RLG305H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Wild Beasts, Ravana
Document Summary
The epic ramayana has enriched the minds and souls of people for thousands of years. Introductory paragraph (thesis bolded) amongst its influence on hindu culture, aspects of the great epic continue to be ambiguous. Among those is the questioning of rama"s divinity in the original text. Countless scholars have dedicated their lives to unveiling the mystery of the epic and its characters. The addition of rama"s divinity in the text is unmistakably one of the prime secrecies it entails. With the aid of certain details, i intend to illustrate that rama"s divinity was added after the original text, a layer inserted after valmiki wrote the epic. Ravan was always devoted to brahma, even cutting his head off 10 times to show devotion. Brahma saw this devotion and wanted to reward ravana. Ravana asked for absolute invulnerability from and supremacy over gods, heavenly spirits, other rakshas, serpents, and wild beasts .