The final part of the public domain Ramayana brought to conclusion a truly "epic" epic although with some surprises at the end. The battle was interesting and great, and I enjoyed how some of the conflicts faced by the hero's were solved. In particular was how Hanuman picked up the mountain with the plant medicine used to revive those who died. There were some moments that surprised me such as Lakshama's death, but in the end the hero's won. This is similar to the overall message of Ramayana, signifying the battle of good and evil with good winning. The part of how it took a special arrow to defeat Ravana reminded me of the Greek mythological figure Hydra who also had many heads like Ravana and needed a special method to defeat. Again, this parallel between cultures is something I have seen often throughout the epic. The end of the epic was something new to me as I had not read the part where Rama banishes Sita. It was surprising to me see him do that, but it really highlighted to me how important being pure/a virgin was to the book. Sita had to actually put herself in fire to prove her innocence. While these moments were surprising, I do have to remember that the whole premise of Ramayana was set into motion by the gods. Even while the characters seemed to have human moments, they were indeed still heavenly beings or incarnations of deities. Overall, I enjoyed reading The Ramayana, especially as it was a story that I had not read in some time. The public domain version was somewhat difficult at first to read, but I do not believe it took away from understanding the details and plot of the story.
Bibliography: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)
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