Very similarly to Narayan’s Ramayana, the influence of a
golden deer is highly important. Maricha appears as a golden deer in both
versions. In both versions Sita begs Rama to kill the deer. When Rama kills
Maricha, the golden deer, Maricha pretends to be Rama and calls out for help.
Lakshmana is hesitant, but at Sita’s persistence he goes after Rama. Sita is
left defenseless, and she is captured by Ravana.
Ravana holds Sita captive in Lanka. We are introduced to the
reason why Ravana cannot rape Sita.
Fast forward to p. 181 – Rama and Lakshmana come back from
chasing the deer, but Sita has been gone for a while already. Jatayu (the
eagle) uses his last breath to tell Rama and Lakshmana what happened. Then,
Rama and Lakshmana meet Savari. This is an important encounter. She tells the
brothers that she saw Ravana taking Sita away, but she also mentions Vali and
Sugriva – the monkeys who will end up fighting for Rama. The brothers go to
find Vali and Sugriva, but first they meet Hanuman.
The story of Vali’s life and death is told again between
pages 189 and 199.
Lakshmana goes looking for Sugreeva and finds him drunk. He
had been drinking for 3 months.
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