Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana A

I'm not sure what I was expecting from the Ramayana, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story itself follows Rama through the adventures of his life. Along the way there are stories within the main story as Vishvamitra tells Rama tales of the land.

From the top, Rama's father, Dasharatha, could not have children so he performed a weird ritual and got some rice that he then fed to his wives, and they bore him 4 sons. Rama was the first born, and is an incarnation of Vishnu.

At some point in his life, presumably once he's grown to be a man, Vishvamitra appears to his father, and requests Rama accompany him as protection on some mission to perform a ritual to make the world a better place. Rama's brother, Lakshmana also comes along.

The group sets out and gets to a desert, which Vishvamitra says was created by Thataka, who then shows up. Since she hates all living things, she attacks them, and Rama kills her.

They keep going, and Vishvamitra tells another tale about a godly dwarf defeating an evil ruler. This is almost immediately followed by another tale of a horse ritual, where a beautiful horse is let loose to run through kingdoms, and any kingdom that attempts to capture it is warred upon. The horse is captured by Indra and hidden in the underworld, so some champions went to find it, and only one grandson of King Sakara survived. To lay his family to rest, he prayed for 30,000 years and brokered a deal between Shiva and Ganga, to bring Ganga down to earth. He succeeded.

After passing Ahalya on the road, Rama meets Sitra, the daughter of a king, and they fall madly in love. Rama wins her hand by stringing a great bow of Shiva. 

Rama (not blue)

Title: The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic
Author: Kamban / R. K. Narayan
Year: 1972

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