Storytelling Week 14: The Journey to Heaven

Yudhishthira continued to walk along the pathway.  His brothers and wife had already perished along this path.  As he thought to himself, the sequence of events that had led to this appeared in his head.  The sequence of events had started when Yudhishthira had heard the Krishna had perished.  This had been shocking news to him and his brothers.  They had loved Krishna very much and when they had heard that Krishna had died had decided to also depart the mortal realm to ascend into heaven. 

So they began to walk on their journey to heaven.  First they traveled east to where they encountered Agni, the fire god, who had Arjuna cast his weapons into the sea.  With that single instance, he had severed all that had held him back in the mortal realm. 

They then turned northward to the Himalayas.  As they had crossed the Himalayas they came across a desert and while they were in the midst of crossing the desert Draupadi fell because of her partiality to Dhananjaya.

Journey to heaven (Source: Wikimedia)

As they continued, walking Sahadeva also fell.  With this the first of the pandavas had fallen.  As they had continued one by one the brothers fell.  The second brother to go was Nakula, who had been broken hearted with the death of his brother and Krishna. 

Then a little while later Arjuna also fell.  Bhima was saddened over these events and he mourned their deaths.  Finally, Bhima also fell and as he lay dying, he asked Yudhishthira why he had fallen.  Yudhishthira replied that he had not attended to others while eating. 

As Yudhishthira walked along Indra appeared before him telling him that if wanted to enter into heaven he must first cast aside the dog that was following him.  Yudhishthira refused to cast aside the dog because of how faithful the dog had been to him.  Then suddenly in the place of the dog, Dharma appeared and he blessed his son for his compassion and faithfulness.  Then Yudhishthira entered into heaven.

When he entered into heaven, he noticed that he could not find his family but had found Duryodhana in heaven.  So he had them bring him to his family but instead of being in heaven, they appeared in hell.  Yudhishthira was saddened in the suffering decided to stay with them instead of returning to heaven.  When he said this hell vanished and Indra told him that it had been a test and then Yudhishthira entered into heaven.

Author’s note:

This is based off the pandava’s journey to heaven from The Story of the Great War: Some Lessons from Mahabharata by Annie Besant.  I kept the text closely based on the original text.  I mainly just shortened and lengthened the story.  My main goal was to provide a third person view.  I wrote in a past tense almost memory based style for this story.

Bibliography:

The Story of the Great War: Some Lessons from the Mahabharata by Annie Besant(1899)

Storytelling Week 13: The Gaining of Krishna in the Pandava War

After the Pandavas had fulfilled their thirteen years of exile, they were faced with a looming question.  What would they do now?  Duryodhana was supposed to give back their kingdom, but would he do so?  Yudhishthira then asked his brothers, “What should we do?”

Bhima was the first to reply and said to Yudhishthira, “We should go to war to reclaim our honor and our kingdom. Duryodhana has wronged us and we should seek retribution.”

Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva agreed with this sentiment and said to Yudhishthira, “We agree with Bhima we should go to war with Duryodhana.”

Yudhishthira replied to his brothers and said, “It is not better to seek reconciliation with Duryodhana but I agree that we have been wronged.  Let us first seek the council of Krishna.”

Therefore, the kings and princes gathered in the hall of King Virata and Krishna spoke to them saying, “An ambassador should be sent to Duryodhana asking for half of the kingdom that should be returned.  If Duryodhana does not agree with this then the righteous ones will be the Pandavas and war may be waged.”  Then Krishna returned to his home in Dvaraka.

Sanjaya meets Dhritarashtra during peace negotiations (Source:wikimedia

So an Sanjaya was sent to Dhritarashtra with the message.  At the same time, however, messages were sent to the various surrounding kings asking for the help.  Arjuna wishing to gain the alliance of Krishna set out to Dvaraka.  When he arrived, he saw that Duryodhana had also just arrived and was there seeking an alliance with Krishna.  They went up to Krishna’s room where he was sleeping an Arjuna placed himself at the foot of his bed and prostrated himself while Duryodhana took a seat next to head of the bed.  When Krishna awoke, he saw Arjuna prostrated at the foot of his bed then he saw Duryodhana at the next to him.  Krishna then said, “Greetings, what is the reason for your urgent visit?”

Duryodhana replied, “I was the first to arrive and I seek your help in our impending war.’

Krishna then said, “Indeed you were the first to arrive but I saw Arjuna first so I must also help him.  One of you can have an army the other can have me but I will not fight.”

Arjuna who was younger was allowed to pick and because he loved Krishna, he picked him over the army.  Duryodhana was pleased with the arrangement and went home with the army and Krishna and Arjuna departed to their camp. 

Author’s Note:

This story is based off the story from The Story of the GreatWar: Some Lessons from the Mahabharata by Annie Besant.  This version of the story follows the basic outline of the original story.  I added in the conversation at the beginning and I increased the amount of dialogue in the story.  I chose to do it like this to make it feel like the reader was there which was the main goal for writing this story.

Bibliography:

The Story of the Great War: Some Lessons from the Mahabharata by Annie Besant (1899)

Storytelling Week 12: King Shantanu and the Maiden

After King Mahabhisha had ascended to heaven there was a festival hosted there by the gods and King Mahabhisha was among the guests that attended the festival.  Now during the festival a great wind blew by and lifted the sari of the goddess Ganga.  All of the gods present turned their heads so that Ganga might not be embarrassed but King Mahabhisha did not turn his head.  When the gods and goddesses saw this, they were filled with anger.  Brahma then cursed him saying, “In time you will leave earth and be reborn as a human.  In addition, Ganga will also be born as a human where she shall inflict harm on you.  When she has done so my curse will lift.”

After a period of time passed, King Mahabhisha was reborn on earth as the son of King Pratipa.  His name was Shantanu.  Prior to Shantanu being born Ganga had appeared to King Pratipa and had him promise to marry his son to her and Ganga also left a warning for Shantanu.

When Shantanu had become a man, King Pratipa told him about the warning saying, “A celestial maiden will be your wife, but do not judge the propriety of what she does or who she is and she will be your wife forever.”

Later after King Pratipa had crowned Shantanu king, he was walking along the banks of the river Ganga when he saw a breathtaking maiden and fell in love with her.  He then asked her to marry him.  She agreed but with some stipulations.  He had to promise that he would not interfere with her actions nor could he ever address her unkindly.  The maiden said to him, “As long as you behave kindly, I promise to live with you but as soon as you treat me unkindly or interfere with me I will leave you.  King Shantanu agreed to the conditions and they were married. 

King Shantanu lived happily with the maiden and soon a child was born.  The maiden then took the child and threw it into the river killing it.  Then when the maiden had gotten pregnant again gave birth to the second child she threw it again into the river killing it.  The maiden continued to kill the babies up through the seventh child.  When the eighth child was about to throw it into the river King Shantanu stopped her and said to her, “Do not kill your own child, your sin is heavy, why do you keep killing your sons?”

Ganga leaving King Shantanu (Source: wikimedia)

King Shantanu who had forgotten his promise with his father and the maiden was then addressed by the maiden, “I will not kill this child, but I will now leave you because you have broken our agreement.  I am Ganga and I am here because of a curse placed upon you in your previous incarnation.  The children I was killing were the Vasus who were cursed to be born upon the earth and I was killing them so that they could return to heaven but the eighth Vasu was to remain on earth for a long time as part of the curse.  I will keep this child and raise him and will return him to you in his youth.”  Therefore, Ganga and their son descended into the river Ganga. 

Author’s Note:

This story follows the basic outline of the original story of King Shantanu and Ganga from The Story of the Great War: Some Lessons from the Mahabharata by Annie Besant. I retold it in my own words and tried to change it so that the language in the story was modern. I tried to place importance on the conversations and tried to give background information in the story on why the event occurred

Bibliography:
The Story of the Great War: Some Lessons from the Mahabharata by Annie Besant(1899)

Storytelling Week 11: The Yogi and his Wife

One day as Shiva meditated at Kailas a disciple came to him and told him of some heretical rishis in the Taragam forest.  The disciple told him that they believed that the universe was eternal and that performance of works alone was sufficient for salvation and that the souls had no lord.  Naturally, Shiva was intrigued about the rishis so he went to the Taragam forest to ascertain the truth.  Once there, he discovered ten thousand rishis who did indeed believe as his disciple said.  Wishing to convey the truth upon them, Shiva left the Taragam forest and went to heaven, where Vishnu currently resided.  He then spoke to Vishnu saying, “In the Taragam forest there resides ten thousands heretical rishis and their families, and come let us go and teach them the truth of the world.”

Vishnu then replied to Shiva saying, “I agree let us go and disguise ourselves as a wandering yogi and his wife.  We shall sow disorder in their ranks with our beauty.  They will then attempt to get rid of us but we shall then show our glory to them.”

So Shiva disguised himself as a yogi and Vishnu his wife and they went to the Taragam forest.  When they arrived at the hermitage news of their arrival spread like wildfire.  All the women began to struggle to get a look at Shiva and all the women became madly in love with him. Like with Shiva all of the rishi were madly in love with Vishnu.  When the whole camp had gathered and were declaring their love for Shiva and Vishnu, some of the rishi began to suspect that something was suspicious about the couple that had just arrived in their hermitage.  The rishi then gathered together and it was then decided to curse the couple and when the curse failed the rishi were surprised and began to cast even greater curses on them.  When these had all failed, they prepared a sacrificial fire and summoned a tiger to kill Shiva and Vishnu.  Shiva then simply picked up the tiger, skinned it with pinky finger, and wrapped the skin around himself.  Astonished the rishis summoned a serpent, which was even more powerful than the tiger but again Shiva simply picked the serpent up and wrapped it around his neck. 

Shiva Dancing (Source: wikimedia)

Finally, the rishis summoned the most powerful beast they could summon, which was a goblin with a club.  Shiva then pressed his foot on the back of the goblin, stood on its back, and began to dance.  As he was dancing the heavens opened up and the rishis saw the gods and the splendor of heaven.  The rishi quickly threw themselves at the feet of Shiva and Vishnu and began to worship them. 

Author’s Note:

This tale is similar to the original story of Shiva’s Dance from the book Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita.  The original story is shorter so I decided to expand on it and go into more details.  I added in the dialogue between Vishnu and Shiva and at the beginning of the story I added in the paragraph.  The original story does not say how he found out about them.  So I thought of one of the possible ways that it could have happened.  

Bibliography:

Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita, With illustrations by artists under direction of Abanindro Nath Tagore (1914)

Storytelling Week 9: The Beggar God

Sati entered into the grand palace of Daksha Raj on top of Mahadeva’s bull.  She hoped that her father would see the error of his ways and treat Siva kindly.  As she entered the palace, her mother, Daksha Rani, ran out to greet her.

“I was worried that you were not coming,” said Daksha Rani.

Sati’s sisters saw the exchange and were jealous because they had not been greeted as such, so they went and told their father, Daksha Raj, that Sati had arrived to attend the yagna. 

“Sati is at the yagna?  She should not have come.  I will see to it that she does not remain.  Bring her to me,” said Daksha Raj.

Therefore, Sati entered into the palace and came into the throne room.  As she walked towards Daksha Raj’s throne, the thousands of guests all beheld her with admiration at her exquisite dress and grace.  When she arrived at the throne of her father, he began to berate her and Siva. 

“Siva is just a beggar god, he does not deserve to attend a yagna like this,” said Daksha Raj.

After angrily insulting Shiva for a while, Daksha Raj finally ceased to talk then Sati said to him, “While Siva is a beggar; he only cares about the love of his children.  Because such have words have exited your mouth and because such insults towards Shiva do not belong in a human, you shall no longer have the head of a human but of an animal.”

Therefore, Daksha Raj’s head turned into a goat.  Then Sati as she held the audience hall spellbound left the chamber.  As she walked to the stable were Mahadeva’s bull was stabled she marveled to herself that someone so powerful and had so many gods supporting him could be so wicked. 

So, Sati left the city and returned to her home with Siva.  When Siva heard from Sati, what he had foresaw what would transpire at the palace he was filled with rage towards Daksha Raj.

So Siva went down the mountains to the city where Daksha Raj lived and finding Daksha Raj he killed him and began killing everyone else in the palace.  When his rage finally began to subside, he restored the residents of the palace back to life and granted boons to each of them but to Dahsha Raj he said, “I will restore your voice and head but in your time of greatest need nothing shall exit your mouth but the voice of a goat.”

The yagna (Source: wikimedia)

Author’s Note:

This follows along the same storyline of Sati from the book Nine Ideal Indian Women by Sunity Devee.  I wanted to tell a variation on the story were Sati does not actually decide to die.  So I had Sati return to her home and had Siva go on a rampage in the palace of Daksha Raj instead. 

Bibliography:
Nine Ideal Indian Women by Sunity Devee (1919)

Storytelling Week 7: The Disciple of None

When word began to travel around that Drona had begun to train the Pandava and Kaurava princes in war other nobles and princes began to flock to Drona from neighboring kingdoms.  One of the princes that happened to flock to Drona from one of the other kingdoms called Nishadha was Ekalavya.  He was from non-Aryan birth and was of a lower race.  When Ekalavya finally arrived at Hastinapur he approached Drona and said to him, “Guru you are well versed in the arts of war please teach your humble student in the art of war.”

When Drona heard this, he was pleased with Ekalavya and said to him, “Boy what is your name?”

Ekalavya then replied saying, “I am Prince Ekalavya of Nishadha.”

When Drona heard this he was saddened because Nishadha was an enemy nation and Ekalavya was of a lower race than the Aryans.  Therefore, he could not teach Ekalavya the ways of war lest the secrets of warfare be revealed to him.  Then Drona said to him, “Boy I cannot teach you go back to your home.”

So Ekalavya left and went into the forest and made a clay statue of Drona that he revered as his teacher.  Ekalavya then began training in archery day and night hoping that one day Drona may look at him with pride.  However, one day a dog appeared and began to bark so Ekalavya turned and shot seven arrows in the mouth of the dog in an instant.  The dog ran away in pain to his masters who happened to be the princes.  When they saw the dog, they marveled at the skill of the archer and began to seek the archer.  When they finally found Ekalavya, they said to him, “Are you the one who shot the dog seven times in the mouth so that it can no longer close its mouth?”

Ekalavya replied, “I am a disciple of Drona like yourselves, my name is Ekalavya, prince of Nishadha.”

So the princes left and told Drona of what they had seen and heard.  Drona at hearing what Ekalavya had said was filled with anger and rushed to meet him.  When he arrived, Ekalavya prostrated himself and Drona asked Ekalavya, “is it true that you are my pupil?”

Ekalavya replied, “If it is the master’s will I am.”

So Drona replied, “A teacher’s fee is required to become my pupil.  If you have not the money a sacrifice must be made.”

Ekalavya quickly answered, “All that I have will be but yours if you ask for it.”

“Cut off your right thumb” said Drona.

Ekalavya without a look of sadness grabbed his knife, cut of his right thumb, and handed it to Drona. Then Drona said, “I do not train cripples and left Ekalavya.” 

When Drona had left, Ekalavya tried to fire his bow again but when finding he could not he began to weep.

Ekalavya cutting off his thumb (Source: wikipedia)

Author’s note: 

This week’s story was inspired by the story of Ekalavya.  This story follows along roughly the same story but I added depth to the story hoping to generate more understanding into why Drona did what he did.  I hope that as this story is read the reader will feel for Ekalavya but at the same time feel for Drona who most likely would have loved to be able to train Ekalavya.  

Bibliography:

"Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists" by Sister Nivedita (1914)

Storytelling Week 6: The Regret of a Future King

Yudhistira wept over his fallen family members.  He and his brothers had committed fratricide on a grand scale because of the wickedness of a few individuals.  “What will I do now that the war is over, that our family has been nearly destroyed?  I wish that I had known that Karna was my brother.  I would have gone to him and had him become our king.  How shall I repent for this?” thought Yudhistira.

His brothers were with him and Yudhistira said to him “Our family, who had become our enemies, which we killed, has been granted the right to go to heaven.  However, it does not grant me peace.  Arjuna I will go out into the wilderness and seek renunciation.”

At these words Yudhistira’s brothers were frustrated and rightfully so they thought.  They had endured years of misfortune and they had steeled their resolve to kill their family members.  Now, Yudhistira wanted to shirk his duty and go into solitude.  Arjuna said to him, “We have sacrificed so much for this; we cannot turn back from the path before us.  To turn back now would make those that had died die a worthless death.” 

Then Bhima said to him, “If you speak so about what we have done, it would have been better not to have waged war against Duryodhana.  We should have let Dhritarashtra have his way with us instead.  If not for Dhritarahtra, Duryodhana and all our family would be at peace.  You have a duty to your family and all of your followers; your cast that you were born with cannot be changed.  You have to take up the crown and rule this nation. 

Then the younger brothers, Nakula and Sahadeva, spoke to Yudhistira saying, “We have stood by your side all these years and we went into battle for you knowing that we would be fighting our family.  Do not dishonor those that have died by running away.  Dhritarashtra is probably happy thinking that he was able to defeat you in the end.”

After all this Yudhistira was still did not think that he should be king and that he should go into the forest and seek renunciation.  Therefore, Krishna spoke to Yudhistira, “Disregard your own feelings on this matter.  You have wallowed around for long enough.  You cannot think about only yourself you have to act for all that have fought and died and you have to think about all the people that need to be led.”

So Yudhistira decided to become king and led the kingdom for years.

The five Pandava brothers and Draupadi (Source: wikipedia)

Author's Note:  I read The Mahabharata by R. K. Narayan.  For this week I decided to do a variation on the scene were Yudhistira does not want to become king anymore and is saddened by the loss of his family.  For my version I followed the original version for the most part and added in my own version of the conversation which I think got to the root of the problem.  I also added a little spin to the tail by making Duryodhana a good person.

Bibliography:

The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic by R. K. Narayn (1978)

Storytelling Week 5: Weapons of War

Arjuna receiving weapons from Shiva (Source: wikimedia)

Arjuna was aggravated; he had already spent seven years in the wilderness.  “When will we have a chance at exacting our revenge against Duryodhana?” he thought.

Fortunately for Arjuna, change was in the wind for him and he was about to receive and special knowledge and a mission by Yudhishthira. 

“Arjuna,” said Yudhishthira, “Come, walk with me.  I have an important matter to discuss with you.”

Therefore, Yudhishthira and Arjuna began to walk along the mountain stream that was near their camp and they came to the small waterfall that the brothers regularly used to meditate at.

“Arjuna, I know that you are angry about what has happened, but once again I tell you that it was the will of the gods and they shall allow us to have our revenge in due time.  However, for now I have a special task for you to undertake.  I will teach you a mantra that will allow you to get weapons from gods and you are to go and gather weapons will we are still in exile,” said Yudhishthira.

“I will do as you say,” said Arjuna.

So Yudhishthira taught Arjuna the mantra and Arjuna went and gathered his belongings and said goodbye. 

Arjuna journeyed deep into the Vindhya Mountains to meditate.  He then after meditating for a period spoke the mantra and once again began to meditate.  Then one day a hunter appeared before Arjuna. 

“Greetings,” said the hunter, “I am seeking a deer that has fled onto this mountain, have you seen it?”

“I have not seen it but you are welcome to eat and rest here,” said Arjuna.

Then the hunter transformed into Shiva who then gave to Arjuna the astra, pasupatha, and left.  Similar events then occurred with the gods Varuna, Yama, and Kubera and they all spoke of victory of the kauravas.  After these events occurred, Arjuna decided to travel to another mountain to meditate and while he was traveling on a mountain path, a chariot suddenly appeared before him.

“Get in,” said the driver, “and I will take you to Amaravathi.”

So Arjuna got into the chariot and rode to Indra’s city.  When he arrived, he was greeted with a great celebration, as he was Indra’s son.  Then after the parties had finished, Indra imparted his weapons and the secrets of them to Arjuna.

“Arjuna, I give you me weapons and the secrets of them.  Use them wisely and you will achieve victory in your coming battles.  But it is not enough to just know of battle so I will have you learn also of the arts of music and dance,” said Indra.

So Arjuna spent his time learning the arts and one night when he was meditating, Urvasi came into his room and offered herself to him because she had fallen in love with him.  But he could not break his ascetic vow and viewed her as one would view their mother.

“For ignoring me and my advances may you be treated as a eunuch by women,” said Urvasi.

After a period had passed and Arjuna was preparing to leave Indra said to him, “The curse is actually a blessing in disguise and it will be needed in the thirteenth year.”

So Arjuna left Amaravathi, returned to his brothers, and prepared for war.

Author's note:

The source material for this is The Mahabharata by R. K. Narayan.  This story is based of the original story of Arjuna going and receiving weapons from the gods.  I decided to stay close to the source material and focus on expanding on it.  I thought it would be interesting to learn more about Arjuna and the events surrounding his time acquiring the weapons.  

Bibliography:

The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic by R. K. Narayn (1978)

Storytelling Week 4: The Voice of Queen Mandodari

Queen Mandodari hurriedly entered the royal court.  As she ran to appeal to Ravana to quit his fight against Rama, she thought back to the words that a servant had told her.  The servant had told her that one of the other servants had had a premonition that spoke of a monkey that set fire to the city, Ravana being humiliated, then Ravana being killed.  The first event had already occurred and she was worried that the other events would come to pass.  She saw Vibhishana and ran toward him.

“Vibhishana!”  Queen Mandodari yelled, “one of the servants told me of a premonition and it has been true so far.  If Ravana continues to desire Sita and starts a war it will mean his death.”

“We must convince him to not go to war,” said Vibhishana, “but do not mention the premonition, for if he hears of this he will discredit it as gossip of women and will desire to prove it false.”

Therefore, Vibhishana and Queen Mandodari entered the audience chamber of Ravana.  Queen Mandodari threw herself at the feet of Ravana and said to him, “Abandon your fight with Rama, and return Sita to him, for he will destroy us all.”

“Hahaha” said Ravana, “I will prove to you that Rama is just a puny human.  I will kill Rama and make Sita my queen.”

So Vibhishana then approached Ravana during the war council.  “Ravana, we should not go to war.  Rama is no ordinary human.  He broke the bow of Siva and he leads a mighty army to take back his wife that you stole from him.  Return his wife and let us end this matter.”

“No!  I will not return Sita, who should be my queen, I will never submit to this Rama.  Get out of my sight” said Ravana.

So Vibhishana left Ravana but before he departed Lanka, he visited Queen Mandodari.  “My Queen, I have been abandoned by Ravana.  I now depart to join Rama’s camp.  I pray that we can meet again when this war is over” spoke Vibhishana.

Queen Mandodari began to prepare for the arrival of Rama’s army.  “If Ravana wants to desire other women and bring about his own ruin I will have nothing to do with this,” said Queen Mandodari. 

When Rama’s army entered the city Vibhishana went to Queen Mandodari and said “Rama is going to spare Lanka and make me king over the land.  Will you be my queen?  Let us rekindle our love for each other that Ravana forced us to abandon all those years ago.”

Queen Mandodari mourning Ravana's death (Source: wikimedia)

Author’s Note

I got my inspiration for this story from The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould.  I decided that while I would follow the lore of the story for the most part I wanted to tell the story from Queen Mandodari’s point of view.  I decided to make her similar to Vibhishana.  While she was a raksha, I made her not needlessly violent and one of the voices of reason to Ravana.  I also wanted to make her a more approachable and a character that the readers’ could identify with.  Because Queen Mandodari would later marry Vibhishana, I thought that it would be interesting to have Vibhishana and Queen Mandodari love each other but had to abandon their love because Ravana desired Queen Mandodari to be his wife.  The reason it was at the end and not at the beginning of the story was that I thought that it would be more interesting for Queen Mandodari to play the role of a loving wife rather a queen with a lover.  I wanted to make them both loyal subjects to Ravana until Ravana’s folly of desiring Sita spelled their doom.  Which I hope was shown when they both try to make Ravana return Sita. 

Bibliography

The Divine Archer By F. J. Gould (1911)

Storytelling Week 3: The Imprisonment of Sita

As she sat in the garden, Asoka Vana, Sita contemplated on her state and mourned. 

“Why did I ask for the golden deer?” She pondered, “why was I not content with what I had.  If only I had not told Lakshmana to go and save Rama.”

A period of time passed and Ravana approached Sita and said to her, “surely Rama has abandoned you.  Would it not be better to come to me and become my queen?”

Sita replied, “I would rather spend an eternity of eternities away from Rama then to become your queen.”

Ravana was angered at her response and had his rakshasa women harass her daily until she would change her response.  But no matter how much she was abused by the women, yelled at by him, or cajoled by him, Sita would not change her response to him.  Therefore, Ravana sent spies out to find Rama so that he could battle Rama and remove Rama’s head. 

“For surely,” said Ravana “She will love me if Rama is obliterated by my hand.”

When the spies came back they reported of a massive monkey army led by Rama and that the army was searching for Sita. 

Ravana then declared, “Gather our armies and prepare for a war.”

A few weeks after this transpired Sita was being to lose hope and was contemplating suicide when her daily abuse from the rakshasa began.  Shortly after that, Ravana appeared and tried to convince her to become his queen.  She as usual spurned all of his advances. 

After Ravana had left and the rakshasa had finished their abuse, Sita said to herself “I shall end my life before I waste away here and lose all hope of rescue.  O Rama!  Have you forgotten me?”

As Sita was preparing for her suicide a Hanuman slowly appeared in front of her, he explained to Sita all that had been occurring, and that Rama had been preparing and searching for since the moment she disappeared.  When he had finished explaining he produced Rama’s ring and showed it to her.

Sita was overcome by emotion and said to Hanuman, “that surely is Rama’s ring.  I am the most blessed of women that he is still searching for me after all this time.”  Then she produced her last piece of jewelry that she had hidden away in a knot in her sari-end.  Sita then said, “I shall wait her for Rama to save me for I could not sully Rama’s honor by returning with you.  Please tell Rama that I breathlessly await his arrival and rescue.”

Hanuman meeting Sita (Source: wikipedia)

Author's Note:

This story is based off of events in The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan.  I took the story of Sita's capture and retold it from a viewpoint that focused more on her and the events occurring in her area.  My goal was to focus on Sita plight and draw emotion from it.  

Bibliography:

          "The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic" by R.K. Narayan, 1973.

Storytelling Week 2: Rama and the Cursed

A report on Rama and Lakshmana’s activities:

As Vishvamitra was walking with Rama and Lakshmana, he began to tell them the story of Thataka and her sons, Mareecha and Subahu.  Vishvamitra spoke of how Thataka was a pure, courageous demigod.  Then he spoke of how Mareecha and Subahu were full of mischief and how they had gone around and in their pride and ignorance had reaped destruction upon the landscape.  After that he spoke of how Thataka’s husband, Sunda, saw what Mareecha and Subahu had done and saw that it was desirous and went into the forest where they lived and pulled up the father trees and killed the wildlife and how Subahu had incited the ancient and great sage Agasthya to great rage over the destruction of the forest.  Vishvamitra then said of how at that moment Sunda was struck down by Agasthya for his deeds.  Then Vishvamitra angrily spoke of how Thataka, Mareecha, and Subahu had gone into the forest to seek and bring to justice the killer of Thataka’s husband and Mareecha and Subahu’s father and when they had located Agasthya, Agasthya without second thought sentenced Thataka, Mareecha, and Subahu to become asura.  He then whispered of how Thataka, who was free from any wrongdoings and had merely gone out to seek justice, was now wandering about devouring sages for her being wrongly judged.  Rama then spoke of how he would free Thataka.  When suddenly Thataka appeared in their midst and began to attack them.  Thataka threw her trident at Rama, which he then deflected and destroyed with an arrow from his bow.  Then Rama quickly strung a spirit arrow (arrow that had been cleansed at a shrine on the Ganges River) and shot true and pierced the heart of Thataka.  The instant Thataka was pierced by the spirit arrow, cracks began to appear all over Thataka’s form with light bursting forth, and a beautiful voice emanated from Thataka thanking Rama for freeing her from the curse.  Then she burst and the light flew to Rama and was absorbed into him.  Vishvamitra then asked Rama what had Thataka done and Rama replied that Thataka as thanks had attached her spirit to him and now her strength was now his strength and she would protect him and guide him in the future.  Vishvamitra, Rama, and Lakshmana then journeyed and arrived at the site for the yagna and as the ritual was being performed, a host of asura appeared.  Rama using Thataka’s strength shielded the ritual from the asura.  Among the asura slain were the sons of Thataka, Mareecha, and Subahu.  Then after the ritual Vishvamitra spoke to Rama and told him that he had a difficult life in front of him and then they journeyed to a secluded region of the forest and Vishvamitra taught Rama and Lakshmana all the arts of warfare.  Shortly thereafter, a host of gods appeared and all the gods of warfare went and blessed Rama and pledged their service to Rama.  So ends my report.

Seshenona Arben – Captain of the Dragoon Shadow Guard

Long Live King Dasharatha!

Rama shooting Thataka (Source: wikimedia)

Author's Note:

This is based of Thataka's story in The Ramayana By R. K. Narayan.  I tried to create a story of that was viewed from a distance and at the same time invoke emotion using the situation of Thataka.  The reason that I tried to create a story viewed from a distance was that it limits the emotions generated by the individual characters, which causes, I believe, the reader to have to draw the emotion from the actual events and their own self.  I came up with the situation with Thataka with a variation of a scene from Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari.  In the original scene an elf who was bound to a magical ring and due to circumstances her lover had to leave her and she cursed her fellow elves and her fate being bound to the ring and left her home.  Then she was given a fake magical ring with a promise to heal her heart by a demon king and was forced into his service. Then she was defeated by the hero in the story which freed her from the fake ring.  So in this instance of the story instead of a ring it was a curse.  In the original story however, Thataka is an raging monster that for all intents and purposes deserves her punishment.   Then she is killed by Rama. 

Bibliography:

         "The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic" by R.K. Narayan, 1973.

Storytelling Week 1: The Dastardly and the Righteous

This motif of an eagle fighting a snake shows the eagle which is the light defeating the snake which is the darkness
Source: (deviantart) License: (creativecommons) Changes:(resized image)

One day an eagle came across a snake that had just engorged himself on a juice, plump mouse. 

“How are you faring?” asked the eagle. 

“Very well,” replied the snake, “I have dined on the most scrumptious of mice and I would be most obliged if you would give me a lift to the mountain over yonder.” 

The eagle realized that the journey to the mountain would be arduous.  As he was a noble and honorable eagle, he decided to perform a good deed for another denizen of the animal kingdom.  Therefore, he swooped down and clasped the snake in his claws.

As the snake was carried to the mountain, he looked at the well-preened feathers of the eagle and thought to himself, “This eagle is very pleasant to look at and he has a healthy figure.  I think I shall devour him once we arrive at the mountain.”

“Once again I must offer my thanks,” said the snake hoping to mislead the eagle.

“It is no trouble,” said the eagle, “one such as I must extend our services to those in need.  Furthermore, I have family on the mountain and it shall be a blessing to see them once again.  For I have not seen my family for three winters.”

As they neared the mountain the eagle asked, “where should I set you down?”

“On the far side of the mountain, next to stream, at the tree line” replied the snake.

The snake prepared himself to attack the eagle.  When they arrived at their destination, the snake quickly wrapped himself around the eagle but his head was too close to the claws of the eagle to strike the eagle with his fangs.

“Why are you doing such a thing?” exclaimed the eagle.

“You shall make an excellent snack for me,” replied the snake.

So the eagle began a fight for survival as the noose of the snake crept closer and closer.  As the snake was about to obtain his victory, he was suddenly wrested from the eagle by a human hunter. 

“Curses,” thought the snake.  So he bared his fangs at the human hunter.  After missing several strikes at the hunter, he struck the hunter’s water skin and injected his venom. 

Seeing the proximity of the snake, the hunter swung down a fatal blow to the snake. 

As the snake crept off to die, the snake thought to himself, “we shall see who has the last laugh.”

The eagle, thankful of the hunter’s valiant effort, saw what the snake had down and flew into the air to wait for a chance to retrieve the water skin.  The exhilarated hunter walked over the stream to fill his water skin with the fresh mountain water.  After he had filled his water skin, and was lifting it his mouth to cleanse his parched throat, the eagle seeing his opportunity, dove and snatched the water skin from the hunter’s hand.  The eagle then flew off to dispose of the water skin the snake had tainted.

Authors Note:

This story is based off the Aesop Fable "The Serpent and the Eagle."  In the story, a snake attacks an eagle and as the eagle was gasping for breath, a countryman came and assisted the eagle.  Then the snake, who could not strike the countryman, struck the countryman's drinking horn.  As the countryman was about to drink from the horn, the eagle came and snatched the horn away saving the countryman.  I followed the base outline of the story and focused on the character development of the snake and the eagle.  I gave the eagle an honourable character and the snake trickster character, which I used to advance the story.  The countryman is a hunter in my version but his role is the same and he performs the same actions.  I felt that focusing too much on the hunter would detract from the story between the snake and the eagle.  The image was chosen because I felt that it was an accurate representation of the events that had occurred in the story.  The reason that the story was chosen was that I felt that this story shows of the age-old problem of good people being kind and be backstabbed.  In this instance, however a good Samaritan comes along and rescues the eagle from his plight.  

Bibliography:

Book: The Æsop for Children With pictures by Milo Winter
Author: Æsop
Year Published: December 2, 2006

Source: www.gutenberg.org