Story: The Ring of Fire

Sita in the fire

(Source: pinterest) 

Sita sat up suddenly as if something in the air had changed. She could feel it in her bones. There was a death; she knew it. Sita began to sob quietly as she acknowledged the fact that her husband might very well be dead. Emotion overwhelmed her and she let out a hysterical cry. When all hope seemed lost, a figure approached from the distance. It was none other than Hanuman ordered by Rama himself to fetch Sita. He informed her that her husband awaited their reunion and she was to dress in the most beautiful fabrics. An overjoyed Sita eagerly began her preparation for her meeting with her husband. After so much violence, reconciliation was hers at last.

When Sita approached Rama's desired meeting place, she was somewhat shocked to behold the plethora of civilians gathered to view her reunion with Rama. Sita's ecstatic mood overtook her as she could not be more overjoyed to have so many individuals witness the beauty of her husband's embrace. She rushed over to Rama and jumped into his arms.

"Darling, I've missed you so much!" she screamed.

Rama hardly returned his wife's clasp and instead looked at her with hesitation. He was clearly cold and off-putting which raised a concern in Sita. 

"What is wrong? You have defeated Ravana! Why are you treating your wife this way? Please, tell me what is on your mind!" Sita pleaded desperately. 

"Well, it would be sort of odd if a man was so eager to let his wife back into his home after she spent some time in the home of another," Rama replied. 

"You think that I am impure?" Sita asked in shock.

"I'm not jumping to any assumptions, but it would be nice if there was some sort of solid evidence that suggested otherwise."

"I will give you your proof! Lakshmana, light a fire!"

Lakshmana looked at his brother with concern. Rama gave no protest, so Lakshmana did as commanded and started a fire in front of the crowd. The flames began to grow with intimidation until they reached heights that surpassed any man present. Sita approached the dancing flames and looked over at Rama with rage in her eyes.

"Agni, god of fire, prove my purity!"

Sita then walked into the flames and began to howl in pain. The flesh started to melt from her bone and she continued to cry out in agony. Absolute horror filled Sita's eyes as she knew that her test was not working as she predicted.

"What is happening? Agni, why have you betrayed me?" Sita screamed. 

The crowd began to panic and scatter. Lakshmana bolted toward the fire but Rama held out an arm to stop him. The shrieks of Sita were enough to make anyone's stomach churn. The cries for a savior continued until the deterioration of Sita's anatomy no longer allowed it. Life left Sita's body and she became nothing but ash. 

Rama walked away with a slight grin on his face. His plan had worked. He knew how her brain operated. He easily predicted that Sita would call upon the god of fire to prove her purity if Rama showed disgust during the reunion. Rama made a serviceable sacrifice prior to their meeting in return for the death of his wife. He wanted to watch her burn.

Rama had grown tired of Sita's presence. The entire period of her kidnapping allowed for a sense of freedom that Rama enjoyed immensely. He no longer had to deal with the pestering nature of Sita when she had to know each and every little detail of his life. He now possessed limitless possibilities for the next step in his existence. The world was his.

"Finally, I'm away from that nagging woman," Rama sighed.

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Author's note: For this story, I thought it would be interesting to contradict the characteristics of Rama. During the reading of the Ramayana, there were several situations that portrayed Rama as possessing morally-sound character. In this story, he simply kills his wife because he is tired of the burden. This is obviously unethical and completely against the actions of the actual Rama. My goal was to create a complete opposite of our hero. Rama would never kill his wife just because he is tired of her. In this story, he does. This shows Rama in a light that the masses would not see possible. I also wanted to focus on the subtle nature of Rama's indirect murder of Sita. Even though he physically did nothing to her, he set up the situation that would allow for her to be killed. This was evident in knowing his wife would turn to the god of fire to prove her purity. In doing this, Rama was able to sabotage the ritual by making his own sacrifice prior to their meeting. Another thing worth noting is the fact that Rama will be able walk away from this situation with his reputation unharmed. Everyone will still see him as the man of good character when in all actuality he just murdered his wife.

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Bibliography: Narayan's Ramayana
Link to this reading guide

Reading Notes: Part D of Narayan's Ramayana

My favorite character, Hanuman

(Source: astrogems)

As the final section is over, I would like to declare this as my favorite out of them all. Since I did not do any work on Monday, I read both sections (C and D) on Tuesday and then published my reading notes. I could not take the idea of stopping the story to write reading notes and then picking it back up. By reading the second half all the way through, I think I was able to fully appreciate the story.

Hanuman became my favorite character by far after reading this last section. The fact that he was growing to incredible sizes and destroying things was extremely entertaining to read. His desolation of Lanka was amazing even though it was rebuilt.

It was very pleasing to read about Ravana's refusal to consider a curse. This is typical villain arrogance and I was excited to encounter it. It just goes to show he was ultimately doomed for considering himself untouchable.

Vibhishana was a pleasant character even though he was the brother of Ravana. I thought it was wise to advise his brother to let Sita free as the curse declare Ravana vulnerable to a human. The fact that Vibhishana was cast away for this ultimately showed the arrogance of Ravana yet again. I was happy to see Rama trust Vibhishana after he confided in him.

It was sort of terrifying to read about Rama's encounter with Sita after the death of Ravana. I can understand why Rama wanted it so, but it was still concerning to read about the orders of a husband to his wife in order to prove a certain truth.

Rama organizing a funeral for Ravana just goes to show the purity of Rama. Ravana was painted as the big, bad villain this entire epic. He even kidnapped Rama's wife. Yet, when Rama defeats him, he still shows compassion even to his darkest of peers.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading the Ramayana. I look forward to working with this particular epic as we dive deeper into the semester as it was an excellent read.

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Bibliography: Narayan's Ramayana
Link to this reading guide

Reading Notes: Part C of Narayan's Ramayana

The battle between Sugriva and Vali

(Source: Wikipedia)

As a general thought, I thought this portion of reading as it seemed like it was a side story of sorts. Obviously, it was important to the story because it allowed the location of Sita to be discovered after her kidnapping, but I still feel like it could have happened in an simpler way than the chain of events that occurred. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. It seemed like a change of pace and I definitely appreciated it. It may have actually been my favorite reading just because there was a lot going on and I really enjoyed the conflict.

The monkeys (vanara) that dominated this portion of reading were nothing short of entertaining. It was somewhat comical that Hanuman thought he would get away with a disguise in the presence of Rama. I was hoping it wouldn't fool him because that would discredit Rama's excellence in my eyes. Rama didn't disappoint when he noted the transparency of Hanuman.

Not necessarily a surprising event, but a somewhat concerning outcome was Surgriva's post-crowning. Characters tend to do odd things in this epic and case and point was evident when Surgriva was nothing short of discourteous in aiding Rama in his quest for Sita.

Lakshmana's loyalty and bravery were present yet again when he goes to confront Surgriva on his agreement with Rama. I was happy to see that Surgriva ultimately helps Rama and there was not much of an issue present with this.

The conflict between Sugriva and Vali was my absolute favorite section I've read from the Ramayana. The history behind the two was all over the place. The retrieval of his brother which ultimately resulted in his riddance from the kingdom was a fun read. The fact that he stole his wife was just icing on the cake.

Even though Vali was off-the-wall crazy, I was disappointing to see his death. I wanted a little more out of him, but I understand it was necessary for the story's progression.

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Bibliography: Narayan's Ramayana
Link to this reading guide