Reading Notes: (Online free) Ramayana, Part A

King Dasharatha was of the Solar Race and lives in a big palace with strong walls and a thousand warriors. These warriors are fierce and protect the palace like they're mountain lions protecting their den. Dasharatha had no sons and he wanted one so bad that he performs a animal sacrifice and is promised 4 sons. The King's sons are finally born and one son, Rama, stands out. It is believed that he has all the marks of Vishnu and is what the people need to defend against the Demon King Ravana. Rama, now a young man,  and his brother Lakshmana head out with Vishvamitra to help fight demons. Rama faces his first battle with the Rakshasa woman, Thataka. Rama is able to shoot arrows at her until she has no arms. With her back against the wall the becomes invisible to escape. Rama uses only the power of sound and impales who with one final arrow to kill her. As a reward celestial weapons appeared before him. Rama and Sita meet for the first time and fall in love just by making eye contact. King Janaka holds a little competition like the sword in the stone. But with his its whoever bend Shiva's godly bow can have Sita in marriage. Rama is able to bend the bow in half and break it resulting in a thunderous noise.
A tall bull-like man, Parashurama, hears the thunderous roar and comes to see what has made the noise. To his surprise, the godly bow is broken in half and gives Rama another test to see if he is truly mighty like the people claim he is. The test is to string his bow and Rama nails it.

Rama and Sita get married. King Dasharatha realizes that he is getting old and wants to put his sons to good use. He decides to summon his council and talk about who should replace him and take other as king. Dasharatha wants Rama because of the gifts that have been bestowed upon him by the God's. But Queen Keikeyl finds out about this and remembers she has to promises that Dasharatha must keep. So she makes Dasharatha banish Rama so her son can become king. Keikeyl follows through with her plans and pretty much forces Dasharatha to keep his vow. Dasharatha would rather die than to lose his beloved son Rama. Rama understands the vow his father took and obeys the request without hesitation to honor his father. It is a bit heartbreaking because it feels like the king knows his time is almost up and one of his queens is taking his favorite son away from him for her own greed. By the time Rama spends his 14 year banishment in the jungle his father could be dead. On the bright side his wife Sita accompanies him on his banishment. Lakshmana joins Sita and Rama on their banishment. On the first couple days of their banishment Sita prays to Ganga for safe return and vows to worship the river queen if she returns safely. The last two sections for part A focus on Dasharatha. He was out hunting one day and killed a person. In his dying words he asks him to notify his parents. His parents are heartbroken and decide to kill themselves. Shorty after Dasharatha himself dies after grieving the loss of his own son Rama and the guilt of being responsible for the family that is all dead.

(Sita, Rama, Lakshama banished together)

I am not sure if I did this correctly.... I know you said not to summarize but that's exactly what I did. As the weeks pass and I know what is expected of the story I'm sure I'll figure out what to include in these notes. As for now I am going to stick to this.

Bibliography - Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition - not sure about the author here