Storytelling, Week 3: A gift for Sita

Ravana was an evil demon king who had become intoxicated with the idea of having the best of everything in the land. He had heard of a great warrior’s wife who was said to be more beautiful than any woman on earth, and so he devised a plan to take her away from Rama (her husband) and keep her for himself. He managed to accomplish this task but not without the attention of Rama. Rama and his brother along with recruited help declared war on Ravana if he did not return Sita unharmed. Ravana would not give his prize up, for she was too beautiful to let go. Annoyed with her constant aching for her beloved however, he ordered many spectacles to take place in order to sway her heart towards Ravana and forget about Rama. One day, when a battle was eminent on his door steps, Ravana hatched his most evil plan in order to trick Sita into losing hope of rescue by Rama. Ravana procured a sorcerer and told him to create a body part of Rama’s to thrust into Sita’s view so there would be no doubt in her mind of his utter demise.

“Here is a present for you my dear Sita,” Ravana explained, “you yearn to kiss the lips of your husband, feel the brush of his cheeks against your palms, and to get lost in his eyes. I hear you at night wailing of these deep wishes and I have decided that I only wish to make you happy so here is the answer you seek.”

Sita raised her head up at these words, could it be true that Ravana has chosen to delight her in this way? Her heart filled with happiness as she replied, “Oh yes! Those are my true desires and I would be the happiest woman if you could grant me these wishes. Give me my Rama back and I to him. All your discrepancies would be pardoned and we would leave you and your family alone. Please I beg of you!”

A sly smile crept across Ravana’s face and his eyes gleamed. He dropped a box in the middle of the room and simply said “very well then my princess” and left Sita alone with her dreams.

Sita stared at this box that had appeared before her. She waited for Rama to burst out of captivity and hold her in his arms, but the air stood still. After what seemed like forever, Sita finally went to the box and lifted the lid with urgency. What she saw inside the human sized box was not human sized at all. In the corner of the box laid Rama’s head, decapitated from his absent body.

From ritsin.com

Horror and shock took over Sita’s body and she sunk to the ground on her knees. There was blood still rushing out and it ran to her knees still warm yet she could not move. Her heart started to break and send pain throughout all crevices of her body. There was no hope of rescue, and even if there was, there was no point in rescue. Rama was her world. All she could do was look at her husband’s lifeless face on its side. She had wanted to kiss his lips, but here they were for her and she would not get kissed back. She had dreamed of holding his face in her hands, but not detached from his body. She had yearned to share love between a simple locking of eyes, but his eyes were to never move to meet hers again. It was her Rama. Yet it wasn’t. His eyes were staring wide open into the depths of her soul. She had never seen his eyes look like this before. They were filled with fear. Fear. Sita stood up and walked away from the box, back to her position of meditation on the floor.

Ravana was outside her chamber waiting to hear the cries of Sita’s heartbreak. Nothing happened. He peeked inside and saw the box opened but Sita rested seemingly undisturbed. Why is she not running to him for comfort and love now that hers was lost? Had she not looked into the box? Alas, did she not love Rama as much as she led on? Ravana rushed inside.

“You do not like my gift? I would have thought you to be cuddling your husband right now.”

Sita replied with a steady voice, “You are a tortured soul, if you have one at all. This trickery will not conquer my hope or my love for my husband’s arrival. Tell your sorcerer he made a major error in the creation of that thing to reflect Rama. His eyes would never yield fear at his demise.”

Author’s Note----

I chose to write about the event where Ravana presents to Sita a creation of Rama’s decapitated head in order to try and sway her of holding onto hope. I changed it into a proposed ‘gift’ from Ravana to Sita. I also created Sita’s woes at night in order for the meaning of Rama’s head as a gift instead of a leg or arm etc. I made sure that Sita was shaken at first but quickly recovered. I used Rama’s eyes filled with fear as the sudden indicator of foul play for Sita. I thought it would be fun to elaborate on this scene in the book since there is literally only two sentences about it on page 134. A little backstory was given at the beginning because it felt weird to just jump right into the scene. 

 Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.

Reading Diary B: Week 3

I think that all the tricks Ravana has tried to use on Sita are incredibly torturous. First off he tricks her with sending a beautiful deer knowing it would spike her interest and she would send Rama after it, then he took advantage of her nice character by posing as a beggar in need of help, then when he took her as prisoner he sought her love and to try to persuade her to love him he sends all these women to whisper horrible things in her ear about herself to make her go crazy, then he tries to trick her by staging a head looking like her beloved's in order to get her to think him as dead and she does buy into this for a second and a lot of these times she contemplates suicide. Ravana is an awful person and he does not deserve Rama's mercy when they are face to face in battle and he is given one more day to recollect himself and gather weapons. Rama could have killed him right then and there. Rama has a character that is very kind and logical, careful as to not cause ill karma on himself or his family and is thoughtful in everything he does. A big funeral for Ravana is very honorable and he does not deserve this but this shows a lot about Rama's character since Ravana was a king to many. I was surprised that Sitar had to go through a test to indicate she is truthful in her words of not being touched by Ravana but I am glad they are finally reunited and are able to return to their kingdom. Happy endings are always good to read and I did not know what to expect from a story like this but was pleasantly surprised at the ending. Also, I thought Hanuman or Sugriva were sure to die in the battle but it is nice they got to come back to the city with Raman and attend his coronation in human form--not sure why they had to be in human form and not their monkey selves but either way is cool.

Reading Diary A: Week 3

Vali- brother of Sugreeva, challenged by Mayavi (a demon with fangs and was difficult to defeat), makes hasty decisions such as attacking sugreeva after his entrapment in the cave, blessed by the grace of Shiva, possesses unlimited strength, churned the ocean to create nectar when the gods could not, whoever approached him for a fight lost half their strength to Vali, fast, animals trembled and storms quieted by his presence, defeated finally by Rama’s arrow, took death respectfully after explanations from Rama and understanding his own mishaps

Sugreeva- brother to Vali, ruler of Kiskinda (monkey kingdom) after Vali had not returned to the throne while away defeating demon, was forced to the mountains where Vali could not touch when Vali returned angry at him, is easily bullied, wife taken from him by Vali, honorable by vowing to help Rama, easily intoxicated by worldly pleasures

Hanuman- very knowledgeable, sugreeva’s right hand, was only one who encouraged Rama to trust and protect Vibishana when he fled Ravana’s kingdom (bullied away by Ravana), monkey, really important to plot advancement

Vibishana- younger brother to Ravana, advises Ravana to return Sita and seek pardoning from Rama to make things better, is threatened with his life at this point and decides to seek refuge in Rama’s camp and army

THOUGHTS ON PLOT

During the rainy season it seemed that Rama’s grieving and the rain fed off of one another. It is very kind and smart of Sugreeva’s wife to try and change Vishmanas mood before he sees Sugreeva in his drunken state of mind not caring of his pledge he had made to Rama also Angada (vali’s son) is prompt to try to warn Sugreeva. When Angada and Hanuman are trapped in the darkness for past the time they allotted for finding Sita, it is crazy that yet another outcast (this time a woman who was once a goddess) had their fate in the hands of Rama’s actions (specifically Hanuman who got them out of the chamber). The story with Jatayu’s brother Sampathi saving him and then having his wings restored when an army came by and spoke of Rama is really touching and shows the awesome bonds that are consistent throughout this story, becoming a prime reason for the location of Sita being realized it is a cool thing that everything seems to be connected and work out in weird and unexpected ways. Then the path to Lanka is then brought about with the path known as ‘adam’s bridge’ in todays geography and is pretty awesome to look at. It is even involved in controversies over being man made or not, how cool!

Seen from space on Wikimedia commons