Topic Research: Kama and his Work

• Three Possible Stories: Kama's Involvement In
• The love story of Rama and Sita
• Kama-Vilapa-Jakata
• A story about a man being killed who is pining for his former wife, and worrying about her more than the fact that he is about to die
• The Brahman Girl that Married a Tiger
• A girl fell in love with every boy she saw, so a tiger transforms himself into a boy, makes her fall in love with him, and then kidnaps her to cook for him
• The Mouse Who Was To Marry The Sun
• A mouse is transformed into a girl, but when her adoptive father is trying to marry her off she rejects every powerful deity except the mouse king, saying he was one of her kind and asking to be turned back into a mouse
• Style
• Will storytell as Kama looking down on the stories and either intervening in them or detailing how he had already affected the storyline

• Sources
• Inside the Drama-House; Rama Stories and Shadow Puppets in South India by Stuart Blackburn (link here)
• Talks about Rama and Sita and in chapter 4 introduces "kama" as "sexual desire" (food for thought)
• The Jataka, Vol. II by W.H.D. Rouse (link here)
• Story of Kama-Vilapa-Jakata
• Tales of the Sun; or, Folklore of Southern India by Kingscote and Sastri (link here)
• For Brahman Girl and Tiger
• The Panchantra by Bidpai (link here)
• For Mouse

Kama, God of Love (Tanjore Heathen Gods, link)

Reading Notes: Ramayana Online Part D

• King of the Ocean
• Rama wants to pass over to Lanka, so he performs sacrifices to the God of Ocean...but those didn't work out
• He grabs his bow and shoots celestial arrows into the ocean, causing the earth and sea to convulse, darkness to cover the heavens, lightning and thunder, and mountains began to break into pieces.
• He grabs another fiery arrow and threatens to dry up the waters of the sea
• The King of Ocean makes his grand appearance (literally, dressed in splendour, serene, attended by shining water snakes)
• He's very polite, telling Rama reverently that according to ancient laws that he "must remain unfordable"
• Does, however, recommend that he go find Nala son of Vishwakarman (the divine artisan) to build a bridge so the armies can cross
• The King vanishes under the waves again and the heavens brightened
• Nala was called: this green vanar and his workmen constructed a causeway of rocky islands between the mainland and Lanka (to this day called "Rama's Bridge"
• Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (link)
• The point of the entire story: The Death of Ravana
• Remember, Rama was literally born as the incarnation of Vishnu TO slay Ravana; this had been the gods' goal all along
• Rama used his bow to shoot off one of Ravana's ten heads, but another one regrew immediately, and Rama realized that wasn't going to work
• So, he takes the "flaming weapon" which Brahma had created for the protection of the gods, and threw it [shot it?] and it pierced the iron heart of the demon
• Ravana roars...falls over...dies.
• The heavens are really happy; there's celestial music and flowers fell onto the earth, and a voice declares that Rama's task is now ended 
• Ravana's brother Vibhishana burns his dead brother's body and performs the funeral rights, then takes the throne as King of Lanka
• Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (link)

Building Rama's Bridge (Dinodia Photos, link)

Reading Notes: Ramayana Online Part C

• Sugriva
• Monkey king; now living in exile
• "the high-souled, heroic, and virtuous monkey who journeyed the world" sorrowfully because Vali (his big brother) had driven him away and stolen his wife
• Encountered by Rama and Lakshmana
• Sent Hanuman (his messenger) disguised as a beggar to scope out what they were doing
• Asked them to help Sugriva win back his kingdom and find his wife
• Rama and the Monkeys by Geraldine Hodgson (link)
• The Explanation 
• Vali was chasing an enemy and followed it down a hole under the earth, leaving Sugriva to guard the hole until he returned
• Sugriva waited for a whole year...until he stopped hearing his brother's voice and saw blood come out of the hole, and assumed Vali had been killed, so he returns to Kishkindha and rules his brother's subjects
• Herein lies the problem: Vali had NOT been killed. He destroyed the enemy and popped back up to the surface, but Sugriva had filled in the hole with the top of a mountain. Made it pretty hard for Vali to get out
• Understandably, this made him pretty mad so he refused to believe Sugriva's tale, ousts him and takes back control of his kingdom. Furthermore, he takes Sugriva's wife and and exiled him with only a single cloth
• ...Vali sound pretty justified; but the older sibling is always blamed for everything.
• Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India by Romesh Dutt (link)
• War!
• Sugriva came back and challenged Vali, backed by Rama and Sugriva
• Vali was ready to stack bodies (kill) but his wife Tara calms him down
• Nonetheless the engagement begins, and Vali is kicking Sugriva's ass
• Rama steps in and shoots Vali, knocking him from the sky and killing him
• Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India by Romesh Dutt (link)
• Everyone grieves over Vali's death: Tara his wife, the mahamatras (high officials of the monkey kingdom,) and even Sugriva
• Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India by Romesh Dutt (link)

Fight of Vali and Sugriva (Stone bas relief in Cambodia, photo by DoktorMax [link])