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=Ramayana Journal #1= -Pg. 13 "A storm preceding her..." -Pg. 28 "...deafening report, caused by the cracking of the bow..." -Pg. 20 "The dust of his feet fell on it, and transformed it..." -Pg. 15 "with his first step he measured the entire earth" -Pg. 19 "Shiva appeared on the scene just when the deluge was about to hit and pulverize the earth" =Ramayana Journal #2= -When I first started reading the Ramayana, I was kind of dissapointed at how the structure of the story was. I like a real defined plot line in the novels that I read, so this book kind of throws me off. It is interesting however, that the story has so many plot lines connected with the main plot of Rama traveling toward his destination. It's just kind of aggravating for me though when the plot moves so fast that one minute a story is being told, and the next minute Rama is fighting whatever god is in that story.
 * In these two examples, the presence of the gods is seen by the same kind of godly action. For example, a storm brews when one god approaches, and there is a thundering crack when the other one enters.
 * These are all illusory examples of the god's influence in reality. These examples are obviously not plausible, but they serve a crucial purpose to add culture and history to this traditional Indian epic.
 * -**The only struggles that I have had so far are that the plot often moves too fast for me to accurately understand it. The story of the Ganges for example, was kind of confusing to begin with, but once Rama somehow became involved in the story, I was pretty lost. The whole chapter hasn't confused me though, just parts of the first chapter.
 * -**To understand the text better, I often have to go backwards in the reading and connect what is happening to what has happened. It helps me to read it twice to gain a more accurate understanding of the novel. I also appreciate that there are a few pages before the novel starts where the main characters are defined. These definitions are very useful in determining who has what connection to who.

=**Ramayana Journal #3**= Bharatha's mother is initially very happy when she learns that Rama will be crowned king. Like many others in the kingdom, she is overjoyed that Rama will inherit the throne. This changes however, when her aid, Kooni, persuades her that when Rama takes the throne, she will lose all of her power as queen, and Rama will banish her to keep all the power for himself. After this discussion with Kooni, Kaikeyi feels that she has to put her own son, Bharatha in position to become king in order to save herself. She does this by redeeming her two promises from the king, Dasaratha. Dasaratha had promised her two wishes for saving his own life long ago, so the king had no choice but to comply with Kaikeyi's wishes or else he would be called a lier and a fraud by the inhabitants of his kingdom.

=﻿Ramayana Journal #4= -Rama's controversial actions this chapter are a result of his sympathizing with the monkey clan leader, Sugreeva. Rama feels sympathetic toward Sugreeva and not his brother, Vali, because he believes that Sugreeva is innocent and only acted in the best interest of his people. However, Sugreeva's actions were automatically assumed to be deliberate acts to block out his brother in order to secure the throne for himself. Vali then tries to fight Sugreeva to the death for accidently sealing his brother in the cave to the underworld. Rama's argument for this scenario is well taken when Sugreeva tells his story; "Sugreeva could get no word in, nor bear the force of his attack. He still tried to speak and explain, but he could make no progress with his sentence, although he began several times: 'The counsellors and elders...'" (101) Rama realizes that Sugreeva had been honestly trying to do the right thing, and had never intended that Vali would be imprisoned to withould power from him. However, Vali argues that Rama interfered on a strictly personal matter between him and his brother. Vali says: "If some demon like Ravana has acted treacherously, is that any justification for you to come here, slaughter the head of a monkey clan, entirely unconnected with the affair?" (108) Although Vali eventually thanks Rama for showing him the error of his ways, Vali's argument that Rama should not have interfered on unconnected affairs still stands. -The most prevolent example of this kind of scenario in the present day is foreign policy. The united states has a tendency to butt into foreign affairs when conflict happens between two parties. One example is how the U.S. invaded the Middle east in an effort to instill peace and democracy in the nations. Soldiers have occupied Iraq for many years in an effort to resolve a conflict between religous groups. The problem with this kind of interference is even though it may save lives, it is an example of forced entry into a conflict in order to preserve a countries interests. The interests in the middle-east were oil and peace, but because the U.S. interferred in this conflict, the religous groups in the area feel very similar to Vali from Ramayana. In both of these examples, a higher power disregards any personal feelings in a problem, and takes matters into their own hands.

=﻿Ramayana Journal #5= -If I had one day to do something over, I don't think that I would take advantage of that day. There haven't been any moments in my life where I have messed up very badly and have created a lasting consequence. The only reason then, that I would live a day over is for personal gain. I feel like if I did live a day over to win a lottery, or invest in some company, it would reflect poorly on my own personality, so it may not be worth it. In most situations, I would rather preserve my karma than sell it for money or some other personal gain. It would be interesting however, if like the movie "Groundhog Day", I kept living the same day in my life. If this kind of scenario were to happen, it would be difficult to say whether or not I would take advantage of the situation like the main character in the movie. My actions are usually influenced by how they will effect the people around me in the future. If the future rewound itself every day though, I'm not sure if my actions would continue to reflect my observance of the people around me or not.

=﻿Ramayana Journal #6= -In chapters 7-9, I don't believe that Rama is being sexist in his actions, but he seems to be completely disregarding Sita's own welfare in place of his own. During his stay in the hut, Rama is very upset that he cannot have Sita back. The passages seem to focus more on Rama's own despair as a result of the weather, and very little as to whether or not Sita is actually ok. Lakshmana also exposes Rama's self infatuation when he goes to Sugreeva to inquire about the army. Lakshma refuses to sit down on a throne because he says Rama does not sit on a throne now, and he refuses to eat because he says Rama is not eating now either. He fails to mention however, that Sita is very likely in a much worse scenario than Rama is in. Rama's actions in these chapters are not sexist, but they are very self-centered compared to what he should be focusing on. -After reading the last few chapters of the novel, it is blaintly obvious that Rama was unfairly sexist to Sita. In the second to last chapter, Rama rejects Sita and tells her that she has been unfaithful to him and does not deserve him. Upon being told this, Sita starts a fire and jumps into it, but is rescued by Rama. This seems to be a completely unreasonable thing for Rama to expect of Sita because she never had any kind of second thoughts in their marriage, and she even originally threatened to kill herself if she were not wed to Rama. Questioning this kind of devotion is completely irrational.

=﻿Ramayana Journal #7= During the final battle between Rama and Ravana, the fight becomes more of a spiritual battle than a literal one. The gods, for instance, are very involved in this fight. Ravana consistently calls upon multiple spirits, and weapons to aid him in his battle against Rama. Rama himself is given a chariot by the gods to help him succeed in his mission to end Ravana's campaign. Towards the end of the conflict, Ravana starts to question which god he believes Rama is. This too shows that the gods have more of an influence in the fight than the duelers do. At the resolution of the battle, Rama notices that Ravana's facial features have been seared off by Rama's arrows; Ravana's calm and normal features conclude that Rama has restored order and peace to the universe by defeating Ravana. The overwhelming presence of the gods in the final battle of this novel suggests that instead of a physical fight between two adversaries, the fight was actually a spiritual one who's purpose was to restore the dharmic order to the universe.