Week 3: Storytelling || Jatayu and Sampathi

For 35 days Aruna and Maina, two demi-gods in the form of vultures, have been incubating two of their eggs. On the 36th day the first egg hatched and they named their son Sampathi. While Aruna fed and cared for his new chick, Maina waited anxiously atop the second egg for the arrival of her other child. The sun rose on the 40th day with such strength that the heat caused the second egg to hatch. Overjoyed with the arrival of their second son, who they named Jatayu, a life-long friend for their firstborn, Sampathi, the parents began the 10 week undertaking of raising their chicks to be independent of them.

With the arrival of Fall came the departure of the Aruna and Maina. The two brothers were still very young, able to fly and feed themselves but lacking a true understanding of their world and its mechanisms. Having been rid of their parents for a few days, they began to miss them. Sampathi devised a game that would entertain him and his brother, while also allowing them to become stronger fliers and more precise hunters. They pretended as though they were searching for their parents, soaring a great distance above their land and launching downward like lightening toward their prey, which until feeding began they imagined was one of their parents.

Sampathi

Jatayu

Both of the brothers were competitive, which inspired them to invent rules and challenge each other to new heights.

A day that brought colossal, restless clouds and a brilliant, glowing sun seeded the desire to resume their endless game. Commencing with more energy than expected, the brothers began a steep ascent toward the sun, using the clouds as an asylum from the sun gods threatening rays. Heavenward they escalated with intentions to glance at the resting place of the gods when Sampathi sternly said to Jatayu, “My brother, will the sun god find animosity to those who encroach upon his domain? We should abandon our flight and return to lower grounds, removing ourselves from the haste of the sun god.”

“You are my older brother, you are more knowledgeable of this world and I will follow you to the ends of it,” Jatayu said blithely as he agilely changed direction and flew parallel to the earth between the clouds. With Sampathi above him, and the clouds surrounding both of them, they were safe.

Oblivious of their altitude, the clouds began to shift around the brothers, exposing them to the presence of the sun god who was irritated with their incessant flight throughout his realm. He shifted the full extent of his strength toward the brothers with intention to incinerate both, but only succeeded in damaging one.

The 6-foot wingspan of his older brother protected the slightly smaller Jatayu from the catastrophic frustration of the sun god. Sampathi’s burned body plummeted toward the earth, leaving a trail of ashes behind him. Before Jatayu could change direction to follow his brothers deformed figure as he fell through the sky, a very dense rain storm approached, washing away all possible trails to the landing place of his big brother.

It is said that Sampathi rests atop a mountain, no longer resembling a vulture, but now a pile of bones and flesh awaiting a savior or the company of his beloved brother. Jatayu continued the game, forever in search of his dear brother.

Author’s note: I chose to tell the story in a similar fashion as Narayan narrates The Ramayana. I really enjoy this writing style and I find it intriguing. My main goal for this story was to instill a sense of longing in the reader and to leave them with the unsettling emotion of both brothers in search of each other in the end, rather than their parents.

Works Cited:

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.

Turkey Vulture. Website: Wikipedia.

Jatayu. Website: Wikipedia.

Week 3: Reading Diary B || Rama and Ravana's Battle

The dialogue between Rama and his subjects regarding whether or not they should allow Vibishana into their camp is very clearly one sided until Rama hears the opinion of his close advisor Hanuman. Everyone else is of the conviction that Vibishana should not be allowed into camp because he cannot be trusted as a result of his abandonment of his brother and the argument that his profession of virtue is a disguise. To emphasize his opinion of Vibishana and to attempt to gain the agreement of Rama, Sugreeva said, “In spite of all his noble speech, this person is really an asura.”

After hearing Hanumans judgement of Vibishana, we are witness to another moment when Rama professes his duties and reiterates his opinion on right and wrong. Similar to when Rama argued with Vali regarding the awareness of right and wrong that accompanies knowledge, regardless of race, he reiterates this certainty when he says, “...it is our first duty to protect. Even if I am defeated because I have taken him at his word, I would not mind it; I shall still have done the right thing. On the other hand, if I am victorious in war by rejecting him, to me that victory would not be worth having” (132). This statement exemplifies the character of Rama so well. He believes in always acting in an honorable and fair fashion. This is displayed many times throughout the story, but a memorable instance is when Ravana and Rama were in battle. Ravana fell into a faint and, although Rama could have shot his bow and ended the battle while Ravana rested, he refused to continue the battle and allowed Ravana to rest.

An out of character moment I noted was when Rama was standing by the ocean, frustrated because he and his army needed to cross it but had no resources to do so, and he threatened to shoot his all-powerful arrows into the sea, threatening the sea god. Although the sea god eventually helped Rama and his army cross, it was simply out of character for him to allow his anger to get the best of him. For someone with as much virtue as he, I would have thought he would simply offer a sacrifice to the sea god or something of honor.

Held in accordance with the aftermath of Vali’s death, when Rama killed Ravana it appeared that Ravanas negative matter fluttered off of his body and he was left with a noble and pristine figure. Later on, Rama mentioned that he wanted his spirit to reach heaven and ordered a formal funeral for his adversary. This just proved, once again, that Rama is a nice guy and cares about the afterlives of his enemies as much as his friends.

Week 3: Reading Diary A || Rama's Weaknesses and Plot Holes

As the reader is introduced to Vali, we are reminded that Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu and as such was "subject to human limitations of understanding and the despairs arising therefrom" (91). The vast amount limitations Rama encounters and his growing desperation for Sita’s safe return are displayed many times throughout our reading. After Rama gains the trust of Sugreeva, he is notified of the most recent sighting of Sita and is given the jewels that she dropped down to Sugreeva as she was carried away in the sky. This is the first time (during this reading section) the reader is witness to a weak moment where Rama begins to cry and recounts his shame for not protecting his wife.

Throughout the reading, Rama reminds his subjects that his sole purpose in life is to protect good from evil and eradicate evil beings. Many times Rama beats himself down for not implementing this purpose in a way that could have saved Sita from capture. Because of his human limitations, I can understand why he feels upset with himself and desires to fix his mistakes, but dialogue from Ravana instilled in me questions of Ramas good fortune in human form. Ravana was speaking poorly of Rama while others were attempting to remind him of his divinity when he responded, “I am not afraid of Vishnu or anybody. Particularly Vishnu, who has been the most defeated god, having never won a single battle (127).” This statement confused me because as a human incarnation Rama has been very successful in his battles, winning every single one we have read. Maybe Ravana was attempting to trick himself into believing that Rama was not going to defeat him.

One of the few plot lines I was confused about was on page 111 where Sugreeva was laying on his bed with beautiful women surrounding him. Were those women monkey women or human women? If they were human women, why would a monkey find a human woman more attractive than one of their own race?

Another part that I found interesting but rather unsettling was when Vali was dying and all of a sudden he was at peace with his murder because Lakshmana explained why Rama did it? And then he was awakened with an instantaneous understanding of Ramas incarnation and said “He who has struck me is none other than the great God himself”......? How did he know that? Was it because he was in the process of dying and began to physically see Rama as Vishnu? I just thought it was a bit of a quick atonement for someone who just murdered you behind a tree...

I guess many of my misunderstandings of the text could be due to plot that is lost in translation.