Reading Challenge 2020-The Childrens Ramayan Translated By Tilottama Shome Illustrated By Priyanka Gupta

The main characters are Ram, Lakshman, Sita, Hanuman and Raavan — the deamon who possessed ten heads.

Ram was the son of the king Dashrath, who ruled Ayodhya and because he was getting old, he decided to announce a new king. Ram was the new king. Everybody was happy except for one person. That was Ram’s step-mother, who wanted her son, Bharat, to be the king. So she sent Ram, his wife Sita and brother Lakshman to the forest for fourteen years. In the forest Raavan kidnapped Sita and Ram and Lakshman went to look for her. On the way they met some monkeys. One of those monkeys was Hanuman. Monkeys helped Ram to look for Sita and went to Lanka, which Raavan ruled, to find her. Later Ram defeated Raavan in a battle and brought back Sita. After fourteen years Ram went back to Ayodhya. Bharat never became the king, he rather waited for Ram to return and be the king.

Hanuman is my favourite Hindu God because he is very brave and he stood by Ram all the time. He is a mythical character, but in the olden days people used to believe that Hanuman was real. I have been to a Hanuman temple in India, where I had to dong a bell in case he was sleeping.