Tossup

In this text, a wise man invents a new form of verse after watching two birds being shot while mating, which he teaches to the protagonist’s two sons. A character in this text who is cursed to sleep for six months at a time is woken up when a thousand elephants (-5[1])walk over him. In this text, a demon disguised as a golden deer is used to distract a princess of Ayodhya (10[3]-5[1])(“eye-OHD-yuh”). This text’s antagonist (10[1])orders Hanuman’s tail (-5[1])to be lit on fire, which he uses to burn down his citadel in Lanka. For 10 points, Sita is kidnapped by the rakshasa (“RAHK-shuh-suh”) Ravana (“RAH-vuh-nuh”) in what Sanskrit epic by Valmiki, (10[1])written before the Mahabharata? (0[1])■END■ (0[3])

ANSWER: Ramayana [or Rāmāyana; or Ramayanam] (The first line is about Valmiki teaching Lava and Kusha. The character in the second line is Kumbhakarna, a brother of Ravana.)
<Editors, Mythology>
= Average correct buzz position

Back to tossups