The Strength
of Queen Tara
"What a beautiful day in a beautiful kingdom; oh,
how lucky I am," Queen Tara thought to herself. As she looked around
her garden she saw many of the things she was most grateful for:
the palace, her son Angada lying in the shade under a tree, and her
mighty husband Vali, king of the monkey people, gazing down at her from
the balcony.
Tara had a lot to be thankful for, and seeing these
things made her remember how things had been.
Many years prior to this day, Tara had thought her
whole life was over. The kingdom was being tormented by an evil demon.
Vali was proud, strong and a fierce leader. He knew he could handle
this demon; he followed the demon from the kingdom down deep into a
cave. This demon had tricked Vali into going down into the underworld.
The people of the kingdom waited and waited for him to return,
eventually losing hope. Sugriva, Vali's younger brother and second in
command, went after Vali to try and bring him back. Sugriva found the
cave that Vali had gone into, he started to go in after him. As he was
about to enter he heard commotion coming from the cave; thinking it was
the demon coming back for more, he closed up the entrance to the cave
so that no demon could escape. Sugriva returned to his people with his
head hung low. He reported to Tara that her husband was dead, this was
devastating news to the kingdom but it also meant that Sugriva had to
become king. Sugriva took over the throne in Vali's absence; he proved
to be a much kinder leader than Vali.
Then one day in their quiet kingdom, all hell broke
loose. Vali had returned with a vengeance, angrier than anyone had ever
seen him. He had been tricked by the demon deep into the underworld, he
eventually defeated the demon and made his way back up to the surface.
When he reached the entrance to the cave, he found it blocked and
thought that someone had meant to keep him down in the underworld
forever; his anger mounted. As he headed back to his kingdom he began
to realize that it must have been Sugriva's desire to get him out of
the picture so that he could take over the kingdom. He became enraged
by the deceit that his brother had managed. Vali busted through the
palace gates and came hunting down Sugriva; waiting for no explanation,
he chased Sugriva out of the kingdom and threatened to kill him if he
ever came back.
Tara was so happy to see her husband again and know
that she was reunited with her lover that she didn't try and stop the
brothers quarrel. Vali wouldn't listen even if she did try to explain.
With Vali back in the kingdom, her old life was restored and they could
live happily and raise their son in peace.
Tara realized she had been daydreaming of the
past when a huge commotion sounded outside the palace walls. Tara
watched as Vali rushed from the balcony and out the gates, his
expression changing fast from admiration to anger. Sugriva had
evidently returned from his long absence. This time he came with a
small following of what looked like warriors. Tara grew instantly
alarmed of the scene that surely was about to unfold. She knew that
nothing good could come from this brothers' reunion.
She ran out of the garden gates to follow her
husband and see what was happening. The scene she came upon was one of
horror and sadness. The brothers had fought, as was promised, to the
death. Although the outcome of the fight was not what was expected.
Vali lay on the ground bleeding from a shot wound, while Sugriva stood
beside the warriors he had brought to the fight. "My husband! What have
you done to him? Why must this have happened?" she cried at the warrior
holding the bow, standing next to Sugriva. The warrior didn't have any
explanation of his actions that would suffice Tara's suffering. Sugriva
had won the fight by his trickery and use of warriors. Tara knew he was
too weak to take Vali on by himself. She was distraught and couldn't
believe she was losing him again.
Tara held her husband in her arms and sobbed. She
cursed the warriors Sugriva had brought for attacking her unsuspecting
husband, telling them that they had no right to interfere with Vali and
Sugriva's quarrel. She had suspected that Sugriva would return someday
to seek revenge. She did not think that the reunion would turn this
violent and gruesome. Tara clung to the shreds of dignity she had left,
she had faced Sugriva's reign before and knew that she was about to
face many struggles. She knew that if she didn't act fast she would
most certainly lose her comfortable life and all the things she had
grown accustomed to. She wanted to protect her son's future and keep
her husband's legacy in tact. Her son was to be the next in line for
the throne. She knew of only one thing she could do to salvage this
whole fiasco.
Tara turned to Sugriva and said, "I will remain
queen of this land. These are my people and I will not abandon them in
this time of tragedy and grief." With that, Tara set aside her own
feelings of grief and hatred towards Sugriva. She agreed to become his
wife to ensure that her son kept his ranking. Sugriva became the king
of Kishkinda again, as a result of his plotting and trickery. He ruled
the people with Tara by his side, again proving to be a much more
compassionate leader than Vali.
Tara remained ever focused on her duties as Queen.
She cared for Sugriva even through her sadness at the loss of her first
love, Vali. She was forever loyal to the family and her new husband.
She became the most devoted wife to Sugriva helping him in every aspect
of his life. She learned to love him as a wife should. Tara remained
the strength of the family and put their needs above hers always.
Author's Note: I wanted to tell the story of Tara's struggles as
a wife and queen of the monkey people. She had seen many sadness's in
her life. I used a little bit of
dialogue in this story having Tara speak because she was the central
character of the story. I didn't think it would enhance my story to
have Ruma, Sugriva's wife in the story. I felt that she would take away
from the focus on Tara and her relationships with her husbands. I
wanted
to emphasize the desire of Tara to take care of her family even if that
meant taking the man that killed her husband as her new king. She was
strong through out all of the bad fights and sadness that the brothers
inflicted on one another. Her whole life revolved around these two
brothers and she had to jump back and forth between both of them
depending on the situation. She had to have a good head on her
shoulders and a strong backbone in order to keep track of the position
she was in at the time of each change. I wanted to get her strength
across to the reader, while also showing the emotions she felt when
dealing with everything. This story is much like a fairy tale because
the queen has to face sadness and despair before she reaches the end.
Many of the fairy tales I was told as a child portray the female
heroine as a strong woman capable of seeing her ending through. I felt
that Tara showed the strength of many of these tales. Not all fairy
tales end with the happily-ever-after that was expected, this is one
that changes at the end but still remains centered on the strength of
the queen.
Back to the Cover Page
Back to the Introduction
Back to the
First Story "Who's The Fairest?"
On to the Next Story
Image Information:
Aishwarya Rai, actress on "Aishwarya Rai and Abishek
Bachan"
Web Source: Blogspot.com
Bibliography:
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.
Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of
the Indian Epic.