Week 4: Reading Diary A

I'm really glad that Buck included a map on page xxiii, I was curious about where in India the different parts of the story were taking place. I also enjoyed how one character telling of Ramayana said "Before Ramayana there was no poetry on Earth". This must have truly been a great epic at the time of its' inception, the people of India had probably never seen anything like it. I wish we could enjoy the story as it was originally told, in poetic form with song and music, but learning Sanskrit is out of the question for me. 

I like the way Valmiki was introduced into the story. His career in poetry was inspired by the emotions he felt upon seeing a bird in love killed by a hunter. Valmiki then receives divine inspiration from Brahma, which gives him the authority to write the true story of Rama. This is a very cool way to tell the story of the story. The author’s authority was given to him by the god who created the entire universe, so nobody can dispute the story he will tell.

As the children of Rama begin reciting the story, they describe Ayodhya as a utopia. This was interesting considering that heaven was in ruins, as it had been sacked and razed by Ravana and his army of Rakshasa. I like that fact that the gods do not always prevail against their nefarious counterparts. The story is so much richer because the gods have weaknesses. However, I thought it was strange that Brahma's high heaven was described as beyond change. To me, this means that it is impervious to demons and gods alike. But this isn't the case, as Indra throws a rock through one of the windows in Brahma's palace. 

The situation with the gods and Ravana is very interesting. I don’t understand why Brahma would grant him immunity against all gods and demons. But I suppose that is sort of the nature of Brahma, we cannot understand why he does things. Anyway, because of Ravana’s immunity, he must be defeated by man. Ravana will not be suspecting this, as he has sacked heaven itself, he thinks he has nothing to fear from man.

I like Buck’s version of the epic much more than Narayan, the backstory is provided which is something I was curious about. Buck also goes into a lot more detail about certain things, which I am thankful for. Although I enjoy Buck’s version more, I am glad we started with Narayan’s. It is nice to know the general layout of the story in advance.