Week 13 Reading Diary A: Twenty-Two Goblins Continued

This week I have continued reading Twenty-Two Goblins by Ryder

Twenty-Two Goblins

Goblins: Father and Son, Daughter and Mother: What an amazing little story. I loved the ending to this one. It starts out as all the rest of the tales. The king takes the body infested with the Goblin and carries it to the monk. On his way to the monk the Goblin tells the King a story at the end he has a riddle. In this story a Queen and her daughter are traveling in the woods. Without a husband the Queen and daughter fend for themselves and hide from robbers. A father and son are in the woods hunting when they come upon footprints. A small set and a large set. The men agree when they find the women the Son shall have the person with the small footprints and the Father shall have the women with the large set. When they find the women they ultimately marry them, but as a twist the daughter actually has bigger feet then the queen. So sticking to the agreement the Father marries the daughter and the Son marries the Mother! Pretty Funny. So the Question is What are the relation of these two couples offsprings? The King caring the goblin was stumped. The goblin let the king in on a secret. The monk was going to kill the king to get magical powers! Page Turner indeed!

Conclusion: Okay. So the monk is killed by the King because the Goblin told the King the sham Monks plans to become King of the Fairies. For this the God Shiva rewards the King by promising him the world and giving him a magic sword where while he has it everything comes true!

Week 12 Reading Diary A: Twenty-Two Goblins

This week I read the first part of Twenty-Two Goblins Author: Unknown, translated by Ryder. I had a great time reading this and I would recommended every also read it for your reading diary if you have time... or just for fun! Project Gutenberg has done a great job laying out the text in a way that made it easily accessible to myself and others. I am very appreciative of that. I thought this was an interesting interpretation of an Indian Epic (very different from what we have been reading).

Listed Below are some of my favorite sections from the reading this week. 

The King and The Goblin

Reading A: 

Goblins: Brave, Wise, Clever: These stories are starting out very uniquely. I think the whole idea is interesting and I am excited to see what the conclusion of these stories are! I choose Goblins: Brave, Wise, Clever because I could really draw a connection to the tale of the Deathly Hallows! Being a big Harry Potter fan I really loved to see this connection. So this story is about the King who is trying to bring a goblin, that has taken over a dead body to a monk. The king has promised to do this. While the king is carrying the body the goblin tells a story and at the end of the story the King is forced to answer the riddle, of sorts. If the king answers correctly the Goblin will return to the tree the king found him at and the king will have to start his journey over again. If the king answers knowingly incorrectly then his head will explode. I think these are excellent stories!

Goblins: The Three Delicate Wives: Wow! What a quirky story. So this story begins at a distant land where there is a king with three wives. Already contrary to the so called “normative” culture of America, but that is a little ethnocentric of me... anyways the story continues with the king visiting each of his wives. When he saw his first wife a lotus flower landed in her and she was severely bruised by this instance. The second wife was lying in bed with the King and when the moonlight shone on her skin she was severely burned! Crazy, I know Right! It gets better. The Third wife is walking down a corridor an hears the pestles and the sound alone gave her bruises. OMG IKR?! So that is the story, of the three delicate wives and when the Goblin asked the King who was the most delicate the King answered The one who was bruised by the sound of pestles for she was the only one that was hurt by something that was not physical.  

Week 11: Reading Diary B

Source: Buddha

This week I decided to read The Life of Buddha: Part Two Sacred Text (Source Here)

• Buddha has ultimate wisdom, but refuses to enter nirvana before teaching his wisdom to others. 
• He turns girls into hags from seducing him, but is kind when they admit their faults
• Trapusha and Bhallika are the first to have faith in Buddha
• Buddha is hesitant to share his knowledge because he doesn’t think people will understand
• Buddha attempts to make Rudraka hear his words, but instead he preaches to disciples. 
• The disciples do not acknowledge Buddha, but when he tells them “truth” they become faithful in him

Week 11: Reading Diary A

This week I decided to read Shiva

Sati secretly praised Shiva and was deeply in love with him, but Shiva did not offer homage to her father. Shia and Sati ended up marrying each other. Daksha never did like Shiva. Daksha called upon the gods and goddesses to discuss Shiva. When Sati found out she was very upset and told her father she hated him so much she would rather be dead than be his daughter. He became so upset that he killed his own daughter. Understandably, Shiva was upset and got a demon to kill Daksha. The gods and goddesses were very frightened by Shiva’s power and wanted to stop him. They were told to make peace with him. 

Shiva Statue (Source)

Reading Diary B Week 10: Brook’s Mahabharata (cont’d)

This reading diary is a continuation of the film Mahabharata by Brook’s. I wanted to keep watching this film because I feel like I learned so much in the first part of the film and I thought continuing with the film would allow me to really understand the full picture of the Mahabharata. So we left off with the Pandava brothers being sent to exile. I found again that the film leaves out some scenes from the PDE: Mahabharata, but overall I thought it did a good job incorporating the most important scenes. I am really starting to get accustom to the acting in this movie. I love how throughout the film I am beginning to get more and more ideas about how I might be able to incorporate Karma, my storybook character into the stories. It is fun and exciting to do this! Both the Pandava brothers and Karna and others get weapons in the film. I think the film has done a good job of wrapping up this complex story and it has helped me better understand all of the characters.

Last Scene in Mahabharata (Source) 

Reading Diary A: Week 10 Brook’s Mahabharata

This week I have decided to start watching the online movie of the Mahabharata. A few weeks ago I red the Public domain Edition of the Mahabharata and while I thoroughly enjoyed this reading I felt like I did not completely understand the epic. So I thought it would be best to watch the movie version, found here, and maybe this way I would get a better understanding of the film. I think the film will make the PDE: Mahabharata make sense! 

I found the beginning of this long film to be really fantastic. After watching the film I do feel that I better understand the Mahabharata, but I did notice that some scenes that were in the PDE: Mahabharata were left out in the film. I thought it was very interesting to see how the characters in the film interacted with each other. It gives the movie version an element that cannot really be describe through pen and paper, or computer screens. I think that is one of the greatest things about this class, the ability to incorporate readings and movies into one class is phenomenal. Thought this first part of the film we find that the five Pandavas brother are wed to Draupadi and they are then all gambled away. the acting in the film really brought the whole movie together!

Ganesha Costume Source

Reading Diary B: Mahabharata Film Continued

This week I continue my epic journey as I come to better understand the Mahabharata. As I end the part of the film I am watching I have stated to think back to how much I actually learned while watching the film, not to mention that as a movie lover, I think the Mahabharata film really gave me another view of the Mahabharata that I otherwise would not have gotten from readings. Just like with the Ramayana, I feel the film was better able to help me understand the Indian Epic.

Son of Bhima and a Raksasi from the Mahabharata Pt. 2

Last reading we left off with Yuddhishthira losing everything in a gambling match. Now the Pandavas and Draupadi are forced into a long exile. The exile scene was not as long and drawn out as it was in the written PDE of the Mahabharata, but I still felt the essence of a long period. Closing in on the end of their exile, the Pandava brothers obtained weapons and so did their foes.


I was very happy to have the opportunity to watch this movie. I am excited to see if there will be other movies in the future. I really liked this film and I think I might end up watching the rest of it anyways, even though it is super long... I guess that would be the Epic Part.

Reading Diary A Week 7: Mahabharata Online Video

Telling of the Mahabharata (YouTube Screenshot)

For this weeks readings I have chosen to watch the Mahabharata Online Movie found here. I chose this movie because after watching the Ramayana Video last go around I found that it really helped me understand the epic. In the public domain version of the readings I was lost when reading the text sometimes. Unlike the Ramayana, the Mahabharata had a lot of action and I was generally confused the length of the story. I enjoyed the YouTube version of Mahabharata and it help me understand the complexity that is the Mahabharata! I thought the movie really help develop the characters in my mind and overall I am glad I had the opportunity to watch it. My favorite part was the beginning when Ganesha agrees to write the story. I thought it was fun and whimsical. Something the Public Domain version of the Mahabharata was unable to provide for me. My next favorite part of the movie for Part A was when Yudisthira gambled away his family and kingdom. It was a very intense part of the movie and I think it added a lot of depth missing from the PDE of Mahabharata. I am really glad I was able to watch this movie and I am looking forward to Part B of this movie!

Reading Diary B Week 6: Mahabharata

Yudhishthira and the Dog

For reading diary B of Week 6 I continued reading the Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata. I found the overall ending of this story to be very interesting. As the war between Kauravas with a million soldiers and the Pandavas brother I was not sure what the outcome would be. Yudhishthria attempts to keep peace between the two sides, but he cannot contain them. After the war the Pandavas brother win with the help of Krishna, who dies sadly :(!  Out of respect for everyone that dies, the Pandavas brothers buried all of the men for religious reasons.  Yudisthara and the other brothers including Draupadi leave the kingdom and leave their jewels and clothes.

Week 6 Reading Diary A: Mahabharata PDE

Public Domain Edition of Mahabharata

This week I am continuing to read the Mahabharata Public Domain Edition. Readings 41-60.

Hanuman Statue

The Pandava brothers and Draupadi wander into the forest. They complain about how they lost their kingdom. They live on fruits and roots and face many perils in the woods such as reptiles and wild animals. A brahmin advised the brothers to call upon the sun god. The Pandavas lived in the woods for 12 years! They set aside some food for holy men and the rest for them. All the brothers would faint and Bhima would carry them all on his back and his arms. Krishna visits the Pandavas in the forest. Drapadi exclaims to Krishna that her husbands did not lift a finger to save her from Duryodhana who claimed her as a slave. Krishna comforts her and says that he will help the Pandava brothers and make Draupadi a queen again. Drapadi is mad at Yudhishthira for making her poor. He laments and tells her to forgive. Bhima is also mad at his brother and ask him to go to war, but he refuses and remain to his vow of exile. Arjuna ventures on his own to gather weapons needed by his brothers for the end of their exile. Arjuna went to see his father, Indra, and battled demons. Upon winning Arjuna’s father gave him gold, a diadem and a war shell that sounded like thunder. Draupadi and the Pandavas brother continue toward the Himalayas and are finally rejoined by their brother Arjuna. Hanuman, from Ramayana, meet up with the Pandava brothers and his half brother Bhima. Hanuman explained the four caste to them.

Duryhodina wanted to spy on Draupadi and the Pandavas brothers, but celestial spirits blocked him from doing so. Indra, attempts to protect his son Arjuna from Karna. Karna, born with celestial earrings that provided invincibility were a problem, so Indra stole them, but Karna was given in return a powerful dart that would kill one enemy.

Jayadrauhta stole Draupadi while the boys were hunting. But Bhima quickly beats the enemy and returns her to him. Famous Lakes Riddle Scene. During the last year of exile, the brothers and Draupadi must conceal themselves from the king. They do so by taking up medial task in the kingdom. Brother of the queen attempts to rape Draupadi, but she is rescued by her husband Bhima. Although not publicly. The other brothers cannot expose themselves. Duryodhana went to steal cows from Kind Virata, but the Pandavas brothers step into save the king. War is upon the pandas brothers, but Krishna attempts to settle the dispute, but it was unsuccessful. With the exile over the brothers go to was with Krishna by their side. Karna, (57) finally found out that the pandas brothers were his brothers. He struggles with this reality. An intense battle takes place. Either on Duryohana’s side or the Pandavas brothers side. Arjuna, on the battle field sees his brothers and relatives on the other side and doesn’t want to fight them, but Krishna persuades him to fight. The war begins and Bhishma warns Duryodhana of the doom. Ignored he goes on to lose the war.

Reading Diary B Week 5: PDE Mahabharata

This week I am reading the Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata! It is a lot like the Ramayana, but the stories are different. I am definitely getting a “vibe” similar to the Ramayana in these stories.

Vidura guess the plot of Duryodhana. He warned his mothers and brothers about the King and Duryodhana’s plan and so the Pandavas dug a path under the palace and into the forest outside. When the passage was finished being dug, the palace was set on fire. A poor women and her five children came that night to beg for food and were killed in the fire. She was a low-caste woman and their bodies that were burned were thought to be the Pandavas and their mother. The King and Duryodhana rejoiced because they thought they had killed the Pandavas.

Bhima Kills Hidimba

Bhima and the Monster

The Pandavas went south. Bhima, with celestial powers, was able to carry all of the Pandavas safely to a new place. Bhima fought rakshasa Hidimba. He was a very large and stocky rakshsas. The sister of Hidimba transformed into a beautiful women and quickly fell in love with Bhima. The women told Bhima of Hidimba’s plan to kill them. The Hidimba went forth to kill everyone, but Bhima did not fear him. The fight was like elephants because it was so fierce. Bhima broke the rakshasa’s back. Bhima had won and Hidimba ask Bhima’s mother to allow Bhima to wed her. As so they wed. The women made Bhima very happy. She became a mother to Bhima’s child. Their son’s name was Ghatotkacha. The queen and her sons, minus Bhima, traveled south. They entered a town that was protected by a beast and the beast needed tribute every night including rice, ox and two people. Bhima appeared and decided to fight the beast that wanted to kill the towns peoples. Bhima made it to the cave and started eating his food, this infuriate Baka and Bhima then rid the forest of the monster.

There was a competition to strike a bow and hot the eye of a golden fish to win a beautiful bride. Many people were there to try to win the beauty, but it was Arjuna that won the bride after hitting the golden fish! Arjuna and his brothers went to the palace to collect his bride. Draupadi was to be shared by all five brothers as the wife of the brothers. Draupadi became the bride of all brothers. Krishna and others gave gold and jewels to the Pandava brothers for their marriage.

When Duryodhana found out that the Pandrava brothers were still alive and had married the beautiful women he became very jealous. The Pandrava brothers with their new wife and their mother traveled to a new country set up for them. The gathered the people who were subject to them and they created a great city called Indraprastha. The brothers set a pact that if one of the brothers were with their wife then the other brother could not come into the room with them. Arjuna accidentally walked in while his wife was with one of her other husbands/ his brother. He was exiled for 12 years for breaking the pact. Arjuna decided to swim in a river plagued by man eating alligators, he was attacked midway through the river and he wrestled it to the river bank. The alligator tuned into a woman and she explained why she was there. Her name was Ulupi. She was cursed by a magic person and transformed into an alligator only to be saved when a warrior dragged them ashore. Prince Arjuna went to a raja. His daughter was wed to Arjuna and they had a son.

Khrishna and his sister visited the Pandrava’s. Agni wanted to consume a forest and ask Arjuna and Khrishnas help and they agreed if he would give them celestial weapon. When they burned the forest only 6 animals survived. Maya was grateful to Arjuna for saving him for the forest fire. he promised to build a palace for the Pandavas! Duryodhana was made fun of by the Pandravas in the Maya’s palace. The Pandravas were becoming more and more powerful.

Jarasandha was a king of a foreign capital. Krishna, Arjuda and Bhima killed the king when he refused to release the rhajas that he had captured in battle. Duryodhana became very very very jealous. He used a gambler to hold a great festival with the Pandava brothers and their wife and mother. The king ordered the festival and the brothers came. They all competed in a gambling match and lost everything because the game was fixed. Duryodhana forced The brothers wife to become a house maiden, which was objected! Queen Drupadi is very mad about the unfair slavery! She prayed for help, but she herd no response. She prayed again to Krishna. He herd her and multiplied her clothing so that she would not be naked. Bhima became angered by the situation and looked at Karna very upset. He looked at his brother and blamed him for what had happened to the family. Duryodhana mocked the Pandava at loosing everything. Unable to restrain his anger they vowed to never reach heaven if they do not defeat Duryodhana. A powerful maharajah, kind to drupadi, was given three wishes. She asked for her husbands to be set free and he granted the wish. The captors were angry because the pandava brothers would kill them. Instead, the captors again set up a game to trap the pandava brothers. They were exiled for twelve year and another year following that.

Reading Diary Week 5: PDE Mahabharata

I am getting started on this project a little late, but here we go!

Bishma Abducts Three Princesses

The other two princesses had many sons, but they had defects. Blindness, Humble Birth and the Pale one. When it was time to select a king Pandu, the pale one was chosen. King Pandu, was a mighty monarch and just warrior. He had two wives. One of the wives became the mother of Karna who had celestial powers. The father was not the king and so she sent the baby onto the river in a wicker basket. She had a very said epilogue about the baby. The child was kept alive by the celestial powers he had. He was found by a husband and wife, whom were cursed to never have their own sons. She adopted the baby and Karna became a powerful youth and bowman. Pandu accidentally shot a sage and he was then cursed by the sage and foretold that he would die in the arms of one of his wives. Panda had no sons of his own, instead his children were fathered by gods. When Pandu died the wives fought over who she be killed with him on the funeral pire. Madrid, the second wife, was chosen to die with her husband Kind Pandu.

Bishma fights Nagas

The eldest son of Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana was born with bad omens and many told his father to caste him out so that they can save the village and the world from this bad omen. Duryodhana begins a plot to poison his cousins. Bhima was poisoned and thrown into the Ganges where the snakes poisoned counteracted his poison and he awoke in the Nagas underworld. Bisma’s brothers urged him not to tell his cousin what had happened.
Drona was set out to train Duryodhana’s cousins as warriors. A short story about way the tribes draw bows with their middle fingers instead of their thumbs. Bhima and Duryodhana engage in a play fight that turns into a more serious fight. Karma appears with his celestial earnings and wants to fight his brother that he did not know, Arjuna. Even though Karna is of lower caste. Weather events take place and both hero were praised. The mother of both children was upset because she knew one of her children would die. Karma was made king of Anga. Now skilled warriors the Pandavas attacked many different foes. With each success of the Pandavas, Duryodhana becomes more and more filled with hatred. The evil prince comes up with a plan to kill the Pandavas. The would build a wooden palace and soak it in oil. He would the set the palace on fire and kill all of the Pandavas.

We first meet Devavrata. He is both a human and also posses god like powers. He got these powers because the mother of eight children caste each of the into the Ganges river, except for Devavrata. The king decided to say something to the goddess to save this last child and so Devavrata was human, but also had powers. King Shantunu finds a fishing maiden. The maiden was found inside a fish, she was rescued by her father. We learn the fish maiden’s son is Vyasa. Although the king wanted to be with the maiden, he could not have her because he would betray Ganga. Devavrata, denounces his claim to the thrown if the fish maiden has a boy. Devavrata is now called Bhishma.

Bishma steals the of the princesses meant for the King. Bishma intended to wed the wives. Amba the eldest princess when back to the king and offered he love, but he rejects her and she, humiliated, discovers that Bisma is to blame for her trouble. Amba fast for months and no longer cares about her looks, she only wishes for the defeat of Bishma. Shiva, a god, promises that Amba will have a child that will defeat Bishma. She sets herself on fire and chants for the destruction of Bishma, she sets herself on fire! So that I may obtain a new body to destroy him.

Week 4 Reading Diary B: Sita Sings the Blues

       Rama and Sita return to Ahoadya via flying chariot because Rama’s 14 year sentence is up. While he was away his father, the king, has passed away. Rama is now king! Sita announces that she is pregnant by Rama! Rama hears that his subjects do not respect him because of his wife’s reputation; so Rama banishes Sita to the forest, even though she is pregnent! Rama has to make the tough decision. Does he want to keep his word to the public and his father or does he want to keep Sita. In the end he decides to keep his word to his father and the public. Sita, of course, is super upset and confused about his decision. She is dumped on the side of the river in the forest. Sita thinks that she perhaps committed a terrible sin in a previous life and due to karma is paying for it now! Sita has her pregnancy in the forest with the help of medicine men. Sita has two boys who grew up in the forest and learn how to praise Rama. I like the song sang at 1:05:00 about praising Rama, this could be a fun parody.

Sita Prays for Rama Everyday

        Sita praises Rama everyday, even though he treated he wrongly. She unconditionally loves him and waits for him. She hopes that he will come back to her. Rama is in the forest and hears his two sons singing. He invites them back to the kingdom. Rama says that Sita must prove her purity again and she does this by telling mother earth to take her back if she has ever been impure. Funnily enough, Sita is still in love with Rama after all he has done to her. She continues to profess her love. She is swallow by mother earth!

Week 4 Reading Diary A: Sita Sings the Blues

For this weeks readings I chose to watch the film on Youtube: Sita Sings the Blues!

I thought this would be a really cool option for a reading diary and will provide me with an entertaining way to reread/ watch the Ramayana epic!

The first five minutes or so of the story is not story based, but it does have really cool sitar intro music! At the five minute mark the story starts in the modern city of San Francisco, but it quickly transitions to India’s past. The video is actually pretty entertaining as the characters start to recount when the story takes place. I have noticed already some differences in spelling between the public domain version of the Ramayana that I previously read and this version. One of the kings wives, who nursed the king, asked him to send Rama away to the forest for 14 years, instead of crowning him king! Sita went with Rama, against his will. Rama btw is the reincarnation of the god vishnu, which is not mentioned in this version of the Ramayana. Sita is singing the blues as her and Rama go into the forest together! This is great! Rama is seen protecting Sita with his bow and powerful muscles killing all types of demons in the forest.

Sita ask Rama to get her the Golden Deer

Ravana is the king of Lanka, and steals Sita away from Rama. However, besides this he seems to be an upstanding member of society. Ravana falls in love with Sita and against the advice of Marchita he decides to steal her anyways. Of course he succeeds in capturing her all the while she confesses her love to Rama. Hanuman, monkey warrior, helps Rama find Sita. He finds her on the island of Lanka. Ravana confesses his love to Sita, but she does not reflect his love with her. She says so is devoted to Rama and Ravana says his raksishas with cook her for breakfast! Hanuman hides and wait for nightfall to rescue Sita. Hanuman sets fire to all of Lanka and then returns to Rama to explain he had found Sita.

Rama and Hanuman assemble and army to attack Lanka/ Ravana. Rama kills Ravanas demon army... yay! When Rama finally found Sita he was very cold towards her. He is not nice to her because she had been in another mans house. Rama suspects Sita of sleeping with Ravana. Sita cannot bare to live without Rama, even though she knows she has done nothing wrong. Sita goes through a trail by fire and Rama was then convinced she was pure. They then make-up and are still in love with each other.

End of Part One of Sita Sings the Blues ends at 44:28

Reading Diary B: Public Domain Ramayana

Public Domain: Table of Contents

Rama and Lakshmana See Garuda

Indrajit - My Favorite Story (?)

This story is a little hard to follow. It starts with the monkeys causing havoc as the climbed the rakshasas walls and battered the gates yelling "Victory for Rama". The rakshasas began to fight with the monkeys and it became a huge mess! The rakasasas are stronger at night and killed thousands of monkeys. Rama's army began to fight back against Indrajit, but he used his magic to become invisible and "showered deadly wounding arrows upon rama". Rama and other heros were wounded with thousands of arrows and the monkeys gather with sadness.

Indrajit left the battle as the victor and for a time the fighting stopped. Rama seemed to be dead, but he was not. Garuda, a great winged beast came and the arrows fell from the wounded heros and then Garuda held them! Garuda warns Rama to not trust the rakasasas in the battle field anymore because they are cunning. Once Garuda left the monkey's and Rama and Lakshmana advanced toward the gated Lanka.


Rama Crowned King

It was a happy day in Ayodhya because Rama was going to be crowned King! Fourteen years are the fighting began. Rama sat on his fathers throne and they began a ritual. First they took sacred water from all distant streams and oceans... all of them. The water was poured by holy priest on the consecrated king. Rama had jewels placed on his head and fragrance at his feet. Music began and Men in all nations hailed Rama as their “lord and rites king!” The land was right again and everyone was happy. People, Plants and Animals were all joyous and prosperous under the new king!

Reading Diary A: Public Domain Ramayana

For this reading diary I am combing how I traditionally take notes with how I took notes during week 2’s reading diary B. Here it goes.

Public Domain Ramayana

41. The monkey king, Sugriva, sent Hanuman the monkey-god to disguise himself and approach Rama and Lakshmana.

42. The monkey king ask Rama to fight Vali in battle.

43. Wife of Vali, begs him not to go to battle with Rama.

44. Vali goes to battle with Rama and dies

46. The monkey king promises to now help Rama find Sita, who was stolen by Ravana. Due to the exile, but Rama must wait until the end of the rainy season. Rama cannot enter a city. Rama’s lament is basically him saying he has a lot of pain because Sita is gone. It is actually a really sweet and sad read. 

47. Rama is upset with the Monkey king for his inaction to help him find Sita. The monkey king then sends an army of monkeys and bears, in all different directions, to find Sita. They searched everywhere!

48. The army headed south discoveries that they are headed in the right direction to find Sita!

49. Tragic short story of how Sampati, the bird that tried to save Site from Rama, lost his ability to fly.

51. Hanuman, the monkey god, enters the city of Lanka in search of Sita. He soon finds Ravana’s palace and Ravana sleeping, but no Sita. :-(

52. Hanuman wanders around the palace until he finds the Ashoka grove. He then found Sita. Demons surrounded her, some with fearsome heads.

53. Hanuman, the monkey god, hides in the trees and watches as Ravana tries to persuade Sita to denounce her lover Rama and take Ravana as her new husband. When she refused, Ravana tells the Rakshasis to “break her will”.

54. The monkey god keeps watch over Sita. It was hard to talk to her in secret. When Hanuman finally meets Sita she think he is Ravana in deceitful form. But he convinces her he is truthful. 

55. Oh no!!! Hanuman is captured...

Vibishana Leaves Lanka and Joins Rama

56. Hanuman divulges his secrets about being a part of Ramas envoy. Hanuman tells Ravana to give up and surrender. Ravana wanted to kill Hanuman, but urged by his counsellors sets the monkey gods tail on fire... :-(

57. The monkey god sets fire to all of Lanka because he receives help from his lord. 

58. Sugriva ordered everyone to march on Lanka and attack!!!!

59. Ravanas councel backs Ravana in the decision to go to war with Rama

60. Vibishana, Ravans brother, does not agree with Ravana about going to war with Rama and leaves to join Rama.

Reading Diary B: Public Domain Ramayana

Public Domain Ramayana: Table of Contents

I am going to try a new style of writing while reading the stories. Instead of summing up just a couple of stories I am going to sum them all up. It will make the stories make more sense when I go back for notes.

22. Bharata performs funeral rites for his father. While both Rama and his other brother are still exiled. Bharata cannot go seek his brother until this is done.
23. Rama is found by Bharata in Chitrakuta.
24. Bharata is unsuccessful in his attempt to persuade Rama to come home. Instead Bharata takes Rama sandals to represent Rama while he is gone. The sandals are able to represent Rama because they have touched his feet. In the end Bharata decides not to return to the kingdom and to wait for Rama to return too.
25. Rama and Sita and Lakshmana visit the sages Atri. Sita tells the sage’s wife her life story. The wife of sage gave blessings to Rama and Sita and Lakshmana.
26. Sita was abducted by Viradha, a crazy demon!, and Rama and Lakshmana go to battle with it. Viradha is actually a gandharva called Tumburu.
28. A rakshasha, Shurpanakha, falls in love with Rama. Rama does not share the same feelings Shurpanakha feels towards him. Rama tells her his wife is Sita! Rama then tells Shurpanakha to hit up his brother Lakshman because he has no wife... Win Win?
29. Shurpanakha is upset about the rejection she faced from Rama. She is so madden that she and her brother attack Rama and the gang. Rama was able to push the attackers back.
30. Again Shurpanakha and her brother attack Rama and again the hero defeats them. To end it Rama shot Khara with a blazing arrow of death! Sita was pleased by her husband.
32. The story changes pace. Maricha gave advice to Ravana who was plotting to abduct Sita. Maricha’s advice was to not mess with Rama. Maricha agreed to help Ravana kidnap Sita. Maricha was transformed into a golden deer and roamed the woods near Rama, waiting to be seen by Sita.

33. Rama, Sita and the Golden Deer

33. Sita sees the deer and of course wants it. So, she send her husband to retrieve it. Rama left Site with Lakshmana.
34. The sneaky sneak golden deer. It turns out the Maricha is not only able to shape shift, but he is also able to imitate the voice of Rama! How devastating for Sita. When Maricha returns to where Sita is he cries out for help. Sita wants Lakshaman to go help Rama, but Lakshamana tells Sita is is a trick of demons.
35. Sita and Maricha are both convincing enough to persuade Lakshaman to leave Sita’s side. When he does Ravana changes into a sage to get close to Sita. Ravana eventually sized Sita and carried her away :-(
36. Ravana captured Sita and they flew away in a car. Sita is smart and drops her jewelry as they fly away so that Rama may follow them. Brahma foresees the death of Ravana and rejoices because his plan to have Rama kill Ravana is coming to light!
37. Ravana was to force Sita to have sex with him, but because of a curse he cannot. So now he must convince Sita to have sexual intercourse, but she refuses thinking of the good time between her and Rama.
38. Rama finally finds out that Sita is gone. Lakshamana and Rama return to the hut and are told by Jatayu what happened.
40. Rama learn more about Sita from a Rakshasha. They head to Sugriva where they find a hermitagee. A woman named Shabari has been told a long time ago that Rama would come to her. The place was caught in a time warp, The woman ask Rama to preform funeral rites and burn her to flames, now that her task is complete.

Reading Diary A: Public Domain Ramayana

Public Domain Ramayana: Table of Contents

For the next two weeks I am going to be reading the Public Domain Version of Ramayana.

Dasharatha’s Sons

Dasharatha was sad because he did not have any children between his three wives. He preformed a horse sacrifice to the gods so that he may have a son. The horse, accompanied with a ‘spiritual leader’ were let loose on the last month of the calendar to roam for a year. The sacrifice ceremony took place near a river and many elite attended. There were twenty-one sacrificial posts set up for the other animals beside the horse. The ‘chief queen’ killed the horse with a short sword/ blade while the spiritual leaders chanted a sacred utterance. The wives of Maharajah sat beside the horse’s body... an important part of the ritual. During the ritual pieces of flesh were offered to the sacred fire pits. Dasharatha gave gifts to the brahmins. The gods gave him four sons.

Dasharatha’s Aswamedha 

Thataka

The two princes were on their way to battle led by a sage. They traveled through a terrible forrest that which lived a rakshasa named Thataka. Rama, the beautiful prince, challenged her to battle and she threw boulders at the princes. The princes did not want to kill her because she was female. She turned invisible and they then tried to kill her. They succeed. Rama was rewarded with celestial weapons. The weapons said they were Ramas servants.

Rama Goes into Exile

Rama went to his wife and said he must leave without her. Sita said a wife must accompany him to the forrest. She would not be happy without him. If he leaves her then she will die. Rama thought of the harshness of the forrest, heat, cold, hunger, etc. He would not allow sita to come with him. Again she said she wanted to go with him, and she refused to be separated with him. Lakshmana, Rama’s brother, now also wanted to go with Rama. Rama consented to them coming with him. Maharajah wanted to send food and treasure with Rama, but he refused to take them. Sita was appalled by having to now wear common clothes, when she was used to wearing fine clothing.