Main Course

Ravana


Since my mother is big on food, especially around the celebration of Rama's birth, she related Ravana's biggest mistake to the main course of a meal. This is how my mother described the event in Ravana's life:

As I have already mentioned, Rama was the epitome of excellence. His wife, Sita, was the only human perfect enough for someone like Rama. They were truly two halves that made a whole, and their love was infectious. Sita could not stand to be away from Rama for any length of time. Therefore, when Rama was exiled to the forest, she left behind the luxuries of the palace life just to be with him. Eventually, Rama and Sita's perfection was noticed by a very undesirable source.

Ravana's demon sister, Surpanakha, saw Rama in the forest one afternoon. She instantly fell in love with his perfection. When she tried to have him for her own, he informed her that he was already married to someone. Rama could never have eyes for Surpanakha because Sita was far more beautiful than Surpanakha due to her inner and outer beauty. In the eyes of Surpanakha, Sita was not good enough for Rama because she was too thin and too human. Surpanakha attempted, without success, to win the heart of Rama. In the end, Lakshmana mutilated Surpanakha in order to protect Rama and Sita from her crazy attempts. Ravana was infuriated at the sight of his sister's injuries. Once Ravana's workers healed all Surpanakha's cuts, she described the source of her wounds: Lakshmana, Rama, and Sita.  Sita's description sent Ravana into daze and he was completely unable to stop thinking about her. He didn't even need to see her for he had already fallen in love with her.

From that day on, Ravana set out to make her his wife, even though he already had hundreds. Taking another man's wife is a horrendous crime. Kidnapping or stealing anything that is not yours is not acceptable for any reason. Nevertheless, this is what he wanted-no, he craved it. The smartest way to go about stealing Sita would be to kill Rama and take her as his wife after the battle, but Ravana didn't like this plan. He preferred to use deception and to make Rama suffer as much as possible.

He found his fellow demon, Maricha, and asked for a favor. Maricha told Ravana that he should leave Sita alone because Rama would be trouble. Of course Ravana didn't listen. He convinced Maricha to transform into a golden deer in order to tempt Sita. Once Sita saw the gorgeous deer, she immediately wanted it. Rama struggled to keep with the deer and ended up deep inside the forest. The deer imitated Rama's cry for help. Sita, feeling terribly guilty, sent Lakshmana after him. When Sita was finally left alone, Ravana transformed himself into an innocent looking old man in search of food. He easily deceived Sita with the disguise. Due to a curse, Ravana was unable to directly touch her without her consent. Therefore, he scooped the earth surrounding Sita and headed for Lanka.

When he finally caught up to the deer, he discovered Maricha. Rama quickly killed Maricha and rushed home. Upon his return to the cabin, he was devastated to find that Sita had been abducted. Rama made countless new friends who helped him find Sita. As soon as her location was discovered, they planned a battle with all the rakshasas and Ravana himself to get her back. Both of Ravana's two brothers told him to give Sita back because a battle would end in his death. He didn't pay any attention to them. One brother, Vibhishana, went to other side by seeking refuge with Rama and his troops. The other brother, Kumbhakarna, fought Rama, but failed, resulting in death.

Not only did Sita never give Ravana what he desired, but he lost many close people in his life. This is where Karma came into play. Ravana's actions: stealing Sita and ignoring any warnings. The consequences: the deaths of Maricha and Kumbhakarna, and losing his relationship with Vibhishana. As mentioned before, the abduction of Sita was the main course in the downfall of Ravana. Main courses are the biggest parts of meals. They always have the most food and are the most fulfilling component of the meal. The actions involved in Ravana's capture of Sita and his refusal to give her back were the main events leading to his death, which you will learn about in the next story.

The story is from the little girl, with her mother explaining everything. The mother is trying to teach her daughter about Karma and enlighten her about Ravana's story. I had to have some back story in order to explain the full picture. A lot of the back story had to be summarized, or the story would have been almost as long as the book. I chose this as the main course of the meal because so many of the events in the Ramayana were due to this incident. If Ravana had listened to Maricha or his brothers, he could have prevented the early deaths of friends and family.

As mentioned before, the celebration of Rama's birth involves great amounts of food. For the recipe, I wanted to use something with meat, because Ravana is a "meat-head" (or "meat-heads"). I tried to find a recipe with deer in it because that would go along great with the story. Unfortunately, deer is not a very popular dish in the in the Indian culture, but lamb is. A lamb is a very innocent and potentially beautiful creature, which makes it similar to a deer. One very popular meal in this culture is curry. This is a recipe for a lamb curry that could be served as a dish at the celebration:



Lamb Curry Source: Indian Recipes

Ingredients :
1 oz butter
1 tbsp groundnut oil
1 lb cubed lamb
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stick cinnamon, broken in 2
6 green cardamom pods, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp chili powder
Instructions:
Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the oil.
When it starts to sizzle fry the lamb until it colors on all sides.
Remove with a draining spoon and set aside.
Add the onion and fry until golden, scraping up any residues.
Add the garlic and fry for another minute.
Add the whole spices and cook for about 2 minutes, then add the ground spices. Cook until fragrant but be careful not to burn.
Return lamb to the pan and add 8 fl oz water or stock. Stir well, reduce heat to medium and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
Serve with Indian bread.

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