Vedavati, the Provoked
There once was a kingdom that loved and worshiped the goddess Lakshmi with great devotion. Every day the people of the kingdom would sing praise to Lakshmi and she was extremely pleased by this. Wherever Lakshmi resides, there is always peace, prosperity, and wealth. Since she was pleased with this kingdom, its people enjoyed a lavish lifestyle and never wanted for anything. They continued to love and adore Lakshmi and the kingdom continued to thrive.
After a decade of luxury and well-being, the kingdom's ruler, Rathadhvaja, and his people began to grow arrogant and docile. They had gotten too used to Lakshmi's kindness and began to take her blessings for granted. The people began to over indulge in the pleasures that Lakshmi had bestowed upon the kingdom and they began to forget about her entirely. Slowly, less and less people sang her praise every day and instead focused only on themselves and their luxurious lives. The king himself began to grow proud and thought that the wealthiness of his kingdom was of his own doing.
"I do not need Lakshmi anymore. This kingdom has become great because of my own prowess and intellect and it can never be taken away from me!" Rathadhvaja proclaimed.
He stopped offering prayers and ceased his meditations to Lakshmi. Without the love of the kingdom and its people, Lakshmi began to grow sorrowful. She continued to provide the kingdom with prosperity for as long as she could and she hoped they would see the fault in their actions but her hope was in vain. Eventually, Lakshmi grew too weary and sad and she left the kingdom.
Lakshmi's leaving the kingdom caused the kingdom to begin to crumble. The wealth that had been so abundant before suddenly vanished seemingly into thin air. The people began to starve and they cried out to their king. Rathadhvaja did not know what to do. His people and kingdom had become weak and he had lost everything. Enemies of the kingdom saw this as an opportunity to attack and they killed Rathadhvaja and condemned his people to death. It seemed that the kingdom was doomed. There was still hope, however. Rathadhvaja had two sons, Kushadhvaja and Dharmadhvaja. They had seen the mistakes of their father and had tried but failed to stop him.
"We must plead with Lakshmi to come back and save us," Dharmadhvaja told his brother.
The two brothers began to take on a severe penance of prayers and meditation. Lakshmi noticed this and was pleased. She drove the kingdom's enemies from its land and restored the kingdom to its former glory. She was happy with the two brothers and decided to come to Earth as the daughter of Kushadhvaja. Soon, Kushadhvaja and his wife bore a beautiful daughter and Kushadhvaja knew this was an incarnation of Lakshmi. He decided to name her Vedavati and proclaimed that no one shall marry her but Lord Vishnu himself.
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One day, Vedavati was in the forest enjoying nature and its animals. She found a beautiful and serene spot and decided to sit down to meditate. While she was meditating, the emperor of Lanka and ruler of Rakshasas, Ravana, saw her. He was captivated by her beauty and interrupted her meditation to ask for her hand in marriage. Vedavati was insulted that Ravana had interrupted her and she was not fond of him. Furthermore, Vedavati had devoted herself to Lord Vishnu refused to marry anyone but him. Ravana was outraged by this and he grabbed at her hair, assaulting her. Vedavati cut her own hair off to escape his grasp.
"You have greatly insulted me, wicked Ravana, and I shall enter into the inferno and be reborn to be the cause of your downfall," Vedavati swore.
She immolated herself in front of him and he scoffed.
"I shall never be beaten by a woman," he said.
Ravana laughed and soon forgot about Vedavati.
Author's note:
I took some influence from a Times of India article to write the first part of the story. I felt that this was important to include because it provides backstory about Vedavati. It can be inferred that Vedavati is an avatar of Lakshmi because it is well-known that Sita is Vedavati reborn and Sita is also an avatar of Lakshmi. The article provides a detailed story to explain how and why Vedavati came to be an avatar of Lakshmi. The second part of the story is about Vedavati and her encounter with Ravana. It is a horrible encounter and presents the connection between Vedavati and Sita. Vedavati says she will be reborn and be the cause of Ravana's destruction. Unbeknownst to Ravana, Vedavati will be reborn as Sita and though she will not kill him herself she will be the center of the chain of events that will lead to Ravana's death. I had fun writing this story but I know it can be improved so please leave me some comments on how I can do that! The last part of my project will be about Sita and I hope I have connected the stories well so far as, for me at least, it can be kind of confusing to think about who is an incarnation of who.
Banner image: Vedavati refuses Ravana, Source: Wikipedia