Hooray! The end of the Ramayana forever! I never thought I would make it this far, and especially not twice.
This is an absolutely beautiful scene, the flowers marking Lanka where the battle was once held. I think that's also extremely sad. That's essentially the burial ground of all of Ravana's effort, however vain it may have been.
The whole fly-over scene with Pushpaka can be so sobering. Rama resents his actions against Vali, for which Sita does nothing but console Rama for his actions. He gets a 'get out of jail" pass on that one.
That silly Hanuman needs a story told about his collection of all of the waters of the world's rivers. He would probably figure out a way to have tons of fun along the way. He is also told to bring anything beautiful he finds along the way. That could be his chance to pick up some ladies for the coronation ball?
This part can be so boring. There's not conflict left. I now know the ending. It's not a problem I have with the Ramayana, really just with books in general. The only book I remember ever being excited to read the post-resoution was the first of the Harry Potter books, for what it's worth.
I don't feel as bad for Rama having to wait those 14 years to take the throne now. Fourteen years is merely NOTHING relative to his 11,000 year reign in power. That might as well have been an afternoon daydream -- and/or nightmare.
Also towards the end, great, Sita is now the victim of the "Sins of the Father" with a karmic banning. Rama needed to suffer in order to save the kingdom but also because of his father's past debt to Kaikeyl, and now Sita will likely suffer as well
I will say that the ending is much more beautiful this time.
It can be a little hard to finish a book once the major action is over, the hero has won, the problem resolved, etcetera, etcetera... but as you said, there was a very beautiful description of Lanka after the battle - very bittersweet and reflective. I felt it brought more closure to the story, as opposed to just saying, "They won, the end."
ReplyDeleteI agree that 14 years in exile doesn't seem so harsh when you get thousands of years to rule. That part took me by surprise - it was just like, yeah, he ruled (and therefore lived) for 11,000 years, no big.