View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Ravana’s feeling about Rama’s name?

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

3. What does Viswakarman build for Bharata?

4. Who is Rama descended from?

5. Who came to take Dasaratha away, after he told the story of why Rama had had to be taken?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Agastya tame the upstart Vindhya Hills?

2. Why does Rama insist on going into the Dandaka Forest, against Sita’s wishes?

3. How does Hanuman characterize the story of Rama and Sita to Jambavan?

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

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

6. Describe the origin of the city of Lanka.

7. Describe the history of Five-Apsarasa Lake.

8. How does Rama help Hanuman?

9. Describe Bharadwaja’s feast for Bharata and his party.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Debate the proposition that the Ramayana is too old to be relevant in modern times.

Essay Topic 2

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 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)

This section contains 916 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample