Topic Research: Hanuman in the Ramakien

For my Week 3 project, I am zooming in on Hanuman in the Ramakien as my topic. I had so much fun doing the birth of Hanuman as my story for Week 3, based mostly on the Ramakien, that I am going to stick with that for my topic, and I will use my reading notes from the Ramakien to tell Hanuman stories in my blog, picking the best ones to go in the Storybook. Writing the Storybook Introduction will give me a chance to give some background about the Ramakien, and also about Hanuman stories in general.

Here is a summary of my research and work so far:

Hanuman's birth: my story for Week 3! Plus I know I want to do the Bridge to Lanka, plus Hanuman and Suvannamaccha... and I guess some battle scene, right? It's going to be hard to choose.

Hanuman. Javanese wayang-puppet (source)

Ramakien Pinterest: I have been collecting lots of images and pinning them (in addition to my Hanuman Pinterest Board). I embedded the Board below!

Lutgendorf's story index: There are 40 stories, with substories, in Lutgendorf's Hanuman book; that will be really useful in helping me find out which stories are specifically Thai, and which stories come to the Ramakien by way of non-Valmiki traditions in India -- I should write up an index of Lutgendorf's stories as an all-purpose reference.

Ramakien reading: I have so much reading still to do, but if I can stay on schedule I will finish the Ramakien by the end of Week 5, which is really good timing: the first Storybook story is due in Week 5 (I can start with Hanuman's birth, obviously), which means I will have finished the Ramakien before I decide what story will come next in Week 7.

I also bought a beautiful book on Khon masks which I think is going to be a big help with the Ramakien in general: Khon Mask : Thailand Heritage; The ultimate rare collection of Ramayana dance drama, more 300 color illustrations to describing the meaning and significance of Khon masks in glorious details ... yes, that really is the title, and even the Kindle book cost $73, which may be the most I have ever paid for a Kindle, but it is gorgeous. It won't actually show up on a regular Kindle because of all the color photographs, but I can read it on my phone and even do highlights in the text (which is nice; I was afraid that if it was a phone/tablet-only edition I wouldn't be able to take notes, but the text really is text: searchable, highlightable). I was a little worried to plunk down that much money for a Kindle book, but I can tell it is going to be worth it.

This is my Pinterest Board for Ramakien images :