Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part B

     In part B of the PDE Ramayana we start to see Rama's adventures out of his adolescence and youth.  I think for the first time we can start to get indications about how crazy powerful he really is.  I honestly was very perplexed by Rama's brother, Bharata, once he comes back to the kingdom.  For some reason, I assumed he would be spiteful such as his mother and his mother's servant, though this was far from the case.  It was heartwarming to see how hurt Bharata was by the passing of his father.  The exile of his brother clearly was just spit in the wound; he was going to make sure he played no part in the exile of Rama.  Then I started thinking about Bharata; I believe he too was an incarnation of a deity, even if it wasn't Vishnu's avatar like Rama is.  It makes sense that he would be a just person just like his two older brothers.  I really loved Bharata's character; he was insistent on bringing Rama back to be king. In fact, Bharata left the kingdom to find Rama himself.  Staying true to his character, though, Rama unsurprisingly denied Bharata's request and instead opted to fulfill the order of his exile in its entirety.  Bharata seemed to respect this wish of Rama's, though he made it clear in his actions and words that Rama would remain the true king and the throne would be waiting for him at the end of his exile.  Despite the admirable and just qualities of Rama and Lakshmana, I think Bharata would have made for a noble king as well.  I was surprised that Shurpanakha took a liking to a human, even if it was Rama.  I had pictured the demons thus far to be quite monstrous with nonredeemable qualities.  I guess falling for Rama doesn't make her a good being though; we can see she truly is her Ravana's sister from how she responds to the rejection from both Rama and Lakshmana.  I thought it was pretty comical that Rama offered up his brother to the demon woman once he denounced any interest.  After her rejection, Shurpanakha basically started an all out war by getting her brother Khara and his demon army.  It was at this point in the story that I truly understood just how insanely powerful Rama was.  The fact that he knew he would be fighting a demon army, and still told Lakshmana to hide and protect Sita was very impressive.  But then, when the army of demons saw Rama and they hesitated to continue approaching, I knew that Rama was something else.  Their hesitation was for good reason it seemed, as Rama took out Khara and all 14,000 of his followers.  A little later in this reading was a part that especially stuck out to me.  Sita refused to believe Lakshmana about Rama being fine.  Lakshmana had the right call from the beginning that the voice they heard which sounded like Rama's was just an illusion.  I don't know why she wouldn't listen to Rama and Lakshmana wholeheartedly by this point in the story! They have made it clear that they are a step above all of their adversaries, and they are both very intelligent.  Sita still insisted that Lakshmana should go check it out; she basically made him feel bad so  he felt obligated to leave her side.  Of course, this is what Ravana was waiting for.  I look forward to seeing Rama at last take on the demon king. 

Sita is tempted by Ravana after she is kidnapped.

Source: Commons   

Bibliography: The material for this week's reading notes comes from the Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana.

The sources include M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson and Ryder.