Reading Notes: Nivedita Ramayana, Part A
Thoughts taken on the Nivdeita's Ramayana.
I liked the PDE Ramayana, but I felt like the events and situations the characters went through didn't have much impact because we didn't have a real connection with the characters; they weren't fleshed out enough, leaving us (or me, at least) to wonder why a certain character acted a certain way, or why an event came up, seemingly randomly. Nivedita's Ramayana solves this issue for me. She provides much more background information on the characters introduced. For example, in her description of Kaikeyi and her interaction with Manthara, the backstory of how King Dasharatha had come into Kaiyeki's debt, and consequently, her ability to blackmail him because of it. The resulting conversation between Dasharatha and Kaiyeki is also more detailed, giving the reader more insight into how grieved Dasharatha was at having to banish his heir-apparent.
The exposition and level of detail in the beginning regarding Valmiki and how he received the story of the Ramayana also impressed me. At the end of the PDE Ramayana, we saw how Rama had two sons that he didn't know about, who ended up being raised by Valmiki. Here, we see that Valmiki tasked these two sons to learn the Ramayana inside and out, and thus go and spread the story to the rest of the world. A plot twist in the very first chapter!
Also, in the PDE, we don't really find out much about Rama's brothers, except that Lakshmana was really loyal and Bharata was righteous. But here in the Nivedita Ramayana, we get details about them, as well as the fourth son, Satrughna, who was to Bharata as Lakshmana was to Rama. We also find out the origin of the monkey-hosts that helped find Sita later on - they were created by the gods to help Rama (the incarnation of Vishnu) in his quest to eventually defeat Ravana.
I liked the PDE Ramayana, but I felt like the events and situations the characters went through didn't have much impact because we didn't have a real connection with the characters; they weren't fleshed out enough, leaving us (or me, at least) to wonder why a certain character acted a certain way, or why an event came up, seemingly randomly. Nivedita's Ramayana solves this issue for me. She provides much more background information on the characters introduced. For example, in her description of Kaikeyi and her interaction with Manthara, the backstory of how King Dasharatha had come into Kaiyeki's debt, and consequently, her ability to blackmail him because of it. The resulting conversation between Dasharatha and Kaiyeki is also more detailed, giving the reader more insight into how grieved Dasharatha was at having to banish his heir-apparent.
The exposition and level of detail in the beginning regarding Valmiki and how he received the story of the Ramayana also impressed me. At the end of the PDE Ramayana, we saw how Rama had two sons that he didn't know about, who ended up being raised by Valmiki. Here, we see that Valmiki tasked these two sons to learn the Ramayana inside and out, and thus go and spread the story to the rest of the world. A plot twist in the very first chapter!
(Narada visits Valmiki, taken from Wikipedia)
Also, in the PDE, we don't really find out much about Rama's brothers, except that Lakshmana was really loyal and Bharata was righteous. But here in the Nivedita Ramayana, we get details about them, as well as the fourth son, Satrughna, who was to Bharata as Lakshmana was to Rama. We also find out the origin of the monkey-hosts that helped find Sita later on - they were created by the gods to help Rama (the incarnation of Vishnu) in his quest to eventually defeat Ravana.
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