PAINT ME A

PICTURE!
OBJECTIVES
During and at the end of the 60-minute discussion, at least 75% of the students
should have:
a. Detected how does the Indian literary masterpieces corresponds to the
great epochs in the history of India.
b. written an outline that would identify the characteristics of each period in
the
development of Indian Literature,
c. identified characters characterization and the conflict/s between them,
d. arranged the events of the story “Ramayana” in order and
e. related an experience, a thought, or a personal feeling with the story.
INDIA
INDIA
• India is a country located in South Asia that is known as
the seventh largest country in the world. It is also the
second most populated country in the world, and is home
to over 1.2 billion people. Bordering its southern border is
the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

• The country also shares its borders with Pakistan, China,

Bhutan, Burma, Bangladesh and Nepal.
• The Indian flag is comprised of four colors.
• Orange, white and green stripes encompass the flag, and there is a
small blue emblem in the middle of the white stripe.
• This emblem is a wheel that has 24 spokes on it, and the entire flag
was designed by Pingali Venkayya. Its capital city is New Delhi and it
has a population of 21.75 million.
• The two official languages of the country are Hindi and English,
however there is not a recognized national language.
• The primary religion in India is Hinduism; however four major
religions originated in the country. Hinduism, Buddhism,
Jainism and Sikhism all began in India, and helped create the
diverse culture of India today.
• The Indian currency is known as the Indian rupee, and the country
has an estimated nominal GDP of 1.947 trillion dollars.
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN LITERATURE
• Indian literature, writings of the Indian subcontinent, produced there in a
variety of vernacular languages, including Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali,
Bengali, Bihari, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam,
Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani,Tamil,Telugu, Urdu, Lahnda, Siraiki,
and Sindhi, among others, as well as in English.
• The term Indian literature is used here to refer to literature produced
across the Indian subcontinent prior to the creation of the Republic of
India in 1947 and within the Republic of India after 1947.
CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIAN
LITERATURE
• Sanskrit literature originated with an oral tradition that produced the Vedic
holy texts, sometime after 1500 B.C. The Aryans, who came from Central Asia
bringing their own Gods with them, memorized these sacred literatures, the
Vedas, which means “knowledge”.

• The oldest of these holy works is the Rig Veda- “the Veda of Praise’’- a
collection of 1017 hymns addressed to the various Gods of the Aryans. After
the Rig Veda, came the Brahmanas, which codified the rituals and prayers of the
Brahmins, the priests of the Aryans.
• The Brahmanas were followed by the Upanishads, which
were essentially the history of the Aryan race and its
relationship with the gods.

• The two most famous Puranic epics are the

Mahabharata and the Ramayana, which have since been
used as the sources of countless literary works.
• The Mahabharata
interwove ideas about cosmology, statecraft,
philosophy and the science of war into its stories of the
deeds of Gods and men. It was considered to be the longest
poem in any language.
• The Ramayana
simply recounted a sequence of heroic adventures,
many of them with moral undertones.
• When Sanskrit grammar was evolved beginning about 400 B.C., the
literary works aimed to put in order all learning in the form of laws
for the arts and sciences, called shastras, as well as poetry and
stylized drama.

• Prior to this, the Indian constitution recognized several official

languages. This resulted in the production of regional literature.
Major writers such as Bhartrihari, and Mayura emerged when
classical poetry reached its peak in the 7th Century A.D. Kalidasa,
one of the notable poets, is betterknown for his play Sakuntala.
Modern Indian literature started with establishment of civil
service training schools and printing presses early in the 19th
century. Western literary and philosophical writings
produced a cultural revival, while vernacular language and
culture was taught to British colonial officials.
20th century writing has managed to keep alive the
sentimental romanticism of the 19th century, while
nationalist leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi influenced the
development of social realism in the earlier works.
Writing in English was viewed with mixed feelings in post-
Independence India but was well established nevertheless.
Pioneers in this field included Michael Dutt (1824-73) and
Sudhindranath (1901-600, Tagore, and Sri Aurobindo. Sarojini
Naidu achieved fame both as a poet in English and as patriot.
GROUP TASK

• The group 1 will arrange the given events to get the summary of
the Ramayana.
• The group 2 will accomplish the Actitude Analysis.
• The group 3 will be identifying the conflict in the Ramayana.
• The group 4 will identify the theme of Ramayana.
Group 1.
Arrange the following events in order. Write numbers 1-10. Then, retell the story in
your own words.
_____ King Dasharatha, Rama’s father, decides it is time to give his throne to his eldest
son Rama. Everyone seems pleased. She wants her son, Bharata, to rule. Because of an
oath Dasharata had made to her years before, she gets the King to agree to banish
Rama for fourteen years and to crown Bharata, even though the King, on bended knee,
begs her not to demand such things.
_____ Rama, always obedient, is a content to go into banishment in the forest as to be
crowned king. Sita convinces rama that she belongs at his side and his brother Lakshman
also begs to accompany them. Rama, Sita and Lakshman set out for the forest.
_____ Dasharata, King of Ayodhya, has three wives and four sons. Rama is the eldest.
Bharata is the second and the other two are twins, Lakshman and Shatrughna.
_____ In a neighboring city the ruler’s daughter is named Sita. When it was time for Sita to
choose her bridegroom, at a ceremony called a swayamvara. Sita indicates she has chosen Rama
as her husband by putting a garland around his neck. The disappointed suitors watch.

_____ Ravana devises a plan to abduct Sita. He sends a magical golden deer which Sita desires.
Rama and Lakshman go off to hunt deer, first drawing a protective circle around Sita and warning
her she will be safe as long as she does not step outside the circle. As they go off, Ravana (who
can change his shape) appears as a holy man begging alms. The moment Sita steps outside the
circle to give him food, Ravana grabs her and carries her off to his kingdom in Lanka.

_____ Rama is broken-hearted when he returns to the empty hut and cannot find Sita. A band of
monkeys offer to help him find Sita. Ravana has carried Sita to his palace in Lanka, but he cannot
force her to be his wife so he puts her in a grove and alternatively sweet talks her and threatens
her in an attempt to get her to agree to marry him. Sita will not even look at him but thinks only
of her beloved Rama. Hanuman, the general of the monkey band can fly since his father is the
wind, and Hanuman flies to Lanka and, finding Sita in the grove, comforts her and tells her Rama
will soon come and save her.
_____ Bharata, whose mother’s evil plot has won him the throne, is very upset
when he finds out what has happened. Not for a moment does he consider
breaking the rules of dharma and becoming king in Rama’s place. He goes to
Rama’s forest retreat and begs Rama to return and rule, but Rama refuses.

_____ Years pass and Rama, Sita and Lakshman are very happy in the forest. One
day a rakshasa princess tries to seduce Rama, the ten-headed ruler of Lanka, and
tells her brother (who has a weakness for beautiful women) about lovely Sita.

_____ Rama frees Sita. After Sita proves her purity, they return to Ayodha and
Rama becomes king. His rule, Ram-rajya, is an ideal time when everyone does his
or her dharma and “fathers never have to light the funeral pyres for their sons.”
_____ Ravana’s men capture hanuman, and Ravana orders them to wrap
Hanuman’s tail in cloth and to set it on fire. With his tail burning, Hanuman hops
from house-top to house-top, setting Lanka afire. He then flies back to Rama to
tell him where Sita is. Rama, Lakshman and the monkey army build a causeway
from the tip of India to Lanka and cross over to Lanka. A might battle ensues.
Rama kills several of Ravana’s brothers and then Rama confronts ten- headed
Ravana. Rama finally kills Ravana.
Group 2
• Enumerate the attitudes/ valuesof the characters revealed in the
video. Then, write the corresponding actions/ practices that will
serve as your evidences. And, analyze everything and come up with
the summary of your analysis.

Actitude Analysis of:

Summary:
Attitudes/ Values:
Action/Practices:
Group 3
• Identify the conflict in the story “Ramayana”

1. What is the conflict?

2. How the character deal with it?
3. Resolution
4. How it shaped the flow of the play?
Group 4
• Identify the theme of “Ramayana”

1. What is the theme of the play?

2. What ideas lead you to identifying the theme?
3. How is the theme of Ramayana similar or different from the other
themes of dramas/movies you watch on television?
4. What does this reveal about Afro- Asian plays?
5. How do the theme affect you as a person?
1. Who is Dasaratha?
A. KING OF AYODHYA
B. SAGE OF KAMASRAMA
C. KING OF THE DEVAS
D. KING OF MITHIL

2. The Ramayana is an important text in which major religion?

A. ISLAM
B. HINDUISM
C. CONFUCIANISM
D. SHINTOISM

3. What is the primary setting of the Ramayana?

A. ANCIENT ISRAEL
B. THE REALM OF THE GODS
C. ANCIENT INDIA
D. A MYTHICAL LAND
4. What best describes Ravana's feelings towards Sita?
A. HE WANTS TO DRINK HER BLOOD
B. HE WANTS TO TRAIN HER TO KILL RAMA
C. HE HATES HER
D. HE IS IN LOVE WITH HER
5. Which city is described as the birthplace of the main protagonist, Lord
Rama?
A. KASHI
B. DWARAKA
C. AYODHYA
D. VARANASI
6. Rama was the son of Dasharata and ___________
A. KAUSALYA
B. SUMITRA
C. KUNTI
D. KAIKEYI
7. In the beginning of the Ramayana, who is the sage who writes down the
poem of this name?
A. VALMIKI
B. KAMPAN
C. RAMESH MENON
D. EZHUTTACHAN
8. How does Bharata react when his mother Kaikeyi tells him that she has
secured the throne for him?
A. HE IS FURIOUS WITH HER
B. HE THANKS HER
C. HE SCHEMES WITH HER TO KILL SHATRUGHNA AND LAKSHMANA
D. HE KILLS HER.
9. Who goes with Rama into his exile?
A. SHATRUGHNA, LAKSHMANA, AND BHARATA
B. NO ONE
C. LAKSHMANA, KAUSALYA, AND SITA
D. LAKSHMANA AND SITA
10. Why does Viswamitra ask Rama to accompany him?
A.TO PULL A SWORD OUT OF THE STONE
B. TO DEFEAT THE DEMON RAVANA
C.TO FIND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS
D.TO DEFEAT THE DEMON TAT
ASSIGNMENT

1. Reflect on the theme of the story entitled “Ramayana” by

creating 3 paragraphs composition.
2. Read on Adverbs of Degree