Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part C

     For Part C of the reading, my favorite characters overall were Sampati and Hanuman.  I really enjoyed the character of Jatayu, so I especially enjoyed meeting his brother Sampati.  You can really see the character of Sampati from the manner in which he protected his brother and ultimately severely hurt his wings. I noticed another repetition from the Ramayana that also occurred in Sampati's story.  He was told that he would be able to fly again if he would be patient with his grounded condition, and would serve someone as noble as him.  Upon  helping Hanuman's team in their quest to locate Sita, Sampati states that he hopes Rama was the noble he was meant to help.  There have been several other characters throughout the Ramayana who were waiting upon Rama to help them in some way.  By every way of the phrase, he is a king of prophecy.  As it turns out, Sampati does in fact begin to heal after he aids in the quest.  My overall favorite character from this part of the story was Hanuman.  I thought it was funny that Hanuman never knew he was the son of the wind god until this quest where he is seeking to help Rama.  Once he finds out where he is from, Hanuman seems to basically go Super Saiyan.  I thought it was awesome that even indirectly Rama has such a huge impact on people.  It's only on this mission for Sita that Hanuman finally finds his true potential.  I remember thinking it was curious that none of the monkeys seeking to go to Lanka initially thought about using a boat--their first initial thoughts were about who could jump the furthest.  I know these texts are incredibly ancient, so I wonder if this was perhaps written at a time where boats aren't too common.  Or maybe, since this is an epic after all, using a boat would be essentially too conventional.  While I'm writing this, I am remembering that this team searching for Sita are all monkeys.  But if they can all talk and live in cities and be civil, they should be able to a boat I am thinking?  Either way, once Hanuman realizes his true strength the issue of how to cross the ocean to Lanka is not an issue any longer.  He makes it in a single leap, even killing a water demon that attacked him in the process.  I love that Hanuman decides to savage Ravana's kingdom a little bit after he makes contact with Sita.  It's pretty incredible how powerful he is; seeing how he tore through demons in their home city makes me think it will be only too easy for Rama. 

Hanuman leaps across the ocean to Lanka, and almost gets eaten while doing so.

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.