Reading Diary B: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

I am reading The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan.  My favorite story in this section is the story in Chapter 4, Encounters in Exile.  I like how Rama handles the situation with Shurpanakha.  Rama discovers that even though she appeared beautiful on the outside, she was rotten on the inside.  When he is talking, he begins to become evasive and declines her advances.  When Sita appears, Shurpanakha becomes aggressive and slanders Sita but Rama handles the situation with tact and grace.  The next part I liked was when Shurpanakha returns to Rama’s residence to get rid of Sita.  I found that the response of Lakshmana was interesting.  It was odd that when he grabbed Shurpanakha and had discovered that Shurpanakha was a woman and instead of killing her, he cut off her ears, nose, and breasts.  I found that this punishment seemed excessive.  However, I felt she should have been killed because she was an asura.  I also wondered why Lakshmana did not wait for Rama to return to deliver the punishment.  Another part of the story that I found interesting was the response of the other asura, mainly her family.  The reason I found this interesting was that Shurpanakha was able to deceive her own family regarding the matter.  She when talking about this matter specifically avoided mentioning that she was in love with Rama and that it was her own fault.  Another thing I liked in this chapter was the strength of Rama.  He was able to defeat more than one asura army.  This story has advanced in many ways and I am excited to see how the story progresses.  

Rama, Sita, and Shurpanakha (Source: wikimedia)