Sita and
Surpanakha
The
date approached and all the women were very excited about the upcoming
party in Lanka City. Almost all of them had gone out and bought lavish
new
dresses and special pins for their hair. Sita, of course, had the most
beautiful dress tailored specifically for her and for the party. It was
sugar pink in color, full length, with thick satin straps elaborating a
deep v-neck cut, with a keyhole opening to show her back. Surpanakha,
who was dressed in a black chiffon dress with a rushed bodice and a
square neckline that framed her quite large breasts, went above and
beyond all the other women with her long nails that had been sharpened
to look like daggers and painted black and crimson.
The girls gathered together in one of in the common rooms on squishy
couches and dark-colored ottomans made from the finest fabrics in the
world and everyone began to chat about the latest gossip. One of the
ladies said, "Ugh, this dress makes me look fat." Of course, this
caused an uproar among the women because of course the dress did not
make her look fat! They began talking feverishly about how tired they
were of each other calling themselves fat and how annoying it is that
the skinniest women are always the first to comment on how fat they
were. Some women were offended but most of them decided they would
really try to watch what they said and keep the fat comments to a
minimum, now that everyone was fully aware of how annoying they were.
They all mingled and drank sweet wine that was brought in from the best
winerys in the world. However, some had a few too many glasses of wine
and started gossiping about each other not so quietly. One girl
commented on how someone told her, who had found out from a friend,
that Sita really did sleep with Surpanakha's brother, Ravana. Another
girl commented on how Surpanakha slept with Rama and Lakshmana on the
same day and how she wanted to sleep with Rama's two other brothers.
This brought on more fights amongst the women and when it was about to
get really good, Sita interrupted everyone. Sita had just found out
what was being said about her and was appalled.
Sita
called Surpanakha over and in front of all the other ladies said
"We need to talk." Surpanakha was quite shocked by Sita's boldness
because she had not anticipated a conversation between herself and Sita
in a million years. She figured after all that they had gone thru that
Sita would never want to speak to her. However, Surpanakha happily
challenged
Sita and said "Go ahead, say whatever you want, your husband is a
murderer." Sita let go of her usual calm composure and really let
Surpanakha have it after that statement.
"How dare you call my husband, Rama, the fairest man on this earth, a
murderer! Your brother is a wicked demon who was known for killing
people and animals for the mere enjoyment of doing so before my Rama
took care of him! Your brother is the one who held me against my will
and tried to rape me for months! "
Surpanakha replied, "Well, if it wasn't for your obnoxious husband,
then my brother would be alive and I would still have a home in Lanka
City. Your husband's army killed all of my friends and everything that
I loved. It's because of YOU that my world was taken from me in a
matter of days! All because you had to love Rama soooo much and be such
a beauty queen and yet be so selfish!"
Sita refuted Surpanakha by saying, "WOW! Really, Surpanakha? You are
calling me
selfish? Have you completely lost your mind? Oh wait, I guess the demon
side of you comes out and causes you to be blind... because if it
wasn't for your selfishness wanting my husband there would never have
been a war between our families. If it wasn't for you, who fell
madly in
love with a taken man, my man, then you would have your family and your
stupid ugly city!! If it wasn't for your psychotic ways, then Ravana
would never have kidnapped me, held me hostage, and made me want to
take my own life for months! I should have the guards take care of you,
like Rama took care of Ravana, right now!!"
Surpanakha said, "Sita, this is the last time I ever want to see you.
You don't understand me at all. You have no idea what it is like not to
be the skinniest and the fairest woman in the city. You will never know
that I tried so hard not to love your husband but I just could not help
myself. I envy you because you truly represent love and have everything
that I cannot! You have your palace back and your husband and your
family. I have nothing. I can't even begin to describe how jealous I am
of you. That's why I came tonight. I came, because I wanted to see how
awesome it must be... to be you. I am sorry I called Rama a murderer. I
know my brother is a demon, it's the side of me that I hate the most.
It's the side of my life that I wish I could just erase. Sita, please
forgive me for hating you."
Sita stood there, looking beautiful as ever and was speechless.
Authors note: I wanted to make
sure the party scene was established and the reader could really
picture Sita and Surpanakha. I elaborated on Sita and Surpanakha's
dresses and appearance because I think it is important because it shows
who they really are. Sita, beautiful and dressed in pink, really
represents love. So we know at the end of the story she will forgive
Surpanakha for hating her and for all the strife she caused in Sita's
life. Surpanakha was dressed in black but did have a feminine side. She
had a chiffon dress and did her nails, which is definitely feminine.
Surpanakha is described as not very attractive in the Ramayana.
However, in this story I wanted Surpanakha to be more of a woman, not
necessarily an attractive woman but still a woman. The main reason I
wanted Surpankha to be the way is because of her feelings at the end of
the story. Her feelings about Sita change and I felt that a womanly
picture would fit better with their fight than an ugly half demon who
doesn't have many emotions or feelings.
Image Information
Web Source: Human
Systems
Title: Two Women Fighting
*Edited by Julie Kramer
Bibliography Information
Buck, William. Ramayana. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1976.
Narayan, R. K. The Ramayana. New York: Penguin, 1972.
