Week 5 Storytelling: The Legendary Rama

Let me tell you a story about the most heroic and just man in all of history. This is a story about a young boy who grew up to be a king, a man who became a legend.

ONCE UPON A TIME in the fair city of Ayodhya, the legendary tale of the brave and handsome prince Rama begun. Since the time of his birth, Rama was destined for great things, namely to defeat the all powerful demon king Ravana. As the first born son to King Dasharatha, Rama was soon to be the crowned king of Ayodhya. However, not all desired to be under Rama’s rule. Kaikeyi, wife of Dasharatha and mother of Bharata, wished for her son to be crowned king instead, and begun conspiring against this young prince. Under an unfortunate debt and a promise to Kaikeyi, King Dasharatha reluctantly exiled his beloved Rama to the forest for fourteen years, a request Rama accepted with loyalty to his father and without hesitation.

Refusing to be left alone in the treacherous forest, Rama’s loyal brother Lakshmana and his faithful wife Sita decided to joined him in his exile. Many days and nights passed as the trio walked aimlessly through the forest. As Rama and his brother proved their worth by defeating any and all rakshasas in their path, the royal brothers were only truly deceived by one. On this dark day, the great and malicious Ravana wished to steal Sita for himself. Whilst having Maricha transform into a golden deer to distract the young princes, the beautiful Sita was left alone and unguarded. At this chance, Ravana stole Sita away, bringing her upon his chariot toward Lanka. Upon their return, Rama and Lakshmana were soon to realize the deceit and vowed to do everything in their power to find her.

Searching high and low, and befriending monkeys and bears, the royal brothers found the lost princess on an island of Lanka, home of the demon king. And thus, the battle on Lanka commenced. Monkeys and bears, humans and rakshasas alike fought one another.  Blood was shed, warriors were wounded, but the valient Rama came out victorious. Ravana, the demon king invulnerable to gods, was defeated by the mighty mortal Rama. After fulfilling his destiny, Rama returned to the city of Ayodhya with his beloved wife Sita, as the terms of his exile was completed. There, his throne and his kingdom awaited. After fourteen years in exile, Rama is crowned the king of Ayodhya, and they all lived HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

And how do I know this, you may ask? Well, let’s just say the story of one’s father is something one never forgets.

-       L

Rama, Kusha, & Lava

Authors Note: This story is the product of my story planning from Week 4! I wanted to summarize Rama's story through a perspective of a third party, and I couldn't think of anything more suitable than have his own flesh and blood (AKA Lava). I could've had Kusha tell the story too, but I flipped a coin on who I wanted to sign the ending. Anyway, for this week I wanted to try a different writing style than normal, so I tried writing in the style of a classic fairytale with old English. However, the old English part was a little hard for me to write, but I did the best I could! Also, I decided draw the line in only summarizing Rama's exile, the golden deer scene, the battle of Lanka, and Rama's coronation because I thought those were the defining plots of the entire story, and I didn't want to simply retell an entire story.

Bibliography: "Rama & Sita" by W. D. Monro

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata (Part B)

So I just finished reading part B of Mahabharata, and I like the stories but I feel like it's just kind of everywhere at the moment. To me, it seem like the storylines and twists are just sprinkled throughout. Anyway, continuing with my theme of using reading notes as mainly story suggestions, here are two ideas I really liked and thought about for a story:

• A group therapy session with both Arjuna and Rama to recover from their years in exile.
• They could be competitive ("Who got it worse?") and try to one-up each other!
• Both should act reluctant at first because their wives forced them into therapy.
• One of the gods should play the therapist.
• In the end, they realize that both situations were horrible anyway.
• Arjuna and Rama become best friends (?)
• OR they hate each other and go complain to their respective wives, saying they never want to go back again.
• AU (Alternate universe) where Yudhishthira is a gambling addict at an underground casino.
• Yudhisthira should go by a different name or at least have a nickname/code name.
• Yoshi, Y, Thira, Ty, etc.
• He runs out of money and the only thing the owner of the casino wants is Draupadi.
• Yudhisthira doesn't want to bet her just yet so he bets his brothers instead.
• They play an all-or-nothing game, which Yudhisthira ends up losing.
• Because he doesn't like to lose, he finally bets Draupadi but still loses...
• The story should end with his inner monologue of his nervous anticipation about how he's going to bring up the news to Draupadi and his brothers.

The Gambling Match in Mahabharata

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata (Part A)

This week, I started reading the PDE version of Mahabarata, which was fairly entertaining and similar to Ramayana in its storytelling prose. Instead of summarizing this part in this section as I have done in the past with my reading notes, I just want to highlight some storytelling potentials! Here are some ideas:

• Elaborate on the birth of Davavrata from King Shantanu and Goddess Ganga
• An unknown citizen's fascination with Arjuna and his strength as he hits ever target possible
• Maybe make this a young child who wants to be like Arjuna when he grows up
• Make a mashup between Rama and Arjuna, where they fight each other for fun
• Dorona's inner thoughts as he is training the princes

Ganga, Devavrata, and Shantanu

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata