Week 4 Story, Rama goes to War
It was an ominous day, one that was fated to be filled with war and bloodshed. The day started with a pouring rain, but this was not water. This rain was of blood, foreshadowing what would flow once more later that day. As the army of bears and monkeys stood, howling and roaring across from the city walls, the earth shook from the din. Inside Lanka, the city under siege, Ravana and his forces prepared for battle, while the captive Sita was filled with hope. The news from the scouts suggested Ravana surrender his captive, but Ravana was filled with pride and refused to surrender, so he decided to attempt a different strategy.
Author's Note:
I liked this story a lot from the reading so I felt no need to make a massive change to it, like I had with my Week 2 and 3 stories. In the original, Rama besieges Lanka, and Ravana attempts to trick Sita into believing Rama is killed, but is foiled by her figuring out his illusion when he leaves. In my story, I made changes to the telling, I wanted to build up the anticipation of the battle, because the descriptions in the original piqued my imagination. Furthermore, I added the fact that Ravana's end goal in this is to get Sita to marry him.
Bibliography:
Rama and his Monkey Army, from British Library
In the meantime, a great phenomenon occurred, a circle of fire fell from the sky. This appeared to be the provocation needed for war, as it sent Rama's army rushing towards the walls, and the din of the battle surpassed even the noise of earlier. The battle raged on for several hours, with both sides suffering heavy losses. Ravana then implemented his plan, he went in to see Sita, who was fraught with nervousness, and told her that Rama was defeated, and had one of his minions bring forth Rama's severed head, and his bow. Upon seeing this, Sita was distraught, and grieved greatly, but refused to accept Ravana's proposals to marry him. Soon after, one of Ravana's generals came, and requested Ravana's presence at the walls. Upon his leaving the room, Rama's head and bow disappeared, and Sita knew that this had been nothing but a trick to deceive her into accepting Ravana's proposal. This gave her hope, and she believed stronger than ever in Rama's victory and rescue of her.Author's Note:
I liked this story a lot from the reading so I felt no need to make a massive change to it, like I had with my Week 2 and 3 stories. In the original, Rama besieges Lanka, and Ravana attempts to trick Sita into believing Rama is killed, but is foiled by her figuring out his illusion when he leaves. In my story, I made changes to the telling, I wanted to build up the anticipation of the battle, because the descriptions in the original piqued my imagination. Furthermore, I added the fact that Ravana's end goal in this is to get Sita to marry him.
Bibliography:
Bibliography:
Myths of Hindus and Buddhists, Sister Nivedita, Source
This story did a really great job with the buildup to the battle. The descriptions make it seem like a true war of divine proportions. The story retains all the important details from the original source too. If there was anything I'd add though, it'd be more detail into the battle itself. I think it'd be interesting to detail the movements of the monkey army, the defense tactics by the rakshasas, and what Rama was doing during the battle. In the prelude to the war, it would have been cool to hear more about the reports from the disguised spies that saw Rama's army and just went "Nope" too, haha. I agree with the original description of the buildup being interesting too. Nothing screams 'war' like blood raining from the sky while a circle of fire emanates from the Sun. Finally, I like how Rama used the burning circle as a sort of cosmic sign to start the war.
ReplyDeleteI really like the story and it was interesting to see that to make Sita surrender, Ravana uses cheap trick to make her believe that Rama is dead and nobody will be able to rescue her anymore. Once Ravana marry Sita than Rama will stop from fighting him and he will emerge victorious, which is nice but not for evil guy. I really like your story and look forward to reading the story in the future.
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