Week 2 Reading Diary A: Narayan Ramayana

For the reading this week I chose Narayan's Ramayana, and I'm glad I did. The overall story was horribly sad in the end- Rama accepting his fate to be banished, after all the pomp and circumstance that was promised. To have such promise be dashed so quickly; I felt frustrated for Rama, but as he's proven to be perfect in every way thus far, he handled it nobly.

Personally, I found more interest in two of the story-within-a-storys that were told, the first being about Thataka. She was a very intriguing character, beautiful and wild, and I see a lot of potential in a retelling of her story. I've placed a picture of her below- this depiction of her definitely kept the wild aspect of her in her demon form.

Thataka the demoness, from Wikipedia

I wonder what Thataka's story would be like from her point of view, or retold with a twist. Some of the battle descriptions also seem to weigh heavily on Rama's side, an example being when she began to pulverize the three with stones, but Rama's arrows shielded them. Thataka gets the short end of the stick for the story- granted, she's fairly terrible to begin with, but to receive the punishment she did and then to be slayed by Rama seems a little excessive.

The second story that caught my interest was Ganga's story. The back and forth between Ganga and Shiva near the end almost seemed like flirting, especially with Bhagiratha's messages going back and forth. Ganga warns Bhagiratha that if she comes to the Earth, she'll destroy it, but Shiva saves the day by taking the brunt of the force. I'm really interested to learn more about their relationship, if it goes any further, and more about Ganga in general. There seem to be few women in the story, but to have one as powerful and good as Ganga makes for an interesting read.