Seeing his loyal
friend's unhappiness, the golden monkey, whose name
was Sugriva, stretched his mouth into a wide smile. "My friend,
Hanuman," he shouted, "do not be sad! We are alive and the sun is
shining!" Hanuman slowly smiled back at his king, and the two monkeys
began to walk towards a nearby river. As they walked, the friends
talked idly of old memories and parties thrown centuries before;
Hanuman held forth for quite some time on a pair of exquisite mango
tarts he'd enjoyed during one of Sugriva's birthday celebrations ages
ago. As Hanuman expounded on the perfect balance between sour and
sweet, Sugriva's sharp ears caught a high, clear sound from far away.
"My friend," he said, interrupting Hanuman's monologue, "do you hear
that?" Hanuman was hurt for a moment--after all, he had been talking
about mangoes, the king's (and his own) favorite food--but then his
ears picked up the sound, too.Image
Information: Sugriva's Eyes. Web
Source: Flickr.
Author's Note: I originally planned to write just about Sugriva and his discovery of Sita's dropped jewels, but at this point in the story Sugriva and Hanuman are so closely linked that it felt more natural to write about them both together. I chose not to have them know immediately who either Sita or Ravana were; I felt that the tension of not knowing would be more interesting in the end. I wanted to put forth the parallel Sugriva draws between himself and Rama, namely that both of them have had a wife stolen. I also wanted to show not only how much Hanuman cares for Sugriva, but also how much foreboding he has about the whole arc set off by this event. I have painted Sugriva as seeing only the good that can come from this event; hopefully it comes through that Hanuman sees all the negative that could come from it. I think that these two characters work best as sort of mirror images of each other; that is, one is gold and the other is white, one is hopeful and the other is worried, etc. I wanted this story to really illustrate the deep friendship between Sugriva and Hanuman, and to inject a little humor and lightheartedness in the storybook before the last story, which is very unfunny and heavy-hearted, comes along.
Bibliography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.
Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.
Author's Note: I originally planned to write just about Sugriva and his discovery of Sita's dropped jewels, but at this point in the story Sugriva and Hanuman are so closely linked that it felt more natural to write about them both together. I chose not to have them know immediately who either Sita or Ravana were; I felt that the tension of not knowing would be more interesting in the end. I wanted to put forth the parallel Sugriva draws between himself and Rama, namely that both of them have had a wife stolen. I also wanted to show not only how much Hanuman cares for Sugriva, but also how much foreboding he has about the whole arc set off by this event. I have painted Sugriva as seeing only the good that can come from this event; hopefully it comes through that Hanuman sees all the negative that could come from it. I think that these two characters work best as sort of mirror images of each other; that is, one is gold and the other is white, one is hopeful and the other is worried, etc. I wanted this story to really illustrate the deep friendship between Sugriva and Hanuman, and to inject a little humor and lightheartedness in the storybook before the last story, which is very unfunny and heavy-hearted, comes along.
Bibliography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.
Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.
