Reading Notes: Rama's Quest
The narrative and plot of Rama's quest is nearly identical to the Ramayana, but focuses more on ocurring events rather than going back to tell background stories, and moves at an overall faster pace than the Ramayana.
The story begins with a brief description of Ayodhya and King Dasaratha. King Dasaratha lives in a beautiful city and is happy except for the fact that he has no children. So he sacrifices a horse, and is given four sons, one of which is "more than ordinary" (Rama, duh).
When Rama gets older a Priest asks King Dasaratha if Rama could help him rid a village of demons. The King is reluctant at first but eventually says yes, and Rama's brother Lakshmana accompanies them.
They go through the forrest and many hermitages, even encountering an ogress (which they fought and killed) and several other combats before they got to the kingdom of King Mithila. There were tons of rumors about his beautiful daughter, Sita, and Rama decided to attempt to bend the bow of Shiva in order to get the King's permission to marry her. He did so and even broke the bow, which astonished everyone, and the King had no other choice than to let Rama marry Sita.
Arrangements were made for the wedding festival, and everything went perfectly. Afterwards, the brothers returned home to Ayodhya, where they spent many happy and carefree years.
When King Dasaratha started to get old, he wanted Rama to take the crown, but the mother of Bharata got jealous and told the King that he needed to send Rama into exile for 14 years and let Bharata be the king for a while. The King, although reluctuantly, listened to her. Rama was sent into exile, and Sita and Lakshmana went with him.
The three of them made the best of the exile, traveling near the river, where they made a small cottage and lived off of the resources available nearby.
After a while, the King died because he was so sad that Rama died, and Bharata was called home to take the throne. However, he didn't know what his mother had done and was so mad that he went to find Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana to tell them to come home. When he found them, he begged Rama to come back (with tears in his eyes), but Rama refused. So Bharata told Rama to give him his sandals, and promised to rule in his name until he retured. Rama agreed.
Bibliography:
"Rama's Quest" Richard Wilson
The story begins with a brief description of Ayodhya and King Dasaratha. King Dasaratha lives in a beautiful city and is happy except for the fact that he has no children. So he sacrifices a horse, and is given four sons, one of which is "more than ordinary" (Rama, duh).
When Rama gets older a Priest asks King Dasaratha if Rama could help him rid a village of demons. The King is reluctant at first but eventually says yes, and Rama's brother Lakshmana accompanies them.
They go through the forrest and many hermitages, even encountering an ogress (which they fought and killed) and several other combats before they got to the kingdom of King Mithila. There were tons of rumors about his beautiful daughter, Sita, and Rama decided to attempt to bend the bow of Shiva in order to get the King's permission to marry her. He did so and even broke the bow, which astonished everyone, and the King had no other choice than to let Rama marry Sita.
Arrangements were made for the wedding festival, and everything went perfectly. Afterwards, the brothers returned home to Ayodhya, where they spent many happy and carefree years.
When King Dasaratha started to get old, he wanted Rama to take the crown, but the mother of Bharata got jealous and told the King that he needed to send Rama into exile for 14 years and let Bharata be the king for a while. The King, although reluctuantly, listened to her. Rama was sent into exile, and Sita and Lakshmana went with him.
The three of them made the best of the exile, traveling near the river, where they made a small cottage and lived off of the resources available nearby.
After a while, the King died because he was so sad that Rama died, and Bharata was called home to take the throne. However, he didn't know what his mother had done and was so mad that he went to find Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana to tell them to come home. When he found them, he begged Rama to come back (with tears in his eyes), but Rama refused. So Bharata told Rama to give him his sandals, and promised to rule in his name until he retured. Rama agreed.
Bibliography:
"Rama's Quest" Richard Wilson
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