Week 6 Reading Diary A: Hanuman Invades Lanka
The first major event that happens in this reading is Hanuman's group finally discovers the location of Sita (page 219). This happened because Sampati overheard them talking about Jatayu and wanted to know what happened. Sampati was angry that Ravana had killed his brother, and disclosed that Sita was being held captive in Lanka. The group fed Sampati and his wings grew back, but for some reason he didn't fly off to attack Ravana! I really wish he did because Jatayu came very close to killing him, and Sampati would likely have been able to.
My favorite event leading up to Sita's discovery in Lanka is Hanuman leaping across the 100 leagues of ocean. The description of Hanuman's initial leap is incredible. He uproots plants with the force of the jump. As he soars through the air he was like a comet, and the air around Hanuman became electric! Many interesting things happened in the process of the leap, including a mountain rising up from the sea half way across the ocean for Hanuman to rest upon. It was certainly odd to think about mountains having wings! Then as Hanuman neared Lanka the Rakshasa Sinhika came out of the water and attempted to stop him. Sinhika opened her mouth wide, but Hanuman shrank down and flew inside of Sinhika. He crushed her heart, killing her and continued into Lanka.
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| Hanuman's Leap |
Once Hanuman is in Lanka he causes quite a bit of mischief. He found Sita, and had to go tell Rama but couldn't leave with out destroying some of Lanka. While this may have been immature on his part, Ravana certainly deserved it! Hanuman ended up getting captured by Indrajit, and Ravana has his tail set on fire. Hanuman then escapes from his captors and uses the fire on his tail to set fire to Lanka as he runs away. What a clever plan that was!
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| Hanuman burning Lanka with his tail |
My favorite character in this reading was certainly Hanuman. Not only was he the focus of this section of the Ramayana, but he exhibits a great power that he didn't even know he possessed. He leapt over 100 leagues of sea, destroyed a powerful Rakshasi and took down most of Lanka! Although he showed signs of immaturity, and overconfidence in his abilities I think overall he possesses the characteristics of a great leader and warrior. It's a shame that he isn't the leader of the monkeys!
I too really liked the telling of the story Hanuman’s leap. There were a lot of visuals that added to the story and Hanuman’s character that we just didn’t get to see in the other version of The Ramayana. I enjoy both of the pictures that you included in this Reading Diary, because they clearly show the parts of that reading that you enjoyed.
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