Week 5: Buck's Ramayana (pp. 110-218)Assignments - Reading Guide A - Reading Guide B - Ramayana Resources |
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Your Reading B for this week is Buck's Ramayana, pp. 162-218.
You might want to read over the previous
reading guide to remind yourself of what has happened so far.
p.
162. The golden deer. Maricha tries
to persuade Ravana to
leave Sita and Rama
alone, but he finally relents and flies with Ravana to Panchavati.
Maricha appears as a beautiful golden deer and at Sita's insistence, Rama chases
the deer. When Rama kills the deer, Maricha cries out for help in Rama's voice.
Sita is terrified and Lakshmana,
reluctantly, goes to investigate. Ravana then comes to Sita, disguised
as an old man.
p.
169. The abduction of Sita. Sita welcomes the old man
and he praises her beauty. Ravana then reveals his true form to Sita and carries
her off against her will. Jatayu fights
with Ravana but in the end Ravana is able to chop off Jatayu's wings and he
falls to the ground. Ravana heads south, taking Sita with him. As they fly
away, Sita sees two monkeys on the ground and lets her jewelry fall where they
can find it.
p.
176. Sita in Lanka. Ravana holds Sita captive in Lanka.
Indra brings food to Sita and tells her the story of why Ravana cannot simply
rape her. The sage
Viśwamitra had
turned the apsarasa Rambha to
stone, and the yakshas had carried her off to the Treasure Lord,
Vaiśravana,
thinking she was a statue. Rambha returned to life and fell in love with
Nalakubara,
the son of Vaiśravana. Meanwhile, Ravana had decided to acquire all kinds of
wives, and he wanted to have an apsarasa. He saw Rambha and raped her. When
Nalakubara heard what Ravana had done, he put a curse on Ravana: if he ever
raped a woman again, his heads would explode. This was why Ravana had not simply
raped Sita. Instead of taking her by force, he needed to persuade her to give
in to him, as all the other women had, except for Rambha.
p.
181. Savari (Śarvari). When Rama and Lakshmana
get back from chasing the deer, Sita is already gone. Just before he dies,
Jatayu tells them that he saw Sita being abducted by Ravana. Rama and Lakshmana
head south, and come to the hermitage of the sage Matanga.
Matanga is dead, but Savari still
lives there. She tells Rama and Lakshmana that she saw Ravana taking Sita away,
and she also tells them about the monkey brothers, Vali and Sugriva,
and about Sugriva's friend, the monkey Hanuman.
p.
184. Hanuman. Savari then tells Rama and Lakshmana how Riksharaja, the
first monkey, was created. This first monkey lived both as a male monkey
and as a female. In female form, she gave birth to two monkeys: Vali
whose father was Indra and
Sugriva whose father was Surya,
the sun god. She then asked Vayu,
the wind god, to father a child who would be a friend to Sugriva. Vayu chose Anjana,
who gave birth to Hanuman but then abandoned her baby. When Hanuman saw the
sun, he reached out for it, thinking it was a mango. Vayu prevented him from
being burned by the sun. Hanuman also thought that Rahu was
a mango and tried to bite him. Baby Hanuman also attacked Indra and Airavata.
He was hurled to the ground and broke his jaw. The wind stopped blowing to
take care of Hanuman. Brahma granted
Hanuman eternal life, and Surya brought him mangoes. In this way, the
wind was placated and agreed to blow, so the world was able to breathe again.
p.
189. Vali.
Vali was irascible and liked to fight. The buffalo demon Dundhuvi challenged
Vali to a fight. Vali killed the buffalo demon and hurled its corpse towards Rishyamuka hill
where it polluted the sacrificial altar of the sage Matanga. Matanga cursed
Vali so that he could never approach this hill again. Dundhuvi's son Mayavi wanted
to avenge his father's death and challenged Vali to a fight. Vali chased Mayavi
into a cave and told Sugriva to wait outside. Sugriva waited but he finally
concluded Vali was dead and sealed the cave. When Vali finally emerged from
the cave, he was furious at Sugriva and sent him into exile from Kishkindhya,
keeping Sugriva's wife Ruma prisoner.
Sugriva fled with Hanuman to the hill for safety, since Vali could not follow
him there. Savari urges Rama and Lakshmana to befriend Sugriva. After telling
all this to Rama and Lakshmana, she then steps into her own funeral pyre. As
she is dying, Indra comes down in his chariot and bears her away to heaven.
p.
199. The death of Vali. Hanuman brings Rama and Lakshmana
to Sugriva who shows them Sita's jewelry. Assured of Rama's help, Sugriva challenges
Vali to a fight. Vali's wife Tara urges
him to be careful, but Vali dismisses her concerns. As Sugriva and Vali are
fighting, Rama shoots Vali with an arrow and kills him. Before he dies, Vali
tells his son Angada to
help Rama. The grieving Tara plunges Rama's arrow into her heart and dies.
Sugriva becomes king and promises to begin the search for Sita as soon as the
rainy season is over. Rama and Lakshmana wait out the rainy season in a forest
cave.
p.
202. The expeditions. At the end of the rainy season,
Sugriva does not arrive with help. Rama sends Lakshmana to investigate. Sugriva
is drunk. Hanuman tells Sugriva to bow down to Lakshmana and beg forgiveness.
Sugriva's wife Ruma leads Lakshmana to see Sugriva who explains that he is
amassing an army of monkeys and bears to go looking for traces of Sita. Forces
are sent in each direction, with orders to return in a month with
news. Angada is given command of the force heading south, including Hanuman
and Jambavan,
the king of the bears. Rama and Lakshmana will wait with Sugriva for news.
Rama gives Hanuman his ring as a token to show to Sita if and when he finds her.
p.
213. The expedition to the south. Angada, Hanuman, and
Jambavan head south with their troops. They discover a cave which leads them
to an underground world inhabited by a woman named
Swayamprabha.
She explains that the underground world was built by the asura
Maya, whose consort
was Hema the
apsarasa. Indra had apparently killed Maya with a blast of his thunderbolt,
but Swayamprabha thinks nevertheless he might still be alive. She helps Angada
and the monkeys and bears to get out of the cave and return to the world aboveground.
When they emerge into the light, they see that a month has gone by. Angada
is in despair because they seem to have failed in their mission. He then enters
into meditation and prepares to die, but Hanuman and Jambavan refuse to give
up.
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