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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Garuda bring back from heaven to ransom his mother?

2. What does Sauti say that Rama is beyond?

3. Who came to take Dasaratha away, after he told the story of why Rama had had to be taken?

4. What saved Guha’s life?

5. What is this age characterized by?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Dasaratha describe Rama’s banishment as punishment for his own actions?

2. Why does Rama insist on going into the Dandaka Forest, against Sita’s wishes?

3. Why does Kaikeyi ask for Rama to be sent away?

4. What is Sita’s response when she hears about Rama’s exile?

5. Describe Bharadwaja’s feast for Bharata and his party.

6. How did the statue of Shiva save Guha’s life?

7. How did Agastya tame the upstart Vindhya Hills?

8. How does Ravana defeat Jatayu and escape with Sita?

9. How does Rama finally motivate Sugriva to start searching for Sita?

10. How does Sita allow herself to be abducted?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Evaluate your own reading of the Ramayana—did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

Essay Topic 2

Identify the most important plot points in the Ramayana. What is at stake in each of these moments? What possibilities do these moments present, and how are those possibilities channeled into specific actions or events? How does the plot chart its course between other alternative and possible plots?

Essay Topic 3

How would you compare the Ramayana to a work of Western myth or religion, such as the Iliad (also about an abducted wife), the Odyssey (about a man’s wanderings) the Aeneid (about great battles) or the Bible (about a culture finding its religion)? Using examples from the text of the Ramayana and the text of a text you are familiar with, describe what kind of culture is encapsulated in the Ramayana.

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