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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. What is Pushpaka driven by?

2. What test does Rama pass, to marry Sita?

3. What does Lakshmana propose to do on hearing that Rama is to be banished?

4. After the rains, who are Rama and Lakshmana waiting for to resume their search for Sita?

5. What does Guha find remarkable about Bharata?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Dasaratha describe Rama’s banishment as punishment for his own actions?

2. What is Bharata’s response when he hears that Dasaratha is dead?

3. Describe the origin of the city of Lanka.

4. Why does Dasaratha decide that he wants to see Rama made king, and what do his advisors say?

5. Describe Ravana’s origins.

6. When had Kaikeyi almost used her two wishes previously?

7. Describe Sita’s origins, and how she comes to be Rama’s wife.

8. What kind of relationship do Sita and Ravana have, from their first meeting?

9. Describe the birth of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Satrughna.

10. Describe the history of Five-Apsarasa Lake.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the primary purpose of the Ramayana? What kinds of purposes does it attempt to serve—explaining the history of the world, describing the right way to live, etc. Using examples from the text, propose one mode that is most important. Be sure to say why the others are not as important.

Essay Topic 2

What does the Ramayana tell the reader about the relations between men and women, husbands and wives? Using examples from the text, describe the poem’s lessons for relations between the sexes.

Essay Topic 3

Research the history of the Ramayana’s development as a poem. What cultural conditions led to the creation of the poem? To what kinds of cultural questions was the Ramayana an attempted answer?

(see the answer keys)

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