Reading Notes: The Divine Archer, Part A

I really enjoyed reading F. J. Gould's version of the Ramayana. I found it to be much easier to follow as the English and writing style was a bit more modern. I did not have to constantly read something over to understand what was going on in the story. I jotted down some points about things that I liked from the first few sections of this reading. 

• The description of Rama and his birth was very detailed 
• It included the descriptions of his heaven like markings and the intuition of his mother
• The foresight of his mother to see him turn into a divine being was a nice addition
• The people and the city adorned and loved Rama
• Rama and his brother's accounts with slaying the demons was awesome
• The dialogue between the hermit and the king was easy to understand
• I found that in the past I would get lost in the dialogue
• This clarity is something that I definitely want to mimic
• The scene where Rama sees Sita is great descriptively
• It displays the internal dialogue of Rama as he takes his first glance at his future wife
• I think it does a great job foreshadowing of what is about to come
• The challenge of winning over Sita was written very well and stays true to the source
• I liked reading about Rama breaking the axe and stringing Vishnu's bow
• I think this is a story that I would like to recreate
• I could do a really cool retelling similar to that of King Arthur
• The succession is an emotional turn of events
• Rama's father was eager to make Rama the successor the the throne
• The conflict that Rama faces is tough to read
• It is unfortunate that Kaikeyi has such a strong impact on Rama's future
• I wrote about this last week, but I still think there are more thing I could add to the story

(A photo of a statue of Rama, taken by adityamadhav83. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Overall, I really enjoyed this week's reading option. I think it helped immensely that this was my second time reading about Rama and his adventures. I found this week's reading to be much easier to follow. I am glad that I was able to revisit these stories. I feel like I am able to fully appreciate them this time around.

Bibliography: The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould. Source: archives.