Introduction

At the sound of the bell, the students rushed into the classroom, finding their seats. Today was an important day, as Mr. Hanuman would be assigning his high school Geography class their group projects. Mr. Hanuman's Geography projects are well known throughout the school. The projects are based on one of the countries the students have already learned about and it coincides with the readings in their literature class. Past projects have included The Jungle Book, The Grapes of Wrath, and even The Hobbit. This year, they will be going back to India as the students have recently completed a reading of R. K. Narayan's Ramayana.

The students settled into their seats and awaited Mr. Hanuman's direction. He divided the class into four groups and began to explain the project.

"As you have all just finished reading the Ramayana in your literature class, and we have touched on India in our own class, your group projects this semester will be over the geography of the Ramayana.

Each group will select four geographical features from the book. You are required to select one city, one mountain or mountain range, and one body of water. The fourth feature is your choice. You may select real or fictional places, but each group must select at least two real places. First, you will give a brief summary of the events that took place at this location in the epic. Then you will describe where this place is located in India. For fictional geography, you will try to determine the real-life counterpart it is based upon, or a similar region that encompasses all of the features of the fictional place. Lastly, you will give a brief description of this place in today's India, such as population, major landmarks, and any other pertinent information.

Each geographical location may be done only once and it is first come, first serve. Here are your options."

With that, Mr. Hanuman pointed to a board in the back that was covered in sticky notes. The notes were separated into five sections with headers: Mountains, Bodies of Water, Cities, Kingdoms, and Forests. Each note had one specific feature related to its header.

Mountains:

• Himalayas
• Mount Saila
• Mount Kailash (Big Kailash)
• Meru Mountain
• Mount Mainak
• Mount Matanga
• Vindhya (mountain peaks)
• Hemakuta Mountains
• Om Parvat (Little Kailash)
• Mahendra Mountain

Bodies of Water:

• Sarayu River
• Ganges River
• Godavari River
• Narmada River
• Pampa Sarovar
• Palk Strait/ Gulf of Mannar

Cities:

• Ayodhya
• Mithila City
• Chitrakuta
• Nandigram
• Panchvati
• Amravati
• Lanka
• Siddhashrama

Kingdoms

• Anga
• Kosala
• Kekaya

Forests

• Dandaka Forest
• Mountainous forest region of Kishkinda

He also posted a large map of India on the class website, highlighting major features of the Ramayana.