Epics of India MLLL 4993

Ravana Approcaches Sita on  Wikimedia Lovely Sita was seated on a bench with her husband, Rama, in their little garden that led into the woods where they lived. The two were engaged in conversation when Sita spotted a beautiful golden deer. She said to her husband, “Oh, Rama! I have never seen anything quite so divine as that golden deer! I must have it! Will you follow it into the woods and catch it for me?” Rama, who was swayed by Sita’s passion for the animal, tried to deny her of her request. “Sita”, he said, “You know that it is my duty to protect you here in these dangerous woods. I cannot go retrieve the deer.” Sita, knowing that she was indeed in a very dangerous part of the woods, offered to have Lakshmana, Rama’s brother, watch over her for awhile. She knew that Rama trusted him with his life. Finally giving into his wife’s request, Rama went after the deer. It did not take long for Rama, a skilled hunter, to locate the precious animal. He dr...

Sita Cries a River on  Wikimedia I finished up the movie Sita Sings the Blues on YouTube for this week’s version of the Ramayana. This film is highly entertaining and a very different experience than reading the original version in its entirety. The language is not so complex, and the characters (maybe because we have already learned about them for two weeks) were not as easy to confuse. However, as I stated in my last set of notes, it can be confusing to listen to the three narrators talk about the Ramayana if you do not have any knowledge of what the tale is about. The good thing about having these three normal people discuss the Ramayana in this way is that the person watching the movie has the sense that they are learning along with the audience. Also, as these narrators talk, we learn more about individual characters. For example, Ravana is not painted in such negative light. He is depicted as a righteous king whose sole misdeed was kidnapping Sita for his...

Sita Sings the Blues on  Wikimedia For this week’s version of the Ramayana, I watched the movie Sita Sings the Blues on YouTube. The movie was highly entertaining, and definitely different than I thought that it would be. It opens with Lakshmi coming out of the sea and dancing to a peacock phonograph playing the blues. Then, several key Hindu characters are introduced floating in the cosmos, including Shiva, Brahma, Lakshmi, Surya, Chandra, Bhumi, and the heart of the universe which is beating. It then goes into a modern day setting in San Francisco, in which a regular man gets sent to India for his job. After that, Sita begins singing some blues songs about her love for Rama and how happy she is with him. The video is interesting in that the style of the animation changes drastically throughout. In just the first twenty or so minutes, Sita and Rama are illustrated in three different styles, so this video is definitely not boring. There is also a comical aspect to t...