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The Abduction of Sita
A HERO MUST SAVE THE WOMAN HE LOVES...
Ravana, the Supreme Lord, has enslaved all the gods. Although he now rules the world, he cannot resist a beautiful woman. When he catches a glimpse of the princess Sita, he falls under her spell and steals her away.
Her beloved husband, Rama, will do anything to get her back. With the help of the brave monkey Hanuman, he journeys across the world to find her. But the evil Ravana will not give up Sita without a fight.
Ravana, the Supreme Lord, has enslaved all the gods. Although he now rules the world, he cannot resist a beautiful woman. When he catches a glimpse of the princess Sita, he falls under her spell and steals her away.
Her beloved husband, Rama, will do anything to get her back. With the help of the brave monkey Hanuman, he journeys across the world to find her. But the evil Ravana will not give up Sita without a fight.
111 pages, Paperback
Published May 4, 2006
2 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
R.K. Narayan
143 books1,938 followersR. K. Narayan is among the best known and most widely read Indian novelists who wrote in English.
R.K. Narayan was born in Madras, South India, in 1906, and educated there and at Maharaja's College in Mysore. His first novel, Swami and Friends and its successor, The Bachelor of Arts, are both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi and are only two out of the twelve novels he based there. In 1958 Narayan's work The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.
In addition to his novels, Narayan has authored five collections of short stories, including A Horse and Two Goats, Malguidi Days, and Under the Banyan Tree, two travel books, two volumes of essays, a volume of memoirs, and the re-told legends Gods, Demons and Others, The Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. In 1980 he was awarded the A.C. Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature and in 1982 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Most of Narayan's work, starting with his first novel Swami and Friends (1935), captures many Indian traits while retaining a unique identity of its own. He was sometimes compared to the American writer William Faulkner, whose novels were also grounded in a compassionate humanism and celebrated the humour and energy of ordinary life.
Narayan who lived till age of ninety-four, died in 2001. He wrote for more than fifty years, and published until he was eighty seven. He wrote fourteen novels, five volumes of short stories, a number of travelogues and collections of non-fiction, condensed versions of Indian epics in English, and the memoir My Days.
-Wikipedia & Amazon.co.uk
R.K. Narayan was born in Madras, South India, in 1906, and educated there and at Maharaja's College in Mysore. His first novel, Swami and Friends and its successor, The Bachelor of Arts, are both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi and are only two out of the twelve novels he based there. In 1958 Narayan's work The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.
In addition to his novels, Narayan has authored five collections of short stories, including A Horse and Two Goats, Malguidi Days, and Under the Banyan Tree, two travel books, two volumes of essays, a volume of memoirs, and the re-told legends Gods, Demons and Others, The Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. In 1980 he was awarded the A.C. Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature and in 1982 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Most of Narayan's work, starting with his first novel Swami and Friends (1935), captures many Indian traits while retaining a unique identity of its own. He was sometimes compared to the American writer William Faulkner, whose novels were also grounded in a compassionate humanism and celebrated the humour and energy of ordinary life.
Narayan who lived till age of ninety-four, died in 2001. He wrote for more than fifty years, and published until he was eighty seven. He wrote fourteen novels, five volumes of short stories, a number of travelogues and collections of non-fiction, condensed versions of Indian epics in English, and the memoir My Days.
-Wikipedia & Amazon.co.uk
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 28, 2025
So nostalgic✨🤌
July 3, 2022
The book hails to reveal one of "The greatest stories ever told" and the interested reader would like to hear and evaluate whether this promise can be fulfilled. Additionmally, under this alluring marketing tag line it is written (back cover text) that "A hero must save the woman he loves ..".
This very statement opens the ideological box in which the mythological epic story has been concocted. Thus, the gender equation is set from the start. A beautiful woman, chaste, loyal and truthful, is abducted by an evil creature. An army of good willed warriors endeavours to rescue her. And there will be a happy end of sorts. The storyline is not necessarily challenging, nor is there much suspense about what would be the outcome. Good will prevail over the evil forces. Revenge is taken, wrongdoings are vindicated.
Has all this something to do with the realities of human lives of former and ancient times, or even for that matter of our modern life pathways? Not really. But the story is not about people's daily fights, garnished with tough challenges that life poses. It is more and essentially about the superstructure (Karl Marx) "the ideologies that dominate a particular era, all that "men say, imagine, conceive," including such things as "politics, laws, morality, religion, metaphysics, etc."
Beyond this ideology dimension, there is a psychological and most prominently the archetypes (Jungian psychology: a set of primitve mental images) which emerge in the recount, at the level of the exchanges between protagonists as well as in the actions of the plot.
Thus a typical myth filled with ideas about top down levelling: male domination (over female beings), virility versus feminity, active (men) in contrast to passive, weak, suffering, exploited ladies. Or the highlighting of virginity, chastity, up to blind and unconditional fidelity. Also, it seems that ultimately evil can only be properly approached by force and war. Thus, peaceful approaches are shown to be weak because ineffective, time-consuming undertakings; compromises are not really options in such a black and white thoughts based culture nourishing linear structured mindsets.
Finally, it is furthermore interesting that archetypes and mythological incidences are also found in similar Greek texts from this same literature category.
A book which is based on revealing cultural and anthropological concepts, while it serves a fairly simple plot which not unexpectably ends in a happy end, proving that good prevails over the consortium of bad, wrong, sinful, immoral, decadent, .. you name it.
A story which helps us to keep on dreaming.
This very statement opens the ideological box in which the mythological epic story has been concocted. Thus, the gender equation is set from the start. A beautiful woman, chaste, loyal and truthful, is abducted by an evil creature. An army of good willed warriors endeavours to rescue her. And there will be a happy end of sorts. The storyline is not necessarily challenging, nor is there much suspense about what would be the outcome. Good will prevail over the evil forces. Revenge is taken, wrongdoings are vindicated.
Has all this something to do with the realities of human lives of former and ancient times, or even for that matter of our modern life pathways? Not really. But the story is not about people's daily fights, garnished with tough challenges that life poses. It is more and essentially about the superstructure (Karl Marx) "the ideologies that dominate a particular era, all that "men say, imagine, conceive," including such things as "politics, laws, morality, religion, metaphysics, etc."
Beyond this ideology dimension, there is a psychological and most prominently the archetypes (Jungian psychology: a set of primitve mental images) which emerge in the recount, at the level of the exchanges between protagonists as well as in the actions of the plot.
Thus a typical myth filled with ideas about top down levelling: male domination (over female beings), virility versus feminity, active (men) in contrast to passive, weak, suffering, exploited ladies. Or the highlighting of virginity, chastity, up to blind and unconditional fidelity. Also, it seems that ultimately evil can only be properly approached by force and war. Thus, peaceful approaches are shown to be weak because ineffective, time-consuming undertakings; compromises are not really options in such a black and white thoughts based culture nourishing linear structured mindsets.
Finally, it is furthermore interesting that archetypes and mythological incidences are also found in similar Greek texts from this same literature category.
A book which is based on revealing cultural and anthropological concepts, while it serves a fairly simple plot which not unexpectably ends in a happy end, proving that good prevails over the consortium of bad, wrong, sinful, immoral, decadent, .. you name it.
A story which helps us to keep on dreaming.
February 5, 2008
make you wanna read the whole ramayana epic. true to Penguin Epic Publications the the book is just a narration-good because it's easy to understand. bad because you dont see the art in the way it is written.
January 26, 2021
This book is a sliver of a large mythological epic, The Ramayana, which was written piecemeal from 7th BC to 3rd century AD in India. Like the Greek gods, the deities of India are very powerful supernatural beings with human foillables.
This sanskrit soap opera is the tale of Rana questing to rescue his wife Sita after she is abducted by Ravana. The battles, side missions, back stories, magic items, magical creatures, and linear narrative, gives the whole book a video game vibe. Also: monkeys, many monkeys.
This sanskrit soap opera is the tale of Rana questing to rescue his wife Sita after she is abducted by Ravana. The battles, side missions, back stories, magic items, magical creatures, and linear narrative, gives the whole book a video game vibe. Also: monkeys, many monkeys.
October 12, 2023
I've had an interest in Hindu Mythology for some time, having heard stories told to me by friends of Hindu faith. I came across this book in a charity shop and so I picked it up.
From the perspective of someone who knows little about Hindu mythology, this book was a great read. The short chapters suited me. It seemed that some parts of the story were skipped over, such as some battles, but I still found it to be an emotional read.
I'm certainly interested in reading further publications in this series.
From the perspective of someone who knows little about Hindu mythology, this book was a great read. The short chapters suited me. It seemed that some parts of the story were skipped over, such as some battles, but I still found it to be an emotional read.
I'm certainly interested in reading further publications in this series.
January 20, 2023
An excerpt of a larger, longer epic, this story has many characters committing transgressions, but the lesson is in how they talk about, deal with and eventually resolve those transgressions. The epic is meant to not only tell a story but teach lessons, as one examines what is said in different scenarios and learns societal rules, manner, expectations and morality for the characters' conversations.
May 8, 2017
Love, death, obsession- just some of the themes in this wonderful excerpt of The Ramayana<\i>. I've always wanted to read the entire text, but just haven't found a moment to do so, so when I came across this little excerpt I immediately decided to read it. It's only strengthened my desire to read it in its entirety. Beautifully written and wonderfully poetic.
October 6, 2021
I'm not sure how to rate this. It was an interesting tale (or portion of a tale), from a tradition I don't know well and enjoyed getting into. On the other hand, the prose style didn't really take me in.
August 26, 2012
Brevity at its absolute finest.
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December 30, 2015Poo
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews