Vali- brother of Sugreeva, challenged by Mayavi (a demon
with fangs and was difficult to defeat), makes hasty decisions such as
attacking sugreeva after his entrapment in the cave, blessed by the grace of
Shiva, possesses unlimited strength, churned the ocean to create nectar when
the gods could not, whoever approached him for a fight lost half their strength
to Vali, fast, animals trembled and storms quieted by his presence, defeated
finally by Rama’s arrow, took death respectfully after explanations from Rama
and understanding his own mishaps
Sugreeva- brother to Vali, ruler of Kiskinda (monkey
kingdom) after Vali had not returned to the throne while away defeating demon,
was forced to the mountains where Vali could not touch when Vali returned angry
at him, is easily bullied, wife taken from him by Vali, honorable by vowing to
help Rama, easily intoxicated by worldly pleasures
Hanuman- very knowledgeable, sugreeva’s right hand, was only
one who encouraged Rama to trust and protect Vibishana when he fled Ravana’s
kingdom (bullied away by Ravana), monkey, really important to plot advancement
Vibishana- younger brother to Ravana, advises Ravana to
return Sita and seek pardoning from Rama to make things better, is threatened
with his life at this point and decides to seek refuge in Rama’s camp and army
THOUGHTS ON PLOT
During the rainy season it seemed that Rama’s grieving and
the rain fed off of one another. It is very kind and smart of Sugreeva’s wife
to try and change Vishmanas mood before he sees Sugreeva in his drunken state
of mind not caring of his pledge he had made to Rama also Angada (vali’s son)
is prompt to try to warn Sugreeva. When Angada and Hanuman are trapped in the
darkness for past the time they allotted for finding Sita, it is crazy that yet
another outcast (this time a woman who was once a goddess) had their fate in
the hands of Rama’s actions (specifically Hanuman who got them out of the
chamber). The story with Jatayu’s brother Sampathi saving him and then having
his wings restored when an army came by and spoke of Rama is really touching
and shows the awesome bonds that are consistent throughout this story, becoming
a prime reason for the location of Sita being realized it is a cool thing that
everything seems to be connected and work out in weird and unexpected ways.
Then the path to Lanka is then brought about with the path known as ‘adam’s
bridge’ in todays geography and is pretty awesome to look at. It is even
involved in controversies over being man made or not, how cool!
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Hey Brittany! I love the format of your recent reading diary posts. The basic character description and your thoughts go beyond the plot of the epic to reveal the relationships it contains. I especially loved your observation in this post about how Rama's grieving and the rain fed one another; this is something I noticed as well. It definitely seemed that the longer the rain came down, the more despondent Rama became. And the more despondent Rama became, the harder the rain seemed to fall.
ReplyDeleteI will probably be back to read more of your diary posts, as they so succinctly summarize the week's reading. Great job!!