Alright, so now that I've seemed to establish a format for writing my reading diaries, I'm going to go ahead and break it. . . Surprise!! We're going to see what advantages and disadvantages this new method has. So onward to the epic!
So, here is a basic summary of events with some comments and thoughts from me. It's a little more informal, but allows me to add more of myself into the post. Now to introduce our major antagonist. . .
1. Ravana, the supreme lord of all worlds, sits in his hall. We meet some of the gods he has enslaved.
2. Soorpanaka arrives mutilated, and demands that Ravana capture Sita for himself and grant her Rama.
3. Ravana falls madly in love with the idea/image of Sita, and makes a bunch of unusual demands--such as that the moon be brought down and that all seasons be banished.
4. Ravana goes to Mareecha (one of Thataka's sons) and asks that Mareecha turn himself into a golden deer to lure Rama and Lakshmana away from Sita.
5. Sita whines after the golden deer, leading Rama to hunt it for her. When the deer is shot it yells for help in Rama's voice, and Sita whines until Lakshmana goes to investigate. (Sita appears to be a whiny, incompetent, uncompromising witch in this scene, if you know what I mean!)
6. Ravana disguises himself as a hermit to meet Sita. He brags about himself in the third person (Kind of along the lines of "for always I am Caesar. . ."), and eventually reveals his identity.
7. Sita weeps and whines, and Ravana picks up her along with the soil she is on since he can't touch her. . . So that was really weird.
8. Jatayu (Dasaratha's eagle friend) tries to save Sita by battling Ravana, holds his own for a while, then gets massacred.
9. Rama and Lakshmana find Jatayu right before he dies and discover the truth of what happened. Took them long enough.
10. Rama and Lakshmana travel through Kiskinda to find Sita, where they meat the monkey Hanuman and his chief Sugreeva.
11. We learn that Sugreeva was exiled by his brother Vali (who's basically the strongest creature in all of existence) due to a misunderstanding when Vali returned from a years-long chase.
12. Rama promises Sugreeva help, then basically enters into the conflict between the brothers and murders Vali with a well-placed arrow from behind a tree while Vali is battling Sugreeva. Basically, he interferes unfairly in a conflict only to describe his role/actions as just and his duty. Because of course a misunderstanding between brothers marks Vali as evil.
13. And after such a poor and hole-y explanation of his actions from Rama, Vali thanks him for the enlightenment and apologizes for his harsh words. Honestly, I think Rama was in the wrong here and Vali's original anger and betrayal was righteously felt. Heck, Rama lost a lot of respect from me here.
14. We now learn that Kooni's actions in getting Rama banished were probably a bit just, even if gone about in a very devious way. Apparently Rama used to throw clay and make fun of Kooni for her deformity. Again, he's losing respect here. . .
15. And now a great pause as everything stops for the rainy season and Rama becomes overemotional--
16. Sugreeva's army of monkeys is late in providing Rama with aid; through Lakshmana, Rama admonishes them harshly. (We also see an emotion other than anger in Lakshmana for once; I guess he's "human" after all!) Additionally, Sugreeva turns out to be an immoral drunkard of a monkey king. So much for Rama siding with the more worthy brother.
17. As Sugreeva's army is assembled, Rama tells them to search every but sacred ground, and then goes into detail about Sita's appearance and character so that they can recognize her. Not much excitement here. . .
18. A random goddess is rescued from a perfect underground city in which only she dwelt. Apparently she had been waiting for the monkeys to rescue her; Hanuman's not quite the Prince Charming I would have asked for.
19. We meet Jatayu's grotesque brother Sampathi, whose story reminds me of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. (Just in case I didn't seem nerdy enough for you, there you go!)
20. Suddenly Sampathi is magically healed, and luckily enough for the inept monkey horde, he knows where to find Sita--at Ravana's stronghold in Lanka. Which, it's like, big surprise there! Where else would he take her? Maybe check there first next time before searching the bowels of the earth. . .
21. Also, Hanuman grows to taller than the mountains. That's some Alice in Wonderland stuff right there.
"'You would have to be half mad to dream me up.'" ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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