Week 3 Storytelling: The Story of Sita's Fear

As Ravana carried her away, Sita saw Jatayu fall, and with him, her last hope.

“Eventually, you will grow to care for me,” Ravana said, half trying to convince himself.

“I will always hate you! I only care for Rama and you have taken me away from him! You will never have me!” Sita replied angrily.

For days, Ravana carried Sita over his shoulder. She kicked and screamed the whole way, dropping jewelry with her as a trail, but no matter what Ravana continued on.

After a week of this, Ravana and Sita arrived in his capital. There, he locked her away in a house.

“You will stay here, locked away, until you can appreciate the strong god you have in front of you, instead of longing for a man you will never see again,” Ravana said.

“No, I will stay here until Rama saves me from you!” Sita yelled, as Ravana slammed the door.

Many days passed, which Sita kept track of by carving tally marks in the wall with a sharp rock. Each day, Ravana would come to see her. First, he would appear in good spirits with gifts for Sita, but when Sita refused to look at him, he would become angry and leave.

One day, she decided to pretend to care for Ravana in order to escape. After faking pleasantries and accepting his gifts, Sita easily fooled Ravana.

“I told you that you would grow to care for me.” Ravana said proudly.

“You’re right! Once I forgot about that simple man, Rama, I could finally see how lucky I was to have the admiration of someone like you, so strong and handsome.” Sita said convincingly.

“”Now that you finally understand, I see no reason to keep you locked away. I will unlock the door so that you can join me and my siblings for dinner this evening.” Ravana replied.

Sita politely accepted his invitation and played nice with Ravana and his family.

Later that night, Sita sneaked out of the house and started running as far as she could from Ravana’s terrible city.

When Ravana came to visit her and realized she was gone, his scream could be heard all over the Earth. This made Sita run even faster, but it did not matter. However fast she ran, Ravana could run one hundred times faster. Ravana came after her and recaptured her within an hour.

Once they were back in the city, Ravana took her to the Ashoka Vana garden. This was no normal garden. Instead of red roses, there were black roses. Instead of gnome statues, there were terrifying gargoyle statues. On many of the flowers, thorns stuck out, dripping with poison. Within the garden, stood many demons. Ravana threw Sita, who wept desperately, onto the ground.

“Until I have vanquished your dear Rama, you will never feel safe again! I leave you with these demons.  May they terrify and frighten you every moment, until Rama is dead. Once I have killed him, we may have a chance,” Ravana said.

After instructing the demons to constantly frighten Sita, Ravana left and held up in his palace.

Sita remained in the garden, terrified for her life, with no way to keep track of the days. For what seemed like an eternity, Sita sat there in constant fear. One day, however, everything changed. She had finally decided that there was no point in living any longer and prepared to end her life, but then Hanuman appeared, and with him, new hope.

Image information: Hanuman approaching Sita in Ravana's garden

Source: Spiritual Messenger

Author's Note: For my storytelling this week, I wanted to feel in the gap of what had happened to Sita during her abduction. In Narayan's Ramayana, Sita is taken away after Ravana kills Jatayu, and then we hear nothing of her, except that she dropped jewelry along the way, until Hanuman finally finds her. I wanted to tell a story about how those months passed for her in Ravana's capital. I really like to use dialogue, so I narrated the story, with a focus on Sita.

Bibliography: Narayan, R.K. (1972) The Ramayana.



Week 3: Reading Diary B

MEMENTO FROM RAMA

I was glad to see that Sita remained loyal to Rama, but it was really upsetting to see her frightened and imprisoned like that,wanting to end her life. I can't imagine how terrifying those months had been for her. I'm also happy that Hanuman was not killed by Ravana, because Hanuman has been so loyal and brave for Rama. He even wreaked havoc on Ravana's city.

RAVANA IN COUNCIL

I love how Ravana's commander-in-chief chastised him for stealing Sita while Rama and Lakshmana were away. That was such a cowardice move, and also a stupid move. It's also ignorant of them to continue to underestimate Rama and Lakshmana as simple human beings who can be easily defeated. Their cockiness will surely lead to their downfall. Vibishana is the only smart one in the whole council. He is the only one who realizes that Ravana is in a dangerous spot right now. Ravana really should have listened to him and released Sita. 

ACROSS THE OCEAN

I think this was definitely a difficult choice that Rama had to make. On the one hand, I do think Vibishana truly has a good heart, but that is not an easy thing to know for sure. Vibishana could be fooling them as a double agent, however, based on what I know, I believe that Vibishana came here because he believes in Rama and Ravana threatened to kill him if he stayed. Rama made the right decision in accepting him. 

THE SIEGE OF LANKA

For this chapter, I was imagining a battle in the Planet of the Apes movie. Ravana continues throughout the battle to be arrogant and brash. I was a little surprised that Rama let Ravana go when he could have defeated him. That was honorable, but I also think when someone is as evil as Ravana, maybe he doesn’t deserve the same respect that others do. I also thought about the difference between Rama and his brothers, who have so much respect, loyalty, and love for him, compared to Ravana and his brothers, who have no loyalty or respect for him and fear him.

RAMA AND RAVANA IN BATTLE

Finally, Rama and Ravana will face each other! I thought it was sweet that Rama protected Lakshmana from Mahodara. What an intense battle! It kind of reminded me of a duel in Harry Potter with them attacking and countering the attacks with what seemed like incantations. While I was glad that Rama came out victorious, there was something sad about Ravana’s death.

INTERLUDE

That was ridiculous! How could Rama be so cold after all she had been through, as though she asked to be away from him in a stranger’s house! This chapter definitely upset me. I thought Rama was better than that.

THE CORONATION

What a happy ending, even for Kaikeyi! Overall, I really enjoyed this book! It was so easy to read because the characters were so likable. It was amazing how many loyal people Rama had serving him, such as Bharata, Lakshmana, Sita, and Hanuman. All of those characters truly made the story. 

Week 3: Reading Diary A

So I just realized that the book I have is numbered differently, so I’ve already read the beginning of the assigned reading for this week. Last I read, Jatayu valiantly passed away.

VALI

The author has definitely set this chapter up to be dramatic and disappointing. It seems that Rama will make a terrible mistake in this part of the story. Although I have found Rama to be a very honorable character, even the most noble of people can make huge mistakes. This chapter very much reminds me of Planet of the Apes, as the monkeys are highly intelligent beings.

Sugreeva’s Story

Wow, what a terrible story! Sugreeva has suffered so much. The injustice of the situation upsets me. It’s amazing how a misunderstood situation can turn into something so much worse when people don’t give others a chance. It makes me angry that Vali would be so rash.

Dundubi’s Story

It sounds like Dundubi had a death wish! Also, how could two people duel for a whole year. It seems that Dundubi got his wish.

Finally, a mention of Sita! It seemed that Rama had all but forgotten her. He must feel terribly powerless since Sita came with him for his 14 years of exile, but he was unable to protect her. That is definitely something that is still common in modern times. For a man to be unable to protect the woman he loves from harm; it is one of the most terrible feelings he can have.

This was a really sad chapter. Although, it seemed that Vali was still in the wrong in the conflict with his brother, I feel that the conflict could have ended without the death of Vali, especially after seeing how upset Sugreeva was by the death of his brother. I do disagree with how Rama handled the situation by hiding and killing Vali. I do not think this was honorable or noble. Rama should have confronted Vali himself. In these epics, it seems that blood is spilled over conflicts that words could have solved. I wish that Rama had not killed Vali, but I do understand his tendency to help Sugreeva, especially after the story that he was told. There’s two sides to every story though. Each side is naturally biased.

WHEN THE WINDS CHASE

I really like that Rama advised Sugreeva to “not hurt anyone’s feelings, not even the lowliest.” I think that shows a person’s true character. There’s a quote that reads this:

Image Information: Quote by James D. Miles

Web Source: Flickr

I absolutely love this quote, and Rama’s words very much reminded me of it.

Rama is very moody in this chapter. It’s interesting to see how the weather affects his moods, just like for us. Rama’s words were overly harsh about Sugreeva. He would destroy every monkey in the world? I think that’s called genocide..

I was glad that Tara and the other monkeys were able to divert the situation when Lakshmana arrived. I really didn’t want there to be conflict there. I also got really worried when the search party almost gave up hope! I was glad to see that Hanuman realized his own powers, however I also appreciate the humility that Hanuman displays.