Ravana the Great and Powerful

OK, she's all alone. Now is my chance to make the lovely Sita mine. Rama actually went after that stupid golden deer. He knows Sita can do better and will do anything to impress her. His foolish brother even ran off to go save him. He will do anything to escape his brothers shadow. I'll just dress up as a forest sage to get close, then I will throw some compliments her way to butter her up, and then I will give her the big reveal.I have waited long enough. Alright, here goes nothing.

"Hello, fair and beautiful lady, you must surely be a goddess for your beauty has no equal. With your long hair, lips red as berries, and that body, why are you alone in the forest? Where is your palace for surely you are married to a king or a god?"

"I am waiting for my husband, Rama, the powerful warrior to return. You are welcome to rest here," she tells me. Already bringing up her husband...so, that's not good, but surely she was impressed by how beautiful I told her she is. She will surely be taken over when she knows who I am and what I can offer her.

"Behold, for I am no ordinary Sage, I am Ravana. I am the king of Lanka, I rule over the Rakshasas," I said as I threw off my Sage robes in a dramatic fashion, and assumed my true and powerful form. Even the gods stand in fear and awe of my power. A woman as beautiful as you deserves to be by the side of such. Come and be my wife and you shall share in all of my power and fame. My great empire will be yours, you will be waited on by legion, and anything you wish simply ask and it will be so."

I offer her the world and she dares reject me. She says I am nothing compared the her husband. The great and virtuous Rama. That I, Ravana, dread of the Gods, cannot even compete with him That I am a toad trying to fly with the eagles. She tells me I might as well try to drink the ocean than wed her.

"You must not be aware of my power and glory. I could kill death itself if it suited me. I say let it be and I will blacken the Sun from the sky and rend the Earth apart with my great arrows!"

After all that how can she still not be impressed? Well, I guess the only thing to do now is to turn into a giant ten-headed demon and kidnap her. I grab her and throw her into my chariot. As we fly away it looks like we will make a clean break but a vulture has spotted us. I was not able to kill the little pest. No doubt he will tell Rama of this. Sita will be in love with me long before he is a problem.

Author's Note: I Retold the story of Ravana and Sita- Ch 35 in the Ramayana. In this story after being abandoned by Rama Sita is approached by a powerful Rakshasa named Ravana. Ravana will go on to become the primary antagonist of Rama for the rest of the epic. He hopes to steal her away from Rama and make her his wife. He tries to impress her with his immense power and becomes increasingly angry when that does not work. In the end he decides to literally steal her away in his sky chariot. I told the story from Ravana's point of view, switching back and forth from his inner thoughts and his dialogue with Sita. I stuck to the original progression structure of the story and dialogue, as much as is reasonable in order to preserve the original meaning. I also tried to keep some of Ravana and Sita's most important argument points in the story. I thought Sita's reaction was important to show the characters and why they reacted the way they did. I took a lot of creative liberties with the rest of the dialogue and the inner thoughts of Ravana. I tried to add a tint of humor to an otherwise very serious and important moment in the epic.

Image Information

The Great Ravana

Wikipedia link for image of Ravana

Donald A. Mackenzie, Indian Myth and Legend -Chaper 35 Ravana and Sita