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(Sita Requests Rama To Fetch Golden Deer: Flickr)
Rumors began to spread about Sita's supposed infidelity, and the people began to grow hatred toward her. Initially, all the gossip and news was all speculation, but then people started speaking very badly about Sita, and wondered why the king would ever take back such a wretched women, and so the people grew weary and doubtful of the king himself. A man and his brother heard about the news and began their own conversation on the topic. They both agreed that the king was quite idiotic for taking back a woman that was so clearly unfaithful to her spouse, and began questioning Rama's political ability. The man exclaimed, "If a man is so ignorant of his wife, then how will he do with this kingdom? I am afraid that his misjudgment will turn this town to turmoil! I can not simply stand here and witness a unspoken crime unfold before my very eyes!" His brother responded, "We never had to deal with such foolishness under Bharata's rule. He need be king again." "Perhaps we are able to make such a reality come to fruition," the man said, to which his brother asked, "How could we ever do such a thing?"
"We must rally other people, and use political force, and perhaps even violence, to create such a replacement," the man strategized.
Word got back to the palace that the people of the kingdom that the people were curating a plan to create a public disturbance that could have possibly included the act of violence. Rama was infuriated with the people's lack of judgment and rash thinking and began to devise a plan to oppose the people, but Sita also caught word of the news and began to do some thinking herself. Finally, she came up to Rama and told him that is was best if she were exiled. It is the only way to make the people happy. Rama grew confused and feared the idea of his wife leaving into the unknown of the jungle, but he knew that this was the safest and most peaceful solution, and with that, Sita was exiled.
Author's Note
In the original story, there was not much detail on exactly Rama's thought process of exiling Sita. It was presented in a cause and effect manner. In my story, I wanted to give more background and more purpose for banning Sita, which is why I included the people's planned retaliation. I wanted to create a more urgent reason to exile reason, not just the fact that the people were talking about Sita. Also, in the original story, it was Rama's decision to ban Sita, but in this version, I wanted it to be her idea, to show her selflessness and her love to her husband and his kingdom.
Bibliography
"Indian Myth and Legend" by Donald A. Mackenzie
Hi Elena,
ReplyDeleteI really like that you gave Sita the power in this story. I love her character and feel that this is definitely something she would do. The first paragraph is a bit long and difficult to read. Maybe it should be broken up and the dialogue separated so that it stands out a bit more. I would love to hear more about the plan. Are they planning on somehow bringing back Bharata or are they trying to find a different replacement?
I enjoyed reading your story!
Hey Elena,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story because I too wanted more background on the events that led up to Sita’s exile. It makes sense that the citizens began to retaliate against Rama for his actions. I especially enjoyed that you made it Sita’s idea to exile herself, I think that is very fitting and true to her character. We can only wish that the others could see that part of her.