Maricha

Indeterminate Time

Maricha enjoys killing all of the humans in this desolate place his mother has created.  Sometimes he asks himself what life would have been like if Agastya had not cursed him and his family, since they would have been demigods.  When Agastya cursed Maricha's grandfather to death, Maricha's mother and brother decided to harass the sage until he cursed them to forever be ugly and cruel creatures.  If they were still demigods, they would potentially be in charge of something minor--perhaps the tides of the ocean?  However, he enjoys his current life too much to let the thought fester.  He's always with his family, and they hunt and kill as a group.  The only bad thing is that due to the curse on his mother, Thataka, the land she inhabits will eventually turn into a desert.  The weak humans die off faster, or flee to more fertile lands. 

150 Years Later

Hunting has gotten more and more difficult as the desert progresses.  Rather than killing humans for fun, Maricha has decided to start being strategic with the slaughter.  Now that there are so few humans, he has learned to be more cruel to continue his amusement.  Sometimes Maricha kills only one family member, and enjoys the suffering of the rest.  Maricha has to use the humans both as sustenance and amusement, rather than one or the other.  Sometimes it disappoints Maricha that he can no longer slay the humans with impunity, but he is also pragmatic.  If they are all dead, how will he pass the time?  Despite all of this, he still feels a small amount of guilt about his actions when he sees the pain he causes for the family members he leaves alive.

150 Years Later

The sage Vishwamitra has requested the help of Rama and Lakshmana to protect him from rakshasa as he performed a yagna or ritual.  Maricha has been wounded horribly by Rama, who has also slain his mother and brother.  He has vowed revenge on Rama, and despite the fact Rama has consistently bested him in battle, he continues to try to kill him.  The rage Maricha feels towards Rama has overwhelmed him.  He no longer eats or sleeps, and is constantly plotting.  Ravana, his nephew, seems displeased with this new Maricha.  He tells Maricha that it is important to maintain control, and not to let your passion overwhelm you when plotting the demise of a foe. 

One Year Later

Maricha has been defeated by Rama time and time again, and he has been forced to look at himself and what he has become.  When he was still with his mother, he knew they were being inordinately cruel, but that's how they were supposed to act.  Furthermore, they had been cursed to forever be ugly, cruel and unforgiving.  Or rather, that's what Maricha had been led to believe concerning rakshasas.  In reality, Maricha has questioned his motivion, and the motivation of his mother and brother, but he was doing what was expected of him, what his family would have liked him to do.

One Year Later

Upon meditating, Maricha has gained a new sense of the world.  While he may be a rakshasa and the uncle of the rakshasa king, Ravana, the ruler of the world, that does not mean he has to let the stereotypes of a rakshasa control him.  It's almost as if he was still some wet-behind-the-ears adolescent trying to make his fellow rakshasa want to be his friend!  Despite this, however, Ravana has approached him for his help.  Ravana knew that despite all of Maricha's claims to be a born-again rakshasa, surely Maricha would still have a burning hatred towards Rama for slaying his mother.

A Short Time Later

As Maricha lies there dying, after screaming for help using Rama's voice, he suddenly realizes how hard it is to change.  However, despite all of his heartache over what he has done, he hopes that his situation can be of help to younger rakshasas.  Perhaps it will show them how easy it is to succumb to your desires, and then how hard it is to try and fix all of the wrongs you have caused in the past.

Author's Note:  The writing style for this was something that kind of took a life of its own.  If people look at some of my previous stories (I wrote a book for the Myth-Folklore class as well), they'll probably notice I don't use a lot of dialogue.  In this case, it was as much a style decision as a word limitation.  I wanted to show the progression of Maricha's life--how he might have reluctantly partaken initially, then grew to essentially an evil being, and finally to show that despite all of his guilt over his crimes, he ultimately wasn't able to atone for his sins.  Originally I wanted to do five paragraphs, and start with him exhibiting more good traits, gradually progressing into bad traits exclusively at the third paragraph, and then transition back to good in the fifth paragraph.  However, I was finding it difficult including the story of how he died, and I decided to keep some of that framework but add more paragraphs.  I enjoy the story of Maricha because it's kind of a tragic example of morality, and really reminds me of TV shows in which kids get involved in gangs when they're 11-12-13 years old.  Frequently they go to prison for a few years at 18, then spend the rest of their lives trying to get out of the culture.  Sometimes they're successful, but probably more frequently they can't get out of the culture because they don't know anything else, and because no one will trust them. 

Bibliography:

Rama Shooting Maricha.  Websource: AsianArt - Francesca Galloway