Story: Sita the Eternal Flame

Note: This story takes place when Rama captures Lanka and retakes Sita. He is questioning her loyalty, and considering throwing her in a great pyre.

Source: PDE Ramayana http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/pde-ramayana-sita-is-tested.html

Now Sita, hearing all of Rama's foul accusations about her and Ravana, was publicly shamed and tired and wondering what she could do to recover from this. No matter how much she begged or pleaded with Rama, he stood by his views that it would be unfit for a king to take a queen that has lived so long in the house of another man. Rama then suggests giving her a trial by fire- if she is indeed pure, she should be unharmed.

His army of bears helped put together a great pyre for Sita, and when it was all finished, practically the whole city was gathered to watch what was to unfold. Sita looked positively radiant as she made her way up to the great pyre. All that looked upon her were marveled by her beauty, except Rama. He has already come to terms with Sita's demise; he knew in his heart she wasn't loyal

As Sita was situated on the pyre and ready to light, she said a few last words. She looked directly at Rama, and spoke to him, "Rama, my once beloved. You will come to regret these actions. Know that." And with that, Rama gave the command, and the pyre was lit.

Sita began screaming louder and louder as she lit up, until, suddenly, she cried out to the god of fire, Agni, and immediately burst into ashes, and was never seen, in her human form again. For when she called out to Agni, it was not to save herself, but to put a curse on Rama, Agni could see that she was pure and did not deserve such a harsh death, so he had allowed Sita to avenge herself in some way. From now on, whenever Rama lit a fire near him or there was a fire near him, it would be Sita's face he saw in it, and Sita's voice he heard in it. He could never escape her, if he wanted light and warmth for the rest of his life.

Sita on the Pyre

And with this knowledge, Rama grew regretful in his hasty and harsh actions against Sita, and he begged her and the gods forgiveness. But none was given.

Author's note:

I wrote this because after I read about Sita being almost burned alive in Ramayana, I thought of all the ways it could have gone worse, and wanted to test out an idea I had,

Storytelling Week 4: Sampati and Jatayu Spot Rama

My story doesn't really have a source story because I am completely making up an event that happens, but the characters would be pulled from PDE Ramayana.

This story takes place before Sampati loses his wings trying to shield his brother Jatayu from the sun, and before Rama was exiled.

Sampati and his brother Jatayu were young adult birds, and just now learning to hone their abilities and prowess in battle and in the air. Their father, the personification of the Sun's red glow, Aruna, instructed them to leave the nest and spend some time hunting and exploring to grow stronger.

Things were going well, with the two natural born hunters thriving out in the wild world, hunting whatever they pleased, and simply flying away if they ran into anything they couldn't handle. They ventured farther and farther from their nest until they came across a great jewel of a city, Ayodhya. They had never seen a city as large and spectacular as Ayodhya, and decided to fly closer to take a look.

As they got closer, they could see there was some type of commotion going on. In the city center, there was what looked like an archery exhibit going on. There was a great crowd of people, commoners and highborns alike, and their singular focus was on a young, handsome man with skin the color of the sea. The brothers decided to perch atop a guard tower to get a better view, their curiosity now piqued. They watched intently as he let loose seemingly impossible amount of arrows at the target roughly 100 meters away. The birds and the crowd alike were astounded by his accuracy, as the hundreds of arrows he fired all hit exactly where he intended; some arrows even hitting other arrows already lodged in the target, splitting them down the shaft.

The birds were in awe of this incredible display, and their first reaction was to fear this incredible warrior. But once the display was over, the brothers watched as Rama displayed his penchant for grace: talking joyously to everyone in the crowd alike, blessing babies, and generally being a humble guy. They heard the crowd mention his name, "Rama." Sampati spoke to his younger brother Jatayu, letting him know his feelings for this man,"Jatayu, we must be ready to fight for this young warrior when the time comes. With his power and gifts, no demon would be able to hold him. We must remember this day, and prepare. Let us return to the nest and speak to the others what we have learned."

Jatayu agreed with his older brother, and added, "I'll race you home, brother" and took off towards the sun.

Here is a picture of Sampati I like because it depicts him as being HUGE.

Author's note: After doing reading C of Ramayana, the story of Jatayu and Sampati really stood out to me because I always liked large, friendly, fierce mythical creatures, and the two brothers reminded me of the great eagles from Lord of The Rings that save the day at the end. So I decided to write more about them, and include this event that could have possibly happened, and give another reason for why Jatayu would have helped Rama in getting SIta back from Ravana.

Storytelling Week 3: Ravana, the New Rama

The following story is meant to alter the events in Ramayana reading Part B, where Ravana comes up with a plot to capture Sika from Rama. ( Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).

Rama and his brother  Lakshmana, along with Sita, sat alone in a cave deep in the forest, deciding what their next move was. They had only just earlier narrowly avoided death by the hands of Khara and his army of Rakshasas.

Sika was absentmindedly gazing into the forest while Rama and Lakshmana went over possible strategies to counter a possible attack from  Ravana, great king of Lanka and powerful rakshasas. Suddenly, a flash of gold caught Sika's eye. "Rama, see that radiant gold stag in the clearing over their? I want it, would you take it as a trophy for me, your beloved?" Rama rolled his eyes, growing tired of his wife's seemingly ignorant and aloof nature toward the potential danger at hand. However, he did love her dearly, and wanted to put her at ease. He agreed to go out get the stag for her, and be back soon.

Not 5 minutes later, Sika and Lakshmana heard Rama cry out from the woods, "Help Lakshmana !". Knowing Rama could normally fend for himself Lakshmana was hesitant to leave Sika alone, but Sika couldn't handle knowing Rama might be in trouble. He assured Sika he would go out and make sure Rama was ok, and be back shortly. He walked out to where the stag was first spotted, and saw Rama sitting on the ground holding his leg.

He approached Rama, and asked, "Brother are you ok? We heard you calling out for us." Rama replied, with a strange look in his eyes, " Yes brother I am fine, I just tripped and needed some help getting up, would you help me?" As Lakshmana bent down to help him up, Rama took advantage of  his off-balance position, and pushed him into a camouflaged pit that sit right behind him. Now in the pit, he noticed Rama was in there as well, and suddenly realised what had happened. He had been fooled by Ravana. Ravana had not only mimicked Rama's voice, but had also taken his guise. He said to the two brothers in the pit, "You fools, now rot here until the end of time. Now, I'm going to enjoy a little alone time with my wife, Sika."

SIka eagerly awaited the return of Rama and his brother, and was relieved when Rama strode back through the cave entrance. Now Ravana's plan was to get back at Rama by laying with his wife, but Brahma had put a curse on him, so that if he ever try to rape, or lay with a woman that didn't want him, all his heads would fall off. So to get around this, he had taken the form of Rama.

His plan was going perfectly, and Sika agreed that some alone time was nice, and maybe they should think about having an heir. But just as things were about to start, Brahma appeared, and struck down Ravana, revealing his true form. "Oh Ravana, you really thought you could get around your curse through imitation? If they don't want Ravana, in his true form, then the curse is active. Your heads will now be torn asunder." Ravana stood powerless as Brahma ripped off his heads, and banished him back to Khara. Before he left, he helped the brothers out of the pit, and warned them to be more careful from now on, for many would try to even more sinister things in the future.

Author's notes:

I decided to rewrite the part about Ravana decieving in kidnapping SIka because I saw lots of potential in the scene. I wanted to go with making Ravana able to take the shape of Rama, not only his voice, so that he could try to seduce sika, like he does after he kidnaps her in the story. I hope you guys liked it.

                                                            Ravana with Sika. (Link)

Week 2 Story: The Cunning Crane and the Slipper Eel

     This story is a remake of "The Cunning Crane and the Crab" taken from The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.

The slippery eel watched from his little hole carved out among the wall of the small pond, once filled with many fish. Day after day, for the past few weeks, he watched as the cunning crane took fish after fish from the pond to somewhere far away. He had heard them whispering about some big lake paradise, full of fat insects but no fish to eat them. He doubted that the crane actually took them there, because he knew exactly what the hunger was like. But he was powerless to stop the crane, so as he watched the last few fish fall into the Crane's trap, he knew that something had to be done, or else he would starve.

Finally, the day came where there was no life in the pond besides his own and his old friend the Crab. The crab knew something was up too, and assured him that if the crane was to try to take him to the lake, he would not let him get the upper-hand. Hours pass, and lo and behold the crane sticks its slender beak into the pond, and asks if the crab would like to join the rest of the fish in the lake. The crab says yes, but he slyly added that he was too heavy for the crane to carry like the fish, so he would have to allow the crab to grab on with his claws. The crane didn't like this, and looked around for any other more suitable menu item that could be transported with less risk. Spotting the eel, he questioned, "Would you like to go to my big lake, eel? There are plenty of fish there now, more than you can eat, and much more space to move around then this derelict pond." The eel had been waiting for this opportunity, and conceded, only warning the crane not to drop him because he was a bit slippery.

The trip was going smoothly, and the crane couldn't help but smirk. Soon enough he will be feasting on the eel, and a meal that would last him for weeks. But once the eel could see the bones of his old pond mates littering the base of a tree, he knew what the crane intended. As the flew in above the lake, the eel knew what had to be done. The crane had underestimated his strength, and he squirmed his body intensely to get the crane to loosen his grip, and plunged toward the water. But the crane had to be taught a lesson, and the eel always wanted to know what crane tasted like. The eel wrapped the end of his long body around the crane's wing, and crushed it, dragging him into the depth of the lake, never to resurface again. The eel also found that this lake was perfectly suitable, it had plenty of fish; they were just too big for the crane to catch.

It goes to show, no matter how cunning or smart you are, don't get too confident. For there is always someone more cunning or smart then you.

This is a picture of an eel like I like.(Link)

Author's Note:

I remade "The Cunning Crane and the Crab" story because I felt like there were a lot of different ways I could make it different. I decided to change up the story by making the Crane reluctant to carry the crab in this remake, and instead opt for choosing a slippery eel he thinks he can overpower. I also tried to alter the takeaway platitude that was ingrained in the original story.

Bibliography

The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.(Link)