Storytelling, Week 6: Krushka

There once was a demon warrior named Krushka who served under the evil demon king Ravana. The warrior was one of Ravana’s most trusted soldiers and friend. There was a great battle going on because Ravana had stolen a man named Rama’s beautiful wife. Rama was a prince and a reincarnation of the God Vishnu. He had pure intentions and was loved and followed by many, but not welcomed in the kingdom of Lanka. Once Ravana’s son had seemingly killed the greatest threat to Ravana and the whole demon blood line, Ravana was able to let loose. After the defeat of Rama, Ravana celebrated with all the warriors of his kingdom and drank and drank until he passed out into a deep slumber for three days. During the second day of King Ravana’s rest, Krushka woke up from his own drunken sleep.  He bathed in the blood of the fallen and then left the palace to find some rodents to eat. After his breakfast Krushka went to fetch the body of Rama since Indrajit did not want to give any respect to this human he had slain. Indrajit expected Rama’s body to rot on the hill outside of Lanka so his bones would serve as a warning to not mess with any demons, for they cannot be defeated. Krushka had other plans for Rama’s body though. He wanted to bring it to Ravana so he could cast it into the sky and hang above the city like a trophy and a reminder to all that the demons defeated by Rama did not die in vain. When he arrived to the site of Rama’s body, Krushka could not find it. He saw the arrows that were still wet with blood but no sign of the trophy he intended to wake Ravana with. Krushka was confused and started to walk back to the city when he caught sight of Rama and Hanuman talking to one another a couple leagues from where he stood. Krushka hurried back to the city and told all his fellow warriors of Rama’s life being restored and to leave their celebrations behind them. The dreadful task of telling Ravana this horrible news laid on his shoulders. All he could do was wait for him to wake. Krushka did not want to dare wake Ravana from his peaceful sleep to tell him because he knew how much sleep his friend had lost over worry of this Rama. So he sat by his bed along with Ravana’s many wives and waited. He wanted to be the first one to tell him but he was also afraid of Ravana’s anger once he knew of this news. He waited. And waited. Then on the third day of his slumber, Ravana awakened.

Author’s note:

I chose to fill in some blanks left by Buck about the time that passed in Ravana’s sleep when he believed Rama to be dead. I made up the character of Krushka- and the name obviously- because I wanted to explore a possible scenario of reason for sleeping, finding out Rama was alive, and who could have told Ravana the truth. I did not want to go into the dialogue between them though, which would have been cool to think of but this way I got to have a cliffhanger ;)

Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 
Image Information: What would be a cool rendition of Krushka if he were a character, found at deviantart.net by Simone Delladio