Week 6 Reading Diary B: Ravana's Army

Week 6 Reading Diary B: Ravana's Army

The first part of the reading was about the animals building a giant bridge over the sea (page 270). This part wasn't exceptionally exciting to me, but it was great to see all the animals working hard to accomplish the impossible! I found it rather odd that Nala's special skill is to make rocks float on water! That seemed pretty random, but it turned out to be useful! After Rama and the animals reached Lanka is when I truly began enjoying the story (page 283). 

The battles between the animals and several powerful Rakshasa were intense and dragged me right into the story. My personal favorite were the encounters with Indrajit. I was impressed by Indrajit's skill as a warrior and illusionist. He summoned all the boons that Brahma promised him, which I thought were awesome: a dazzling chariot pulled by four tigers, an intricate war car, and a bow an quiver with special arrows. Indrajit had quite the arsenal at his disposal, and I was wondering how he could possibly lose! It turns out he didn't. He managed to kill nearly all the heroes of the story: Rama, Lakshmana, Nala, Angada, Sugriva, and Vibhishana (pages 310-311). This certainly didn't happen in Narayan's retelling of the story! I was really curious how things would turn out considering most of the main characters were killed, but Hanuman remained. Hanuman ended up using medicine from a hill and reviving all of the fallen soldiers, which led to a second battle with Indrajit since Rama was once again alive.

Indrajit using the boons from Brahma

The second battle with Indrajit is much less intense and I was actually a little sad to see him slain after the conversation he had with Ravana before. Indrajit knew it was a poor idea and that the odds were against him. Since Rama was brought back from the dead he knew that Dharma was on Rama's side and there could be no victory over him. After realizing he couldn't speak any sense into Ravana he ended up going off to his death. His honorable devotion to his evil brother caused his end, and the Rakshasa lost their most powerful warrior. Vibhishana revealed Indrajit in the midst of his illusions and Lakshmana battled him eventually killing him. Ravana wept at the loss of his son, and decided that he would go to war himself. I can't wait to hear Buck's retelling of the battle between Rama and Ravana! Narayan was detailed in his retelling of that battle, but so far I have enjoyed Buck's retelling overall and have high expectations for this battle!