Week 9: Famous Last Words

I just got back from a week in Austin (you can read about my dad and his xylophone here; it was a growth mindset moment!), and in terms of getting back into the groove for school, it worked out great that I had my last reading notes to post for Olsson's version of the Ramakien that I read for class this semester. It's an awkward translation (painfully so sometimes), which is no surprise since it comes into English via a German version, not even direct from the Thai version... but it's still the most complete and detailed version available in English, over 400 pages, and I enjoyed every single page, even in this awkward from-Thai-to-German-to-English version. How wonderful it would be if somebody someday did a real Thai-to-English translation! If you are curious, I jiggled the dates on my blog posts so that you can see my notes on the whole thing, sections A-K in order, using this label link: Ramakien Reading.

As some follow-up reading, I splurged and bought J. M. Cadet's book The Ramakien: The Stone Rubbings of the Thai Epic. It was expensive ($70) but even more beautiful than I imagined: a coffee-table style book with beautiful rubbings from the Wat Phra Jetubon temple in Bangkok, and a detailed summary of the Ramakien to go with the illustrations. It's just a summary, but given that Cadet wrote a scathing review of Olsson's translation and its inaccuracies, I will be glad to have a chance to read Cadet's summary just to make sure I haven't completely misunderstood something as a result of reading Olsson's version. And look at that: it's Hanuman and Suvannamaccha on the cover!

I also found another summary of the Ramakien that I want to read through here: Ramakien Summary.

In terms of finishing up the class, I want to add one or two more stories to my Storybook; right now I am thinking I will do Hanuman and Macchanu (his son with Suvannamaccha) as the next story, and then maybe something about Hanuman bringing Sida back to Rama when he tries to trick her into coming back to Ayutaya for what she thinks is his funeral. I thought that was a pretty amazing take on the drama of Sida's final exile and her decision to leave Rama; there's even an illustration of Hanuman carrying Sida in the Bangkok murals - up at the top there, you can see Hanuman bringing her back to the city:

It's such a weird and sad moment, and that might give a good sense of closure to the Storybook, the story of how Sida chose to back into earth, kind of paralleling the way that Ahalya was (wrongly) turned to stone in the opening story about Hanuman's birth. Anyway, I've still got some time to ponder!

When I thought about doing Hanuman in the Ramakien, I had no idea how many wonderful episodes and incidents he would be part of. Maybe I will have to do another Ramakien project next spring when I take this course again. There is still so much that I want to explore and learn about, and so many great characters besides Hanuman that I would enjoy writing about... maybe something on women from the Ramakien, which would include Mandodari next time (I have become an official Mandodari fan now).

Here's a video at YouTube of a Khon performance of the Ramakien (filmed in Russia, and with Russian commentary during the intermission): beautiful!

This video shows the dance of Hanuman and Benjakai: I could maybe do that story for my Storybook also! In the Ramakien, Benjakai is the daughter of Vibhishana (Pipek), and not only does she become Hanuman's lover... she is also the mother of his son, Asuraphad. Hanuman has so many adventures in the Ramakien that are not to be found in the traditional Indian Ramayana, which means so many stories to tell!