One day Ram was walking through his kingdom looking at how
much progress his people has made in under his rule. Ram had disguised himself
as a commoner so no one would pounce on him since he was the king, not only
that but so that he can get an honest opinion about things in the kingdom. Ram
wanted to see if anything needed attention to or if there were any issues
needing to be handled. As Ram was walking he came upon a couple of sellers at
their stall gossiping about Sita. Hearing Sita’s name caught Ram’s attention so
he hid and listened in on their conversation. Ram was disgusted by what he had
heard the men talk about. They blamed Sita of sleeping with Ravan, and that the
baby she is carrying is not of Ram. Ram knew Sita was innocent because she had
proven her innocence in front Agni, the fire god. Ram went back to his palace
and called for his guards to go and bring the men in. The guards do as they
were told and brought the men that were talking about Sita into the hall. Ram
walked in and the men looked confused, but at the same time happy to see the
glorious king in front of them. Ram begins questioning the men if they had said
anything about his wife, the men realized they were in trouble. The men decided
to come clean before Ram went ahead and exiled them, and because they told the
truth Ram didn’t exile or kill them but instead explained Sita’s innocence. He
explained how Sita had been proven innocent in front Agni, and also explained
that it had been dead for more than a year so there would be no way that it
would be Ravan’s baby. The looked at each other feeling rather stupid and
apologized to the queen and king.
Authors Note:
I decided to retell Sita’s abandonment on the river but with
a different ending, because I thought it was unfair how Sita was abandoned just
because Ram heard something. Also told how Ram heard the rumor going around.
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.
I like this version of the Ramayana! I always had trouble with Rama's reaction to what the people said instead of sticking with the truth and keeping Sita with him. He knew Sita was pure, but like human nature so often does, he let other people's opinions skew his perception of right and wrong. Or perhaps not. It's a weird distinction between Hindi god and human king. I think you addressed that well in your version of what could have been. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHello again, Soham!! I also believed it was unfair that Sita got banished due to unfounded (and even unrealistic!) gossip, so I am glad that you decided to retell this tale with a happy ending. Other than a few grammar mistakes and inconsistent tense usage, your storytelling is great! Especially in how you are able to set the scene and tell the story in a succinct but meaningful manner. (Personally, I have length issues with my stories, haha.) Great work!!
ReplyDeleteHey Soham. This is a great story. I really like how you changed the ending to make it happier. I thought that the ending to the original story was so ridiculous. How could they possibly think that the baby was Ravana's when it/they weren't conceived until ten thousand years after Sita was freed from captivity?! And you can't forget that she had already passed a fire test to prove her innocence. There was no rational reason why Sita should have been banished. Good job!
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