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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who goes to tell Bharata that Rama is coming?

2. What is Indrajit’s weapon?

3. At what hour does Rama fight Ravana?

4. What had Narayana done to be cursed with one day losing his own wife?

5. Where are the dead Rakshasas buried?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Rama and Sita’s return to Ayodhya.

2. Describe Sita’s interaction with Ravana as Hanuman is watching.

3. How is Ravana killed?

4. Why does Vibhishana defect from Ravana?

5. How does Rama kill Khumbakarna?

6. How is this chapter different in this version than it is in the original?

7. What advice does Khumbakarna give Ravana before he goes to fight?

8. Describe the chariot Pushpaka.

9. What happens to Queen Mandodari after Ravana’s death?

10. Describe the origins of the Ramayana.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does the Ramayana teach you about how to live? What kinds of problems does the Ramayana tell the reader how to solve? What kinds of questions would it not be very useful for?

Essay Topic 2

Evaluate your own reading of the Ramayana—did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

Essay Topic 3

When is the Ramayana most itself? What is its characteristic passage, or moment? What makes that moment or passage the most representative of the book as a whole? Are there any places where the book seems to depart from its typical self, as if to become a different book?

(see the answer keys)

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