Storytelling Week 5: Wise Lakshmana Saves the Day!

Ravana Approcaches Sita on Wikimedia

Lovely Sita was seated on a bench with her husband, Rama, in their little garden that led into the woods where they lived. The two were engaged in conversation when Sita spotted a beautiful golden deer. She said to her husband, “Oh, Rama! I have never seen anything quite so divine as that golden deer! I must have it! Will you follow it into the woods and catch it for me?” Rama, who was swayed by Sita’s passion for the animal, tried to deny her of her request. “Sita”, he said, “You know that it is my duty to protect you here in these dangerous woods. I cannot go retrieve the deer.” Sita, knowing that she was indeed in a very dangerous part of the woods, offered to have Lakshmana, Rama’s brother, watch over her for awhile. She knew that Rama trusted him with his life. Finally giving into his wife’s request, Rama went after the deer.

It did not take long for Rama, a skilled hunter, to locate the precious animal. He drew his bow and arrow, releasing a fatal blow to the animal’s heart. Surprisingly, when the deer was struck, it called out in Rama’s voice. Sita heard this from her place on the bench and begged Lakshmana to go after Rama. Lakshmana replied, “No, Sita. I cannot do that. You know how strong Rama is. He can take care of himself. However, if I were to let something happen to you, Rama would never forgive me.” Sita continued to beg until Rama’s brother gave in.

Lakshmana pretended to go into the woods, but actually circled back around to the front of the cottage where Sita could not see him. He knew that Rama was perfectly capable of handling anything on his own and that it was better to continue to watch over Sita. Lakshmana, not as surprised as he might have been if the strange event of the beautiful deer had not taken place, saw an old beggar at the doorstep of the home. The beggar, however, looked very surprised and flustered to see Lakshmana. Not knowing what to say to Rama’s brother, the beggar attacked him. Lakshmana easily defended himself and gave a good punch to the old man. After taking this hit, the old beggar transformed into his true identity. Now, Lakshmana was surprised to see Ravana, a king with many heads who lived in a land far across the sea. Ravana, not knowing how to proceed further, fled into the woods.

Author’s Note: The kidnapping scene of the Ramayana is one of the most important events in the epic. Instead of Ravana’s plan of disguising himself as an old man who needs help working out, I decided to have Lakshmana foil his plan. In the original, I think it would not have been wrong of Lakshmana to obey Rama’s orders to watch Sita, and to not go save Rama. This shows that Lakshmana has a lot of faith in his brother, and that he knows Rama is able to handle himself. It would be interesting to see if Ravana could find another way to obtain Sita after this setback.

For this week, I watched the movie Sita Sings the Blues on YouTube. You can access it here: link.