The Beginning of the End
Entry #12
That damned bird Jatayu completely threw off my plan. I was meant to show the beautiful Sita all of the kingdoms that belong to me from the gorgeous view from my flying chariot, but that stupid bird tried to fight me and now Sita won’t speak to me. Somehow, hearing her yells and feeling her slaps felt better than this agonizing silence. I want to yell at her for disrespecting me, but I know that if I yell then she will only continue to sit in silence. THAT DAMNED BIRD! It ruined everything! This was supposed to be how Sita fell in love with me, it was going to be so romantic! Now I am stuck driving the chariot and writing my feelings while Sita continues to stare longingly towards Ayodhya. This is fine, Ravana, it is going to be okay. When she sees the beautiful golden city of Lanka, she will be mesmerized, and when she finds out that I am the king of Lanka, she will surely fall in love with me. While I admit that this is much more difficult than when I courted my first wife, Mandodari, it’s not like I have the option to just steal her away and make her fall in love with me. Ever since I traveled to Kubera’s kingdom after I had beaten him out of Lanka and found his son’s wife, my luck with the ladies has been cursed. Literally, I cannot believe that Kubera’s weak son was able to put a curse on my mighty self. Now I am unable to force myself upon any woman or I will face death. But I am not worried. Sita has already seen my bulging muscles and my cunning magic skills, and once she lays eyes upon my, no, our kingdom, then surely she will be so full of love that she will forget about that weak mortal man, Rama.
I cannot wait to show my new bride to my siblings. Vibhishana will surely be impressed and probably host a party in our honor! Though Sita may need some time adjusting to her new life as a queen to the most powerful being on Earth, in the heavens, and in the underworld, I am willing to wait. Besides, I have all of the time in the world now. I now no longer need to worry about the two exiled princes, as they have most likely lost hope and in turn morale. Besides, even if the blue bastard is alive, I am sure my allies in the monkey kingdom will dispose of them for me. I must write this down as not to forget. I must remember to invite King Vali to my wedding, as he is one of my oldest allies. Though he “captured” me, I know he would not be one to question my rule. I think we both know that when I traveled to his kingdom in search of an alliance, I allowed myself to be captured. By no means am I discrediting King Vali’s fighting abilities. He was definitely a worthy opponent, but not strong enough to take me on one-on-one. Even if I am “vulnerable to man and man only,” which includes him and his monkey comrades, I don’t think there is a doubt in either of our minds that if it came down to it I would easily strike down each one of those forest creatures. But there is no need to toy with the possibilities of a war with the monkeys, as they are my allies and I will watch over them as they will with me and my people.
Damn, all of this uneasiness with Sita is messing with my brain. I am becoming aggravated with that stupid bird I’d slain, and now I am comparing my armies to that of the monkey king’s. These are “unneeded thoughts,” and unneeded thoughts “lead to weakness” is what my siblings would say, but they will surely redact those comments when I return with Sita. They all warned me that I was stepping over the line by abducting her, but the looks on their faces when I return with the most beautiful bride in all of the realms will make their treasonous comments forgivable. Vibhishana knows nothing, and now my sister, Surpanakha, will be able to do what she wishes with that blue bastard. The more I think of it the more I realize, today is a glorious day! Maybe Sita has realized this too, I will try to speak with her again and-
“Is that it?” Lakshama asked nervously as he anxiously flipped through the notebook looking for more clues. “Why are you laughing, brother? This is no humorous matter!”
Lakshmana looked at his brother, Rama, who was laughing and crying towards the sky. “Don’t you see, brother?” Rama asked. “For once Ravana was right. It is a glorious day. We now know that Sita is alive and well, as he has no intentions of harming her. Rather, he wants to marry her, and because of the curse placed on him, she will not be harmed until she accepts his advances. Secondly, we know that we are some of the few beings that are able to harm this wicked king. Lastly, we now know where to go in order to look for allies… the monkey kingdom.” Rama spoke confidently, “Let’s go, Lakshmana.” Lakshmana followed and while recapping everything that they had learned, he still asked how Rama was laughing. “Don’t you see, brother? Look at the nail marks on the cover of the journal. Sita threw his journal over the side of the chariot while Ravana was writing. That is why the journal entry is not finished.” He continued to chuckle. “That’s my Sita, always fighting and never giving up.”
Author's Note:
I decided to make the last entry in this storybook discuss how the journal had fallen into the hands of Rama and his brother. While it would have been really fun to write about the war in my own way, I thought that it would be hard to write how the journal found itself into the boys' hands, especially since they found it in the river while still in the forest, not in Lanka. I decided to write about all of the internal dialogue Ravana must have been having after the successful abduction of Sita, and how she must have been handling the situation. I enjoyed writing Ravana's inner struggles as he suffers from the silent treatment, as even though he is arguably one of the most powerful beings in all of Indian mythology, I thought he still got butterflies whenever he was in love (wish he had those with Mandodari but that's a whole different story.) I also liked the idea of Sita fighting back against Ravana, so I decided to make her throw Ravana's journal over the side of the flying chariot. This not only provided a smooth transition as to how Rama and Lakshmana stumbled across it floating in the river in the forest, but it also allowed for Sita to be portrayed as more than just a damsel in distress. Also, in a way, she sort of saved herself in this story, as Rama and Lakshmana would never have known to travel to Lanka or to ally with the monkeys (after taking out Vali) as they are the only beings besides humans that could battle Ravana. Sure, in the original story they figure this out eventually, but in my story Sita saves the boys so much time by providing the answers for them.
Bibliography:
Ravana fighting off Jatayu