Week 2 Reading Overview

For week 3, I have chosen to read the public domain version of Ramayana. I chose this edition over the other one because I liked the idea of an older and meshed style of epic telling. R. K. Narayan's version seemed great because it would be more modern and consistent. However, I also preferred the public domain edition because of the resources that go along with it. Having audio and illustrations mean I can get the most out of the story while I'm listening in, which is something I don't think I would get out of R. K. Narayan's version.

While browsing the Bizzel Comic Books database, I found two comics I thought were interesting because they seemed related:

1. Rama: Retold From the Ramayana
2. The Sons of Rama: Luv and Kush - The Invincible Twins

The two comics seem linked together by lineage, which I thought was interesting. In the first comic, Rama courts and marries Sita, who at the beginning of the second comic was sent away by Rama and gave birth to twin sons. So, in this sense, reading the details about Rama: Retold from the Ramayana and then The Songs of Rama: Luv and Kush was like reading a book and its sequel story, except in The Sons of Rama the main character of Rama became the villain of sorts, which was quite enjoyable.

Rama (Left), Sita (Center), and Lakshmana (Right). Source: Wikimedia

I also found two interesting videos as part of the India video playlist:

1. The Greatest Twins | EPIFIED
2. Underwater Cities

I was attracted to the first one largely because I had just finished reading what the Bizzel Comic Books database had on the twin sons of Rama, and I wondered if perhaps the video would be about the twins. Well, in short, the video was about several notable twins in Indian epics, but Luv and Kush were actually mentioned in the list! I also found the second video interesting, because who doesn't find underwater cities interesting (Atlantis, for instance)? The video's title covers the video's subject matter relatively concisely; the video covers an interesting underwater city that's about 9500 years old.