Taipei American School • English Literature
Retold by R.K. Narayan • Chapter Presentations
Duty • Devotion • Exile • ReturnEach card below links to the chapter presentation for that section of Narayan's retelling. Begin with the introduction before reading Chapter 1. Metacognitive worksheets will be added as the unit progresses.
Introduction
Before you read
Introduction to The Ramayana
Why read a story this old? Context, essential questions, and the shape of the whole epic — what you need before Chapter 1 begins.
Select a chapter
Prologue & Chapter 1
Prologue and Chapter One
The world before Rama's story begins — gods, demons, and the reason a hero must be born. Chapter 1 sets the epic in motion.
Chapter 2
The Wedding
Rama strings the bow no one else can lift. A marriage is made — and with it, a destiny that cannot be refused.
Chapter 3
Two Promises Revived
A queen calls in an old debt. Two boons, spoken in love, now shatter everything: Rama exiled, Bharata crowned. Dasaratha cannot take them back.
Chapter 4
Encounters in Exile
Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana move deeper into the forest. Every encounter tests what exile means — and whether duty can coexist with joy.
Chapter 5
The Grand Tormentor
Ravana enters. Surpanakha's humiliation sets the abduction in motion. The golden deer appears — and Sita is taken.
Chapter 6
Vali
Rama forms an alliance with the monkey king Sugriva — but only after a death that raises uncomfortable questions about justice and means.
Chapter 7
When the Rains Cease
The rains delay the search. Rama's patience frays. Then Hanuman — one monkey among thousands — becomes the only one capable of crossing the ocean.
Chapters 8 – 10
The Spy, the Council, and the Squirrel
Hanuman finds Sita, burns Lanka, and returns. A war council divides the room. And a bridge is built — with help from one small, persistent squirrel.
Chapters 11 & 12
When Winning Gets Complicated
The battle for Lanka unfolds. Rama wins — but the victory asks harder questions than the fight did. What does it cost to reclaim what was taken?
Chapters 13 & 14 • Epilogue
Coming Home, and What That Costs
Rama and Sita return to Ayodhya. The welcome is everything — and then something goes wrong. The questions the whole story has been asking finally have to be answered.