Week 5 Reading Diary B: The Search for Sita

I was able to notice more differences between Narayan’s and Buck’s versions of the Ramayana in today’s reading. For example, in Narayan’s story, Ravana has to carry the ground around Sita, but in Buck’s, he just grabs her. Also, Vali’s Queen Tara kills herself in Buck’s version, and Sugriva’s Queen Ruma talks down Lakshmana, which I think is different from Narayan’s, if I recall correctly. Lastly, I think Sugriva’s reaction to Lakshmana’s return was quite different -- much less apologetic. He seemed to be on top of things, even in his drunkenness, in this version. These are only a couple of the differences I noticed.

I liked that Buck provided a very in-depth backstory for Hanuman. He was one of my favorite characters the first time around, so it’s cool to know even more about him reading it this time. He is such a strong character, but also very humble, so I enjoy reading about him. We also got to know a little bit more about Jambavan the Bear King. While I thought he played a very important role in Narayan’s version, it was admittedly a pretty small role. So it’s nice to see more of him in this one.

(Sugriva, Angada, and Jambavan)

I really like how Buck incorporates a lot of shorter stories within Rama’s larger tale, and sometimes even stories within those. He provides a lot of background information for all of the locations and characters we come across, but he also keeps it entertaining.

Sugriva’s descriptions of the impending searches in each direction were very long.