Week 4 Story: Sita's banishment
Sita and Rama returned to Ayodhya filled with joy that their long and exhausting years of exile were finally over. Under Rama's reign the city flourished. There were no diseases, plenty of crops grew during the harvest season with plenty of rainfall during the rainy seasons. Despite Ayodhya's success under Rama's reign, rumors about his queen, still circulated between around the city questioning her loyalty to the king while she was Ravana's hostage.
"Sita was not faithful to Rama while she was captured by Ravana, how could Rama stay with a woman who stayed with another man?" they would say.
Sita knew what the people said about her, but after proving herself to Rama, she didn't acknowledge what they thought because Rama knew her virtues. Eventually, his people's criticisms convinced Rama to send Sita back into exile. Rama battled internally with losing the respect of his subjects and banishing his innocent wife. He finally decided to tell Sita that she must go to the jungle and never return.
Sita's eyes filled with tears and her heart filled sorrow as he told her. She had spent fourteen years in exile with him because she couldn't imagine living without Rama and now he's banishing her. She had already proven her faithfulness to him. How could he do this to her? Sita could barely comprehend what she was being told, but she loved and respected Rama, so she went to the jungle. Rama remained in the kingdom, longing for his wife but confident in his decision.
With a heavy heart, Sita wandered the jungle knowing she would never desire anyone other than Rama, even in exile. She finally arrived at Valmiki's hermitage, who consoled the devastated Sita. Later, she gave birth to beautiful twin sons, Lava and Kusha, who she raised in the jungle in Valmiki's hermitage. Sita remained in exile raising her two sons and praying for the wellbeing of Rama in Ayodhya until they met again.
"Sita was not faithful to Rama while she was captured by Ravana, how could Rama stay with a woman who stayed with another man?" they would say.
Sita knew what the people said about her, but after proving herself to Rama, she didn't acknowledge what they thought because Rama knew her virtues. Eventually, his people's criticisms convinced Rama to send Sita back into exile. Rama battled internally with losing the respect of his subjects and banishing his innocent wife. He finally decided to tell Sita that she must go to the jungle and never return.
Sita's eyes filled with tears and her heart filled sorrow as he told her. She had spent fourteen years in exile with him because she couldn't imagine living without Rama and now he's banishing her. She had already proven her faithfulness to him. How could he do this to her? Sita could barely comprehend what she was being told, but she loved and respected Rama, so she went to the jungle. Rama remained in the kingdom, longing for his wife but confident in his decision.
With a heavy heart, Sita wandered the jungle knowing she would never desire anyone other than Rama, even in exile. She finally arrived at Valmiki's hermitage, who consoled the devastated Sita. Later, she gave birth to beautiful twin sons, Lava and Kusha, who she raised in the jungle in Valmiki's hermitage. Sita remained in exile raising her two sons and praying for the wellbeing of Rama in Ayodhya until they met again.
Sita in exile
Source: Wikimedia
Author's note: For this story I just retold Episode 78, Valmiki's Hermitage, but put more emphasis on Rama and Sita's emotions during her banishment. There wasn't much detail about how the characters felt during Sita's banishment compared to when Rama was banished. I thought it was interesting that Rama would rather banish Sita than let his people question him. In the original story of Valmiki's Hermitage, the focus was placed on the Lava and Kusha and how they met Rama. I decided to place the focus of my story around Sita.
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie
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Hey Clara,
ReplyDeleteGreat Story! I loved the emphasis on the emotion! It was all really well-thought out and gave the characters a lot more depth. I especially like how you compared the first time Sita went out into the jungle (with Rama) to this most recent exile. Sita was already a character that you could easily empathize with, but you really knocked it out of the park with this one.
PS- at the beginning of the third paragraph, I think you are missing a word in the first sentence: "heart filled *with* sorrow"
Hey Clara, great job! I like that you focused so much on the emotions of the characters, that is something I would not have thought of doing. I think it would have been really interesting to switch it so that it would be from one of their points of view, that way readers would be able to feel themselves in their shoes! I liked reading this story! Good Job :)
ReplyDeleteHi Clara,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I love how you began the story by describing how great the city was doing under the reign of Rama; it sounds like a perfect utopia. I’d love to live in a place like that! Also, I LOVE the detail you put into describing how Sita felt when Rama banished her after everything that they had been through. It truly made me emotional to feel the disbelief that Sita felt after she sacrificed everything to be with Rama.
After Sita was exiled, I wondered why she still was so in love with Rama after he chose his people over her love. Did Rama ever find out about their two sons born in the jungle? Would Rama have wanted to take Sita back for giving birth to their children? Why did Rama value his people’s opinions more than Sita’s love and life? I think it would be understandable for Sita to be mad at Rama about the whole situation, so I feel that showing the different dimensions of loss would be more impactful than only displaying her sadness. But, maybe that’s just me. I like drama.
All in all, you have a talent for describing emotion and really making your audience feel it. I am excited to see what else you write and how your skills develop; awesome job!
Hi Clara!
ReplyDeleteI love your idea to focus on Rama and Sita's emotions in the story. It made your story really engaging and easy to follow. I feel like knowing what the characters are thinking and their motivations makes it easier to connect with them. I do still wonder though if Sita knew she was pregnant when she was exiled and how she might have felt about having Rama's sons after he sent her away. It also makes me wonder if Rama would have sent her away if he knew she would give birth to their children. I really like how detailed you were in describing how Sita felt initially when Rama told her to go into the jungle but I wish that you had been more detailed about how she might have felt after she actually entered exile. What if you talked about Sita's thoughts on the hermitage or her children?
Hi Clara!
ReplyDeleteI like how you gave Sita a bigger narrative in this story. Sometimes, it's really hard to get to know what Sita is feeling when Rama banished her. Her narrative was written very well! Something I would want to learn more about is how Sita feels after he banished her and why she came back, especially after he treated her badly. More dialogue between both Rama and Sita would have explained their relationship really well. One question that I would like to know is how the children felt about their exile later on?
Overall, you're writing was very descriptive and I think you did very well.