Literary Devices in the Ramayana

Literary Devices in The Ramayana

Throughout The Ramayana, many literary devices are used with significance and purpose to illustrate key points. There are many devices within this novel, but R. K. Narayan uses similes, hyperboles, personifications and his own point of view to highlight the importance of certain words and circumstances in his own version of The Ramayana.

Perhaps the most easily identifiable of all the literary devices that R. K. Narayan uses are similes in which he compares a particular feeling or instance to that of something else. We first see a simile when Viswamithra asks Dasaratha if Rama can accompany him to perform a yagna. As “Rama is still a child, still learning the arts and practicing the use of arms,” (I, 8) his father would prefer not to send him with Viswamithra but eventually agrees. About to tell his son of this news, Dasaratha has “the look of one delivering hostages into the hands of an enemy,” (I, 10). This simile is used to enhance the feeling that a father feels as he is about to send his son away, as Dasaratha struggles in doing so. The next simile used by Narayan comes after an authorial comment suggesting that we attain full understanding through awareness of divinity and history of the grounds we tread on. In a well-placed simile, Narayan contrasts this proposed virtue with “the passage of a blind man through illuminated halls and gardens,” (I, 17). This reiterates the importance of this full understanding, as a blind man certainly cannot appreciate the beauty and joy associated with walking through an illuminated hall or vibrant garden. Yet another simile is used by Narayan to ensure that the readers capture the whole effect and significance of his words. When Rama first sees the future love of his life, Sita, she “flashed on his eyes like a streak of lightning,” (II, 23). This simile’s focus is to guarantee that the readers notice the effect that the mere appearance of Sita has on Rama, one delivered with a...