In answer to all your questions about which version of the Ramayana I will read....
I have decided.....
To choose....
NARAYANA'S RAMAYANA
(the crowd goes wild "ahhhh")
For me, it came down to the fact that I can always get background information, notes, etc, but having a singular writing style throughout the whole story will be nice to keep the flow of the story going. I also like the idea that this is sort of a "third-generation" story, in that it was based on a story based on a story. The other version of the Ramayana, despite how interesting it looked, also seemed to have less of a distinct "ancestry" than Narayana's version. I am excited to dive right in!
For the comic book section of this assignment, I chose Vishvamitra: The King Who Became an Ascetic and The Pandavas in Hiding: Outwitting a Wily Enemy. I chose the Pandavas story because it seems like it has a very clever main character (the title uses the word 'outwitting'). I really enjoy stories where the main character is clever in some way and proceeds logically. I get frustrated when characters make wholly illogical decisions such as giving the villain a second chance for no good reason. (Side note: I want to be clear that I am ok if the character has any sort of justification for his actions: the villain was family, the hero is morally good, etc. etc.; I just need something). I chose the Vishvamitra comic book because it seemed like an interesting story. Vishvamitra seems to be a really compelling character that works hard but also doesn't always act morally.
For the videos, I watched the Ancient Technology video and the Sanskrit in 60 seconds video. Ancient technology and subjects similar to that (like Ancient aliens and conspiracy theories in general) are a sort of guilty pleasure for me. I don't really believe them, I just think that it is interesting to think that all the talks of flying vehicles in ancient texts could have been aliens. My favorite of the two, though, was the Sanskrit video. As a linguistics major, I really enjoy learning about other languages, and I am always trying to develop my language acquisition skills. The video itself left a little bit to be desired. If you watch, I recommend reading the top comment by Jaskaran Mangat that gave some excellent background information and corrections to things said in the video. Overall a sub-par introduction to a fantastically amazing language.
A linguistics meme based on a quote about Sanskrit by William Jones: Tumblr
Vaga-Buon Voyage!
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