Rama and Sita's Exile
Well, I am glad that you are back to hear another story about the famous Rama and Sita! This story is not as "lovey dovey" as the story of their marriage, but I can promise you that there is plenty of love to go around. Now grab yourself a snack and get ready for this heart- warming story. Oh, I need to mention one last thing before we begin. After I attended the wedding of Rama and Sita, Sita decided that she needed a couple of swans around her palace. Swans do not normally get the opportunity to live in such luxury, so I decided I would not let this opportunity pass me by! Because I have these new living arrangements, I am able to tell this next story from an even better perspective. But that's enough of my rambling; I know everyone is anxious to hear the actual story!
I'm going to tell us the story of Rama and Sita's exile, but before we get into the exile, wouldn't you like to know how these two were exiled? Well, you see, Rama's father, King Dasaratha, made a promise, long ago. He promised his wife, Kaikeyi, that he would grant her two wishes. These two wishes she could use at any time. Well, when Kaikeyi found out that Rama was going to be king, she was furious. She wanted her own son, Bharatha, to rule the throne. She immediately went to Dasaratha and told him that she demanded to use her wishes. Kaikeyi, wanted to exile Rama from the city and make him live in the forest, so that there was not a chance for him to be king. She did this so that Bharatha could be the next king. Dasaratha was furious that she chose to use her wishes to hurt Rama. He tried everything he could think of to persuade her to not go through with the exile. There was no changing her mind, so as much as it killed the King he decided he must announce that Bharatha would be the next king.
Now that you all have some perspective on what brought on the exile, I
will tell you how the couple reacted to their fate. When
Rama heard the news that his brother was going to be king and he
was going into exile for fourteen years, he reacted calmly.
No one would have expected him to remain so calm. He
immediately told Sita that the forest was not safe for her and that she
needed to stay behind. Well, we all know that Sita gets what she
wants, right? She demanded that she be able to go along with
Rama. She told Rama that she could not live without him and would
follow him anywhere. She even threatened to kill herself if he
did not let her go with him. Rama reacted more calmly than Sita,
but
he was distressed at the thought of not being with her. He told Sita
that he
never wanted to have to leave her. He had
only suggested leaving to try to protect Sita.
Is everyone still with me? Now you can see that neither of these
two wanted to have to leave each other. Rama's fate was no longer
in his hands but he and Sita vowed to stay together. One
interesting part of this story is that Rama's brother Lakshmana also
insisted on going with them into exile. He remained loyal to his
brother and showed his love for Rama. I hope that you enjoyed
this wonderful tale. In my next story you will be introduced to a
new character from the Mahabharata. She is like Sita but has five
husbands to make things even more interesting!
Author's
Note: I chose to tell this story from the swan's perspective like I did
in the last story. I did this because I feel like the swan is an
interesting character who adds creativity to these stories. I
kept most of the story line and characters the same for this
story. I liked Narayan's telling of this story and stuck to it on
most things. I changed the dialogue between Rama and Sita to be
in my own words, in the way I wanted it to be. I also shortened
some of the details so that the story only had the MOST important parts
in it. I tried to show the fact that Sita would not let Rama go
into exile by himself under any circumstances. I also wanted to
make sure that I did not leave out the fact that Lakshmana went with
Rama and Sita. A big part of Rama's exile was not only having his
wife there with him but his brother as well. I feel like this
brought in a different type of love that brothers share with each
other. That type of love is definitely different than a husband
and wife's love for each other.
Bibliography
Narayan, R.K. The Ramayana. New York: Penguin, 1972.
Image From: Pictures of Hindu and Buddhist gods and goddesses Rama, Sita, Laksmana, & Hanuman