Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part A

Rakshasa (Wikpedia)

When Rama left to go defeat the rakshasas, it felt like he was departing for an adventure. I think I could use this in a story. I thought Thataka's story was interesting too, particularly the part where Thataka builds herself up to be this powerful demon that destroys every fragment of life around her, then dies immediately. It was a bit comical and I could include something like that in my story too. I thought "holy crap" when Rama shot Mareecha so hard he flew into the ocean. It was funny that the other demons saw him do this and started running away. The story of Sakara was pretty confusing with the buried man vaporizing everyone by looking at them, but I suppose it's a lesson on not to displease the gods. What's sticking out to me throughout this story is the apparently closeness the gods have with humans. They seem to interact a lot and they keep a presence on Earth in the form of avatars often. I guess I'm more used to gods being more watchful and dealing mostly with other gods. The story about Ahalya makes me think of a ghost story where the person being told the story suddenly becomes involved in it at the end. It'd be neat to have a twist like that. As a reference to Viswamithra telling Rama and Lakshmana these stories, I could have an old man telling my story to two boys. Rama lifting Shiva's bow reminds me of the story of Excalibur (pulling the sword out of the stone), and the concept is interesting. Maybe I could make a story centered around the suitor's attempts to pull it out, their failure, and their attempts to take Sita by force? Kaikeyi being manipulated and telling the king to exile Rama is an interesting idea too. I could use it as baseline for a story about usurping power.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

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