The Grand Finale

The arena was quiet. The audience, announcer, and contestants stood in silent shock at the surprise contender. Ravana’s dark figure loomed over everyone as he straightened up from his landing. He turned towards Saraswati and looked upon her with all ten of his heads. One could see the maelstrom of emotions in his eyes: anger, hatred, pride, contempt, and envy. He pointed a finger at her. “Saraswati, so-called Goddess and master of music, your time has come!” Ravana yelled, his words dripped with malice. “For all of these years since we parted ways, I have been practicing, playing, and praying diligently to bring my skills to a godly level, and now I know that I am there. Oh, how Lord Shiva has blessed me for my devotion!” Ravana smiled menacingly. “We all have seen you performing on the sidelines. How long has it been since you were in the spotlight? Have your own skills weathered away without playing to your true potential?” He laughed. “I suppose that doesn’t really matter. Tonight we shall see where you lie now. Tonight we shall finally see who is truly the Greatest Musician in the Universe! Have at you!”

As he spoke those last words, storm clouds gathered. The sky darkened. The sound of thunder rumbled through the heavens. Ravana whipped out his veena. As he made one powerful strum, lightning crashed down, which blew out all of the lights in the arena. He floored the audience and blew the other Goddesses, Lakshmi, Durga, and Kali, off the stage and into the darkness. Only Saraswati remained standing with her own veena in hand. The brief illumination from the lightning revealed no fear or concern on Saraswati’s face, only determination. Ravana flashed a toothy grin. “I’m glad you’re up to it, Goddess. Witness now the power of my devotion to Shiva.”

It was like Ravana’s soul had poured out to fill the arena. The power of his faith gave his voice a surreal echoing quality. The electricity that flowed through the air fused with his notes, which enhanced their power. Thunder rumbled through the mountains; their vibration created an intense rhythm. Ravana’s passion was obvious, but hints of pain crept onto his face and into his voice. One by one, the strings of his veena snapped. Without a wasted moment, Ravana tore into himself and pulled out his tendons to use as replacements for the broken strings. He continued. His pain became more obvious. His song now finished, Ravana let the last note reverberate into the darkness. He stared down Saraswati while he tried to hold back his tears.

Saraswati had not moved. Her expression became one of sadness to mirror Ravana’s obvious emotional and physical pain. “Ravana,” Saraswati said softly, “why do you do this to yourself? Music is not meant to flaunt any sort of power. It contains power, but it is one to convey knowledge, to express emotion, to aid ourselves wherever we direct our devotion, and even to add beauty and pleasure into our lives.” Ravana looked at her like a wounded animal. “I don’t do what I do expecting to win or prove something. The Universe can applaud for or boo at me; the people can view me as the best, the worst, or anything in between and beyond. It does not matter. I play my music because I enjoy doing so. It is who I am.” She slowly approached Ravana. “Please, allow me to soothe your aching heart and weary soul.”

Saraswati harnessed the electricity still in the air and applied it to her veena, which amplified its sound. Her music sent out ripples of calmness throughout the arena. The thunder quieted. The lightning faded away. The storm clouds parted, and the heavens could be seen once more. The stars illuminated the stage. Durga, Lakshmi, and Kali found their way back to the stage and joined Saraswati. Ravana, reminded of his once strong friendship with the Goddess, finally broke down. “Oh, what have I done? How could I let such jealousy consume me? How could I allow it to poison our friendship? Saraswati, could you ever forgive me?”

She smiled at him. “Even in our years apart, I never thought of you as any less of a friend, Ravana. My heart is always open for forgiveness. My hope was that one day we would be able to jam together once again-” she extended her hand to him “- just like the good old days.”

Ravana wiped the tears from his face. He nodded and took her hand. “Just like the good old days.”

Author's Note. Here it is: the final story! This one is not based on any story in particular. This story is meant to deliver on the promise of the final showdown with Ravana and bring an overall closure to the storybook. One detail, Ravana using his tendons as strings for his veena, was borrowed from a story about Ravana singing praises of Shiva. In the source I have, he uses them initially on a veena he built using one of his heads, but I have seen other versions where he uses them to replace his broken strings and where he used his intestines as strings. I think those praises were the “Shiv Tandav Stotram” like played above, but I need to check on that.

I am sorry to those of you who do not like metal music for using a metal version of the “Shiv Tandav Stotram”. I found that version by accident, and I felt it had the energy that I was looking for. I did include another version in storybook’s playlist if you are not a fan of the version I used or if you just want to listen to a probably more common version of it. The other song, the electric veena cover of “Why This Kolaveri Di”, is something I discovered months ago when first looking for music for this storybook, and I have wanted to find a way to incorporate it since. I thought it had a great calming sound and tone to help wind the story down and bring everything to a close. I do feel like the very end of the story is a bit weak, so I may come back to work on that. It’s hard to create a satisfying ending.

Bibliography.

Ravananugraha, link to Wikipedia page.

Image: Lightning and Dark Clouds by axelle b on PublicDomainPictures.net

Image: The Milky Way seen from Tibet by journeycloud on Pixabay.

Video: "SHIV TANDAV STOTRAM ( Full Video ) | MOKSH THE BAND" from MokshTheBand on YouTube.

Video: "Why This Kolaveri Di- On Electric Veena by OliviaT" from OliviaT Germany on YouTube.