Topics

1.     Possible Topic: Love stories

One of the major parts of every story is love. As I am reading over the epics from Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana, I noticed that there are several love stories intertwined within the main plot of Rama and Ravana. The majority of these love stories involve Dasharatha’s favorite son Rama. Some of the possible love stories I could explore a little more are Rama and Sita, and Rama and Shurpanakha. I could also explore the minor love stories of Dasharatha and his sons. In each of these stories I could create several twists that would lead to alternate endings. For example, what if Shurpanakha actually persuaded Rama to go along with her and leave Sita?

2.     Possible Topic: Conflict between Rama and Ravana

A major element of the Ramayana is the conflict between Rama and Ravana. After reading through the part Ramayana I noticed several spots where the story could diverge. In the story Rama is a form of Vishnu who comes down to defeat Ravana because Ravana cannot be killed by a demon or god. What if this was not necessary? What if Rama’s loyal brother ended up defeating Ravana instead? When I read this book I am reminded of sidekicks that always play a major role in the story but do not get the credit of being the chosen one.

3.     Possible Topic: Rakshashas

Rakshashas have always been an extremely interesting topic for me. One of the major elements I have noticed is they always have certain conditions placed upon them.  One example is that Ravana cannot rape a woman, or that weapons cannot kill Viradha. I could do a series on Ravana on how he gathered each power such as not being able to be killed by a God. I think and interesting storybook idea would be to write about how each of these demons got cursed or were given powers. I have already written my first story about this topic. This is a topic I would enjoy doing because of the variety of options I would have.

4.     Possible Topic: Karma

Another topic I could do is Karma. This term is a component of Hinduism and Buddhism. According to Google, it means the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. So basically it means what goes around comes around. I think this is an interesting topic because it is one I have heard about since I was a little kid. There are several instances in the Ramayana where Karma has occurred. One of these instances is when Dasharatha had to exile Rama.

Research: So far the majority of the research I have done for this assignment has been by reading the Ramayana. I also look at Wikipedia a lot to get the general idea of many topics. I have also read a couple storybooks from previous years to get an idea of what this will be about.