ambalika was so scared to sleep with Vyasa that she turns pale, so their son Pandu was born pale. Vyasa then sleeps with Ambalika's maid, who actually likes Vyasa. and their kid Vidura was born flawless. To keep things straight:

Dhritarashtra born blind (mother: Ambika).
Pandu born pale (mother: Ambalika).
Vidura born perfect (maid).

What is really sweet is that fact that Dhritarashtra's wife Gandhari covers her eyes so that she could be blind like her husband. On a funny note, Pandu is cursed to die having sex because he killed a deer while it was fornicating (lesson learned). Pandu has five sons - Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva - aka the Pandavas (he had some help form the gods since technically he can't reproduce or else he dies). The Pandavas reminds me of little crime-fighting pandas. Dhritarashtra has 100 sons called the Kauravas.
They train and fight together like a cool family of superheroes.

Pandu Hunting. Source.

Reading Diary B: Sita Sings the Blues Part II

I finished the film! There were some weird scenes of a dancing lady and a dancing skeleton which reminded me of someone taking LSD with a bad trip. Something I don't quite understand is the backstory with the girlfriend and boyfriend. He moves to India, and he's being weird towards her which leads to their break-up. I guess it can relate to Rama and Sita since Rama rejected Sita after rescuing her. One thing that really made me laugh was when the narrators commented on Sita's pregnancy with "They joined the mile high club!" That was priceless! In the online version of Ramayan, I don't remember reading that Sita was pregnant. This film also shows that Rama banished Sita from the kingdom while she was pregnant because he was afraid that her reputation would discredit him as being a respectable king. I find that really ridiculous. Another scene that makes me chuckle was when the narrators were arguing about how Sita's unconditional love towards Rama. The male narrators did not understand why she kept praising Rama, but then the female narrator explains unconditional love to them. The film was quite entertaining! I did enjoy watching it.

Scene from Sita Sings the Blues. Source

Reading Diary A: Sita sings the Blues

I began watching the first half of Sita sings the Blues, and my first impression of it was that it was very trippy. The introduction shows Lakshmi rising from the ocean with a peacock-shaped phonograph. Then the scene shifts to outer space where where see a several gods such as Surya, Shesha, and Chandra. Moving along, three Indian narrators begin to tell the story of Rama. It's pretty entertaining because the narrators argue with one another about characters. They summarize how Dasharatha has three wives and four sons, and how Kaikeyi demanded the king to banish Rama from the kingdom. Then there is a skit of Sita singing an old song, describing her devotion to Rama. The narrators then describe Ravana. I didn't know that Ravana was a loyal king to his country. As the narrators described him, Ravana was so devoted to Vishnu that he played a musical instrument with his intestines. Honestly, what made him evil was when he kidnapped Sita from Rama. Hanuman, the reincarnation of Shiva, joins Rama to help on his journey to find Sita. With his great leaping powers, Hanuman jumps to Lanka. I was surprised to see how bloody the battle scene was between the monkey army and the demons that guarded Lanka. It reminded me of Happy Tree Friends because of all the bloody animation and dark humor. Then came the scene where Sita and Rama finally reunite. The video depicted the scene exactly how I wrote my storytelling post! Rama fought a war to rescue his wife then just rejected her because he questioned her purity. Overall, I enjoyed the humor and the sound effects of the video. I laughed out loud a few times in the library which was quite embarrassing. Also, the animation in the movie was really neat. Everything had a bold and simple shape to it. I cant wait to finish the rest!

Sita sings the Blues poster. Source.

Reading Diary B: New Face of Rama

Hanuman returns to the kingdom to report to Rama and King Sugriva about what he saw in Lanka. The monkey armies advance to Lanka to rescue Sita. Meanwhile back in Lanka, Ravana's royal court discusses whether they should return Sita to Rama or to go to war with Rama. Ravana's younger brother, Vibhishana, urges Ravana to return Sita to Rama, but Ravana refuses to heed his brother's lecture. Vibhishana abandons his brother and becomes allies with Rama. This action caught my attention because Vibhishana cuts his brotherly ties with Ravana. Family who turns on other family may appear as the ultimate betrayal, but Vibhishana can be justified because Ravana is committing an awful deed by holding Sita hostage.

Rama and the armies attack Lanka. The scenes depicted in the story reminded me of a battle scene from Lord of the Rings, especially when Garuda heals the soldiers in battle.

It was a cruel trick that Ravana and Indrajit played on Rama and Sita, making an illusion that they were both dead in order to feel despair and lose hope. A major event occurred when Lakshmana slayed Ravana's son Indrajit. Even though villains are portrayed as heartless monsters, Ravana mourned for his son: "He was the mightiest of my heroes and the dearest to my heart." Ravana was shattered. He attempted to slay Sita for revenge, but rakshasas stopped him from tainting his reputation. Infuriated, Ravana almost kills Lakshmana. As he was destined to do, Rama kills Ravana using the weapon created by Brahma.

What shocked me the most was the reunion between Rama and Sita. I was expecting a very romantic embrace when they saw each other, but instead Rama denies her! He's suspicious of Sita because she stayed in Ravana's house. Rama had the audacity to say, "...but thou art stained by dwelling with another than myself.." I thought their love was so powerful and loyal that Rama would always trust Sita. How could he let Sita walk in fire to prove herself? After reading the chapters for this diary, I lost so much respect for Rama.

Sita walking in the flames. Source: Mewar Ramayana

Reading Diary A: Rescuing Sita

Hanuman, a monkey that serves as the chief counselor of Sugriva, joins Rama and Lakshmana in their search for Sita. Hanuman becomes a loyal member of the trio. The monkey explains that Sugriva also lost his wife. Vali left to go fight a demon in a cave and left Sugriva in charge in guarding the mouth of the cave. After hearing shouts and cries, Sugriva assumed that his brother died and left the cave to rule the kingdom. However, Vali never died. He climbed out of the cave and saw that Sugriva took responsibility of the kingdom. Not only that, but the cave had been filled in which made Vali's escape from the cave more difficult. Infuriated with his brother, Vali accused Sugriva of trapping him in a cave in order to take over the kingdom. Vali then kidnapped Sugriva's wife. Rama then promises Sugriva that he will battle Vali. How can Rama trust Sugriva? What if Sugriva really did trap his brother in the cave?

Rama battles Vali, but not in the most honorable way. Actually, Rama hides from Vali in a bush and shoots an arrow that kills Vali. I wonder if Rama felt that his actions were justified, or if he felt guilty that he didn't battle Vali in a fair match. Although Vali did kidnap Sugriva's wife, Sugriva still wept for his brother's death. Sugriva becomes king and promises Rama to find Sita. After the end of the rainy season (which made Rama really impatient), Sugriva sent four armies of monkeys in four directions to find Sita. They found a lead to Sita in the southern direction when Sampati, the bird brother of Jatayu, confirms that Ravan took Sita towards Lanka.

I thought it was interesting that Ravana tried to convince Sita to leave Rama. To me it's pretty funny that Ravana actually thinks that he could persuade Sita to leave her soul mate. He threatened Sita that after two months if she didn't give in to his requests to become his wife, then she would be tortured

Ravana attempting to persuade Sita. Source: Mewar Ramayana

Reading Diary B: Published Domain Ramayana

In Bharata Returns, I found it surprising that Bharata didn't share his mother's perspective on his good fortune on becoming the crowned prince. In fact, he was so depressed that his older brother was exiled that he called his own mother an "evil-hearted woman." I found it noble that Bharata was willing to find his brother in the jungle and return him to his rightful place on the throne. This appeals to me because I am a huge believer in brotherhood and siblingship since I am close to my younger brother.

I also liked the story of Viradha because it's like the two musketeers rescuing the third musketeer. Rama and Lakshmana have to defeat the demon, Viradha aka Tumburu, who abducted Sita. Rama and Lakshmana could not defeat Viradha with sharp weapons so they buried him into a pit. However, when they buried the demon, a curse was broken. Viradha was cursed by Kubera and the only way to break the curse was to have Rama defeat him. Oddly, the demon found salvation in his death. This reminds me of some religious beliefs that life itself is suffering and death is the salvation that leads to heaven.

The story of Shurpanakha and Rama was peculiar because a female demon named Shurpanakha falls in love with Rama. I never imagined a demon falling in love a human... Even worse she tried to convince Rama to leave Sita. Shurpanakha was really adamant of having Rama as her husband. She said "I have chose thee for my husband, and thou shalt rule over my great empire.... I must devour Sita and thy brother, so that er may range the jungle together and visit the lofty hills." What's crazy is that Rama practically tells the demon Hey I'm taken but my brother isn't! This doesn't sit well with Shurpanakha so she tries to attack Sita.The demon lady also calls on her brother Khara to capture the three royals.

Rama is so devoted to Sita that he attempts to capture the golden deer for her. The golden deer, however, is Maricha in disguise. Maricha diguises his voice by imitating Rama and calls out to Sita and Lakshmana. Rama successfully slays Maricha, but Sita is worried about Rama. She fears that he might be and trouble: "If Rama is slain I will die by drowning, or by poison, or else by the noose. I cannot live without Rama." Her devotion to Rama is beautiful and rare.

Rama and the Golden Deer. Source.

Reading Diary A: Public Domain Ramayana

A story that caught my attention was the story about Ahalya. Ahalya was Gautama's beautiful wife, and the god Indra fell in love with her. In order to seduce Ahalya, Indra disguised himself as Gautama. Outraged by the betrayal, Gautama cursed his wife and Indra. So Ahalya turns into stone (according to some versions). I understand that Gautama was outraged by his wife's infidelity, but the fact that she was tricked by a god makes me pity her. Was she really at fault?

On chapter that I did like was the story of Sita. It seems like fate that the avatar of Vishnu and the avatar of Sita found each other and fell in love. It reminds me of the theory that my mother believes in about soul mates. She believes that love transcends through time and different lives. So if two people were to meet for the first time and experience love at first sight, it is because in their past lives they were together. My favorite quote was when Rama compared Sita's beauty to the moon: "The queen of night is not so fair as Sita." Of course he wins her hand in marriage by bending the bow of the god Shiva.

Everything seems to be going great for Rama. He married Sita. He is announced as heir to the throne. But then the servant Manthara convinces the youngest wife Kaikeyi that Bharata should be the crown prince. Dasharatha and Kaikeyi have a huge argument about which son is to be prince. Dasharatha promised Kaikeyi two favors, or two boons. With these boons, she requested her son Bharata to be the heir and to banish Rama for fourteen years. Like a dagger to his heart, Dasharatha could not bear the pain of his wife's favors. He said, "Have I dreamed a fearsome dream? Do demons torture me? Is my mind clouded with madness?" He scorns Kaikeyi. He feels betrayed that she would not only replace the heir but also banish his favorite son.

"Traitress, wouldst thou bring ruin to my family? Rama hath never wronged thee; why dost thou seek to injure him? O Kaikeyi, whom I have loved and taken to my bosom, thou hast crept into my house like a poisonous snake to accomplish my ruin. It is death to me to part with my brave and noble Rama, now that I am old and feeble. Have pity on me and ask for other boons.”

She threatens suicide if he does not grant her the wishes. With a heavy heart, Dasharatha keeps his word, but he promises to hate her and her son forever. “I grant the boons, but I reject thee for ever and thy son Bharata also.” Tricky situation. I was always taught that the only thing that I truly possess in the world in my word, so to use it wisely. If I make a promise, I must keep it. Dasharatha was cornered into banishing his son. I wonder if he ever forgave himself.

Although Rama was the only one banished, Sita and his brother Lakshmana accompaned him. I thought this was really noble, and it reminded me of my brother and my cousin. If I was ever banished, I know that the two people closest to me wouldn't allow me to travel alone. My favorite line of that story was "Thereafter Rama and Sita and Lakshmana went together, walking barefoot..."

Rama and Sita on exile. Source: Indi Samarajiva