Monday, January 26, 2015

Week 3 Reading Diary:Vali

Reading Diary Part A
Rama arrives to Kiskinda to meet with Hanuman (Anjaneya). He was in the form a little scholar boy which I thought was weird. I am not sure why he chose that form, but is through form was a giant monkey for he was the king of all the monkey in that land.

In this next section Hanuman is telling the story of Vali, which is Sugreeva’s elder brother. Apparently he is a God-like figure and was blessed by Shiva with unimaginable strength and speed. Interestingly enough, it is even mentions that then Vali passes by Ravana even he is scared to death of him. I will have to highlight this and maybe include Ravana’s fright of him in my later storybook.  Continuing in the story Hanuman recognized that Rama is an Incarnation of Vishnu and asked him to test his Archery to prove he was capable. Rama feel sorry for Sugreeva and offers help to vanquish Vali. On top of mountain Rama sees bleached bones and asks what it is. Sugreeva then begins with Dundubi’s story.

Vali in the Ramayana
Source: Wikipedia


Vali kills Dundubi and throws his body on the Sage Matanga’s sacred site. He then cursed Vali so that if he steps foot back on the land his head will explode.


The Reading part where Sugriva fights Vali is my favorite part of the book so far! It does such a good job at explaining the motifs of Rama and Vali. Then Rama strikes Vali with an arrow at first he doesn't understand why Rama would meddle in the affairs of two brothers, and at first I could reason with him. In time, Rama explained that it was Vali who was seeing unclear, and in the end he finally realized his wrong doing. If I decided to retell this story then I can definitely see each side of the story. 

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