Week 2: Reading Diary A

Rama is a very interesting character from the beginning. He seems to be a messiah of sorts, in the sense that his mission is to rid the world of evil. Although at this point he does not seem to be aware of his life's purpose, and he is certainly not aware that he is an incarnation of Vishnu. This is an interesting situation with respect to Thataka, who can only be defeated by a human. Perhaps if Rama was aware of who he really was, he would be unable to slay Thataka and start his journey.

In the beginning, the reader doesn't know what Rama is thinking, or how he feels about his life or his journey. He simply follows the sage and defeats demons on demand. This first glimpse into his mind seemed to be after he first laid eyes upon Sita. He is destined to fall in love with her, as she is an incarnation of Vishnu's wife. Rama wrestles with her existence and his feelings for her, which is very different from his matter of fact approach to his journey so far.

I really enjoyed the plot involving Shiva's bow. I have read The Odyssey, and was instantly reminded of Penelope challenging her suitors to string Odysseus' bow and shoot an arrow through the twelve rings. The fact that these two epics, created by such very different cultures, share such a specific subplot is remarkable.

I found the scale of the wedding caravan to be quite spectacular. The procession of elephants with golden head decorations sounded quite marvelous. At first I was astonished by Sumithra's two thousand attendants, which was nothing compared to the sixty thousand beautiful attendants that escorted Rama's mother.

As someone who is not familiar with the culture of the epic, and only slightly familiar with Hindu theology, I wonder about the daily duties and religious practices that characters engage in. The author only declares that a character has done these tasks, and gives no actual description of what is occurring.

I was entertained by the human qualities of the deities. They are not immune to emotions like jealousy and lust, and seem to be quite fallible. I was perplexed by some sages' ability to curse others at will. The sage who cursed Indra was certainly not more powerful that Indra, but nonetheless cursed him.