Week 2: Narayan's Ramayana (pp. 1-89)Assignments - Reading Guide A - Reading Guide B - Ramayana Resources |
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Your Reading A for this week is Narayan's Ramayana, pp.
1-53.
p. 1. King
Daśaratha. Narayan begins with the description
of Ayodhya,
on the river Sarayu in
the kingdom of Kosala,
where Daśaratha is
king, assisted by his advisor and mentor Vasishtha.
Daśaratha has one serious problem: he has no children.
p.
4. Rama: Avatar of Vishnu. Parallel
to Daśaratha's need
for children, the gods are in need of a human being who can defeat the ten-headed
demon Ravana.
Ravana has obtained divine protection against the gods themselves, against
underworld creatures, and all kinds of supernatural beings, but Ravana did
not request protection against mortal men or against monkeys. In order to defeat
Ravana, the god Vishnu agrees
to become incarnate as Daśaratha's son, Rama.
This means that Rama is an avatar of
Vishnu.
p.
5. Daśaratha's Sons. Meanwhile,
back in Daśaratha's court,
Vasishtha advises that a yagna, or sacrifice, be performed. The sage Rishyaśringa will
perform the sacrifice. Rishyaśringa has the power to bring rain and
end droughts (as you learn in the story of Rishyaśringa and the King
of Anga). Daśaratha
brings Rishyaśringa to Ayodhya so that the sacrifice can be performed.
Daśaratha
obtains special rice from this sacrifice which he feeds to his wives, so that
they can become pregnant. His wife Kausalya gives
birth to Rama, Kaikeyi gives
birth to Bharata,
and Sumitra gives
birth to Lakshmana and
to Śatrughna.
p. 7. Viśvamitra and Rama Battle Thataka. Viśvamitra was
once a king, but he became a sage. He arrives at Daśaratha's court and
asks to take Rama with him to do battle with demons who are disrupting holy
sacrfices. At first, Daśaratha refuses, but finally he agrees, and asks
that Lakshmana be allowed to accompany Rama. Viśvamitra takes the boys to a
desert region inhabited by the demon Thataka (usually
called Taraka). Thataka was not always a demon. Originally she was a yaksha (a
demigod), but because of the wicked behavior of her husband and her sons, the
sage Agastya turned
Thataka and all her family into demons. You
will meet one of Thataka's sons, Maricha,
later in the story. Guided by his guru Viśvamitra, Rama does battle with the
demon Thataka.
p.
13. Story of Mahabali and the Dwarf. In addition to teaching
Rama special mantras and astras,
Viśvamitra tells Rama stories. One story he tells is about the incarnation
of Vishnu as a dwarf who
defeated Mahabali,
despite the warnings of Mahabali's advisor Śukracharya.
p. 16. Rama Battles Demons. When Thataka's sons seek revenge for her death, Rama is also able to defeat them, along with the other demons who are disrupting Viśvamitra's sacrifices. After the demons are defeated, Viśvamitra decides to take Rama to Mithila, where King Janaka lives.
p.
17. Story of Bhagiratha. Viśvamitra tells Rama the story
of one of his ancestors, Sakara (also
called Sagara). Sakara wanted to perform a horse
sacrifice, which is a ritual
that allows a king to expand his kingdom. When kings do this, the gods become
worried. So when Sakara performed the horse sacrifice, the god Indra stole
the horse! He hid it behind the sage Kapila underground.
Sakara's sons dug a huge pit in the ground and found the horse. They tormented
Kapila, who burned them all to death with the power of his gaze. One grandson
survived, Bhagiratha.
Bhagiratha wanted to obtain salvation for his dead ancestors, so with the help
of the god Śiva he
brought the river Ganga (Ganges)
down to the earth.
p.
20. Story of Ahalya. On the way to Mithila, the dust from
Rama's feet falls on a slab of a stone, and the woman Ahalya appears:
she was imprisoned in the stone until released by Rama. The god Brahma had
created Ahalya as a perfectly beautiful woman, and he gave her to the sage Gautama to
be his wife. Indra wanted to sleep with Ahalya, so he disguised himself as
her husband. Gautama found them in bed together and was furious. He turned
his wife into a stone, and he made it so that Indra was covered with female
genitalia. He later relented and turned the genitalia into eyes, so that Indra
is the "thousand-eyed god."
p.
23. Rama and Sita. Rama and Sita fall
in love with each other at first sight - not surprising, since Rama is an incarnation
of Vishnu, while Sita is an incarnation of Vishnu's consort Lakshmi.
To win Sita's hand in marriage, Rama must lift, bend, and string the enormous
bow of Śiva, which he does, of course!
p. 35. Plans for Rama's Coronation. Daśaratha realizes
he was getting old, and decides to name Rama as his successor. He does this
hurriedly, while Rama's brothers Bharata and Śatrughna are away. Meanwhile,
the hunchback Kooni (also
called Manthara) goes to Bharata's mother, Kaikeyi, and persuades her to oppose
Rama's coronation in favor of her son Bharata instead. Because Daśaratha
owes Kaikeyi two promises, Kaikeyi asks that Rama be sent into exile for fourteen
years and that her own son, Bharata, should be crowned as Daśaratha's
successor. Daśaratha is completely devastated by Kaikeyi's request but
he cannot refuse her. Rama agrees to go into exile without protest. Daśaratha
realizes that what is happening to him now is
the result of an old curse from long ago, when he accidentally killed a boy
in the forest.
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