Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part A

Story: Ramayana Part A, Public Domain Edition by M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder. Web source

Setting:

• Ayodhya in Koshala kingdom
• Jungle filled with rakshasas
• Videha

Plot:

• King Dasharatha sacrifices a horse to ask for a son and gets 4
• Sage Vishvamitra comes for a favor and takes Rama and Lakshmana to battle rakshasas
• Rama defeated a rakshasi and gains divine weapons
• Rama and Sita meet and Rama declared worthy after breaking Shiva’s bow and then they are married
• Rama gets the bow of Vishnu when a follower of Shiva comes to see what happened to the bow
• Rama and Sita go back to his home
• King Dasharatha decides to declare Rama his heir but is stopped by Kaikeyi who wants her son to be heir and forces the issue
• Rama is exiled and Sita and Lakshmana go with him
• Dasharatha dies from grief of losing 2 sons

Characters:

• King Dasharatha - ruler of Koshala, living in Ayodhya
• Rama - son of Dasharatha and Kaushalya, avatar of Vishnu, strong and honorable 
• Lakshmana - son of Dasharatha and Sumitra, younger brother of Rama, loyal and strong
• Sita - daughter of Janaka, princess, kind and humble, sheltered
• Kaushalya, Kaikeyi, Sumtra - Queens of Koshala
• Brahmins - “priests, teachers and protectors of sacred learning” - wikipedia page
• The hag - ugly, jealous, hateful

Possible Changes:

• Telling the story from either Rama or Lakshmana's POV

Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita

(image source)