Ramayana Online: by various authors
Today, I began reading sections 41-60 in the Ramayana. I noticed in the first section how Sugriva's story was eerily similar to Rama's! Sugriva also had been driven out of his kingdom, his wife taken, and a brother was involved in the situation (with Sugriva, his brother kicked him out of the kingdom, while with Rama, his brother was the one chosen to take over Ayodhya). I thought these were fascinating similarities between the two characters. Throughout these sections, I really loved hearing the background stories of some of the animals that are helping to find Sita. Sampati's story of how he damaged his wings when he flew to high in the sky and the story of Jambavan and his powers were very informative to read and really helped me learn more about the character's pasts.
As I read through the last half of the sections, I kept wondering about Sita. The buildup in the story of trying to look for her and failing created some suspense that really got me impatient about whether they would be successful. Hanuman finally did find her! The descriptions of the demons guarding her were so detailed and really helped paint a picture of their grotesqueness. They were described as having a "fearsome shape; they had dogs' heads and pigs' heads and the faces of horses and buffaloes; some were of great bulk and others were dwarfish; some had but one eye and others had three eyes; the ears of some hung touching the ground; others that were hairy were the most horrible to behold." I really appreciate the parts of the story that clearly depict a scene and the characters involved.
This section ended with Ravana's brother Vibhishana, opposing the idea of not giving Sita back to Rama and deciding to ally himself with Rama. This last scene was yet another example of a brother being exiled. I'm interested that there are this many similarities between three sets of brothers!
Vibhishana decided to help Rama (Wikimedia Commons).
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