Reading Diary A: Public Domain Ramayana

Wayang puppet of Manthara; source

One of the most interesting parts for me so far has been seeing the family drama play out in Dasharatha's court. The plotting and scheming for the right to the throne reminds me a lot of how we think about medieval courts, especially in pop culture (eg. Game of Thrones). It's also really interesting to see these relatively mundane stories unfold while interspersed with accounts of more fantastic events like the fighting of the rakshasas. I picked the image of Manthara because she seems like a particularly interesting character in the court politics because she is a common person and not a part of the royal family. She occupies a different social sphere than the rest but she seems just as invested in who gets to be next-in-line as the others.

I also really liked the passage about the rakshasa woman, Thataka. Reading through her physical description, and seeing how she is referred to in relation to her son reminds me a lot of the mother of Grendel in Beowulf. Both are grotesque, otherworldly creatures and both are mothers to equally evil monsters that also try to kill the protagonist. It's a really interesting comparison when looking at everything from the surface, but it's been a very long time since I read Beowulf so I'm hesitant to look deeper into it.

Another episode that I found to be really enjoyable was the courting of Sita. As was said, it was highly evocative of traditional fairytales, and I couldn't help but think to a hundred other stories I've heard about how a protagonist has to win a contest to win the hand of a princess of maiden.