Week 4 Reading Diary : Narayan's Ramayana

At the conclusion of Narayan's Ramayana, the reader finds that there is a certain peace and reconciliation that is granted to many of the tormented characters in this narrative.
Ravana's demise is met with a subtle mood of sadness for how far he had fallen from grace. However, Rama still speaks for his rightful place in heaven while conferring proper funeral rights to his brother Vibishana. The mercy shown by Rama may contrast with the earlier, more controversial chapter in which he kills Vali with an arrow through the chest. Even though Rama justifies his actions to a creature that has already committed wrong, his reasoning is described in a manner that may be purposefully meant to elude the understanding of the reader so as to present Rama's reasoning as beyond that of conventional human understanding.

(Sita emerges victorious during her trial by fire.)

This method may be observed once more in Rama's decision to subject Sita to the trial by fire for which he claims is meant to remove all doubt from the world as to her purity. However, Rama's human nature seems, at times, to be at odds with his more godly attributes as stated in the text.It is at this instance that Rama, together with his father are able to find peace in each other's words. Dasaratha's forgiveness of Kaikeyi and her son, together with Rama's accomplishments, delivers to him an inner peace which had eluded him even in heaven. Rama, on the other hand is filled with joy over his father's words of praise and  is content to find that Dasaratha delivers on Rama's wish that he accept Kaikeyi once again as family.
The fate of these three characters - Ravana, Sita and Rama are reconciled in such a way that may be akin to the trinity of Hindu faith. Even Brahman himself comments on Sita and Rama's place in the trinity while Ravana is once blessed with power by the great destroyer Shiva. Perhaps the writer views the reconciliation of these characters as inevitable in order to truly "conclude" his story.