Rama Strays
Rama, Lakshmana and Sita continued their journey deep into the forest when they ran into a gorgeous woman named Shurpanakha, sister to the King of Lanka. Thus far Rama had been a very noble and loyal friend, son, brother and most importantly, husband. Unfortunately, that was about to be put to the test.
Shurpanakha approached the trio and introduced herself, “Why, hello there, my name is Shurpanakha. Who do we have here?”
“Hello, I am Rama and this is my brother Lakshmana and wife Sita. We are just passing through.”
“Passing through? Passing through! No, no, no as you do not know who you have met,” Shurpanakha said. “You must take a break for I am a wonderful hostess.”
Rama looked as his brother and wife and together they decided it wouldn’t hurt. As he looked back he and Shurpanakha locked eyes and he briefly froze. Sita and Lakshmana did not notice this…
Immediately, Rama was taken back. He only ever thought he could have eyes for Sita but for some reason he felt drawn to the strange woman.
The three visitors sat their things down and settled around a fire as their new friend served them an extraordinary meal. Rama, Lakshmana and Sita had not had such a feast in quite a long time and devoured every bit of it. Shurpanakha sat pleased and the four of them had fairly normal conversation.
Sita, full from all the food she had not been used to, grew tired and decided to turn in early. All the while her husband and brother-in-law stayed up by the fire with their new friend. Lakshmana noticed that his brother was showing some interest in Shurpanakha and whispered over to him warning to stick to his good character. Rama shrugged this off and continued to enjoy the company of the very welcoming hostess. Lakshmana became worried and went to wake Sita to tell her what he had observed.
Shurpanakha and Rama, barely noticing Lakshmana had gotten up, were in deep discussion as Shurpanakha wanted to know every detail of Rama's childhood.
“Sita, Sita, wake up. You must wake up,” Lakshmana said as quietly as possible so Rama and Shurpanakha would not hear him.
“What? What is going on? Is everything okay?” Sita said taken back by the sudden awakening.
“Something has come over Rama and I am worried about his new friendship with the hostess.”
Not happy about this, Sita marched over to the fire, grabbed her husband's bow and struck Shurpanakha without saying a word! Rama was furious! Why would his wife do such a thing? As Rama stood to confront his wife, he felt this power come over him. He no longer wanted to get mad at Sita. The spell had worn off.
Shurpanakha dissolved into the floor of the forest becoming a weed in the soil. The three all looked at one another as they realized the spell the woman had put on Rama.
“Thank you, my beloved wife and brother. I was such a fool for allowing myself to fall under such a spell,” Rama said in embarrassment.
The three remained at the camp until morning when they packed up and headed on their way.
Author's Note: After reading the story on how Shurpanakha fell in love with Rama and became furious when he denied her, I decided to take that and make it my own. Seen in the story above, Shupanakha put a spell on Rama unlike the original story where she did not to possess such power. In the original Shurpanakha just really liked Rama but he denied her and that is when she ran crying to her brother to kidnap Sita.
I came up with this idea of Shurpanakha having magic simply because it could have easily happened! The tale of Rama and his adventures has a good amount of pretty impossible acts so why not let Shurpanakha in on this! I also like how subtle she is about the spell and by just meeting her you are not sure of her power. I don't like in stories when evil comes back around and shows back up later on in the story so that is why I made her into a weed. I wanted her gone and out of the picture since she brought nothing but trouble to Rama and Sita. Sita also does not seem to be the smartest in the bunch so with her being out of the loop on Rama falling in love with Shurpanakha, it made things suspenseful.
The prose portion comes from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913), and the verse portion comes from Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, condensed into English verse by Romesh Dutt (1899).