Reading Notes: Ramayana Part D

Image: Building the bridge to Lanka. Source: Philadelphia Museum of Art 

The Bridge
Story Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
- Rama performed sacrifices to propitiate the God of the Ocean 
- The God of the Ocean is known as Varuna 
- Varuna's vehicle is a Makara- a part fish, part land creature
- He has a weapon of a Pasha- a noose, rope loop 
- Rama seizes his bow & shot weapons into the sky 
- this caused for darkness to cover the sky & the mountains broke into pieces 
- Rama attempts to dry up the waters of the sea by shooting a fiery dark 
- The King of the Ocean appears & tells Rama to seek the aid of the vanar chief to create a bridge could be built that would allow for the armies to cross the deep
- a causeway of rocky islands between the mainland and Lanka is called Rama's bridge 





Information source: Wikipedia 

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Section D

Focusing on content: 

The Bridge
Narayan's Ramayana 


Image: Rama and Vanar chiefs. Source: Wikipedia 

vanar: 
- a group of people living in forests 
- help Rama defeat Ravana
- these are strictly mythological creatures
- they are shape shifters 

Identification of vanar: 
- derives from the word "vana" meaning forest and nara (man) meaning "belonging to the forest" or "forest-dwelling"
- derives from vana (forest) and nara (man) meaning "forest man"
- derives from the words vav and nara meaning "is it a man"" or "perhaps he is man"

Source of information: Wikipedia 


The God of Ocean: Varuna 
- found in the oldest layer of Vedic Literature of Hinduism
- in the Hindu Puranas, he is the god of oceans
- he has a vehicle of a Makara, which is a part fish, part land creature
- weapon is a Pasha, a noose, rope loop
- guardian of deity of western direction
- found in Japanese Buddhist mythology as Suiten
- The theonym Varuṇa is a derivation from the verbal vṛ ("to surround, to cover" or "to restrain, bind") by means of a suffigal -uṇa-, for an interpretation of the name as "he who covers or binds",


Information source: Wikipedia 

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana B

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana B



Image: Golden Deer. Source: tsl.org

The Golden Deer 
Narayan's Ramayana

• Maricha assumed the shape of a golden deer with silvern spots 
• golden tints upon his haunches
• sapphire on his antlers 
• neck was golden 
• silver-white his flank and side 
• this starts out as a story and then goes into a rhyming
•  Want to capture the deer and then slay the deer for Sita's sake
• afterwards will skin him to use his hide as a "golden carpet" 

The Chase

Narayan's Ramayama 

• Rama chases the deer and shoots an arrow at it, which pierces through its heart 
• causes Maricha to spring out of the deer's body and begins to cry out for Sita to save him, but he ends up dying
• Sita cries out 
• she cannot live without Rama 
• says that she will not live one moment after he dies 
• also says that if Rama is slain that she will die by drowning, or by poison, or else by the noose