The Journey of Mohini

(Mohini)

Mohini never felt like she belonged anywhere. She was adopted when she was a baby so she never got to know her birth parents. In school, Mohini didn’t have any friends. Many would make fun of her due to her being different. See, Mohini somehow always had the ability to attract bugs. Sounds weird right? Well, due to her strange ability, many would avoid even sitting near Mohini. She grew up with only a little bit of love, which was given to her by her adoptive parents. Although Mohini loved her parents dearly, she wanted to experience friendship. She wanted to be normal.

Mohini lived in such a small village that everyone basically knew each other. Her parents worked in the fields, tending to the land of a farmer who supplied a variety of crops a to big company. Their family made just enough money to get by. Their family resided in a small house made of wood. The house itself was old with some of the wood splitting and the tin roof starting to rust but the interior made it feel brand new. Inside the home was where Mohini lived her best memories. Since she never had any friends, Mohini spent most of her time with her family. She loved watching her mother cook and her father working on different chores in the house. This was before they started to work in the fields. Mohini’s parents wanted her to go to a good school so they had to start working in order to pay for it. That’s when Mohini began to feel more and more alone. She had always felt that a part of her was missing but she didn’t know what.

This year, many of the people who worked in the fields were getting laid off. Mohini’s village had been suffering a terrible drought and the since the crops were dying, the farmer wasn’t able to pay some of his workers so he had to let them go, Mohini’s parents included.

Every day, many of the villagers would gather to the center of the village to pray to the Gods. They prayed for an end to this terrible drought. Then one day, an old sage came.

“You need not worry! For the God, Vishnu, will be the one to stop this terrible curse! Legend says that Vishnu will one day come when there is a terrible drought and I believe that that time has finally come. We need not lose hope.”

Everyone thought that the sage was crazy. However, they did not want to lose hope as the sage had said in the case that Vishnu would actually come. They quickly began to prepare offerings to the God. Many brought fruits while other hunted animals. They earnestly waited the arrival of their savior.

At first, Mohini was happy that her parents no longer had a job. Now, she could once again spend time with them. However, her parents were deeply saddened by the whole ordeal. One day, when Mohini was on her way to the bathroom, she overheard her mom crying. This was the first time she had seen her mom sad. She didn’t know what to do so she ran out of the house. She ran all the way to the village. There, she saw the offerings that the villagers had prepared for Vishnu and it made her angry.

“Why aren’t you here? Why haven’t you saved us from this horrible drought?”

Mohini began to cry. She cried and cried. Then, as Mohini's tears hit the ground a single drop of rain hit her cheek. She looked up and suddenly, it began to pour. Everyone gathered to the center of the village and rejoiced. Then they began to look for Vishnu, who the sage had said would be the one to bring the rain. Suddenly, a bright light appeared and Vishnu now stood where Mohini had. The people gasped in shock of the sight they had witnessed.

“Hello, everyone. As you may have noticed, I am Vishnu. I have been asleep for centuries, waiting for the day that I would be needed. Your cries of help have awakened me.”

“Wait, so are you Mohini?” asked a villager.

“Mohini and I are one. She is me and I am her.”

So that’s how Mohini found the missing piece in her life. She had always gone about wondering what her purpose was. She always felt out of place, but not anymore. Mohini was the female form of Vishnu. With this newfound knowledge, Mohini lived her life helping others. She would become the light that would guide people. She would be the hand that reached out to those in need. She became the person who they needed when times were rough. Lastly, she would finally become the person she had always wanted to be for herself.


Author's Note:

For last week’s reading, I read about Mohini. She is known as the female form of Vishnu. In history, Mohini is known as a goddess that enchants lovers which ultimately leads to their doom. In my story, I wanted to portray her in a different light. I made it to where she didn’t know that she was the female version of Vishnu in order to create a story that would explain to the audience how she came to find out she was. She finds out who she was after it was her tears that caused the rain to finally pour. My story portrays the journey of a girl who was once lost but has now found her true calling in life. I chose this topic because it is one that can be applied to all aspects of life no matter the time we live in. Since I did not base my story off of another story, but off of the fact that Mohini was known as the female form of Vishnu, I don’t have much to explain in my author’s note. I just wanted to try and write a more modern story while still applying original Hindu teachings that were well known. I would still like to expand more on different parts of the story. I hope you will enjoy!

Bibliography

Pattanaik, Devdutt. Seven Secrets of Vishnu. Link to videos online.

Wikipedia: Mohini. 

Story: How the Mind Kills.

(Kamsa getting warned by a goddess.)

After hearing that a son of his sister, Devaki, would one day bring about his death, Kamsa vowed to kill each and every one of her children. He wanted to make sure that no one would jeopardize his position as ruler of Mathura.


On the fifth night of the winter season, Devaki gave birth to her first son. Kamsa heard of this and made his way to where she was. Devaki knew of her brother’s evil plan so she had previously made plans with her husband, Vasudeva, and arranged for her son to be taken away to a safe place. Upon his arrival, Kamsa was furious to find out what his sister had done. As punishment, he ordered for her to be locked in a prison for the rest of her life.


The caretaker of Devaki’s son, Yashoda, named him Krishna. She nursed him as if he were her own. As he grew, Yashoda came to find out that Krishna was no ordinary child. One day when she found out that Krishna had been eating mud, she immediately tried to remove it by telling him to open his mouth. However, when she looked inside, it wasn’t mud that she found. Instead, inside Krishna’s mouth, Yashoda saw the entire universe.


At the age of fifteen, the city of Mathura were well aware of who Krishna was. Everyone recognized the greatness that he offered. At this age, Krishna also came to find out from Yashoda about his evil uncle.


The city of Mathura was a beautiful one. People roamed the streets while animals grazed the grass. However, Mathura was known for its powerful earthquakes. With one shake, thousands of innocent people lost their homes. Krishna wanted a structure that could withstand these powerful quakes so he asked the divine architect, Vishwakarma, to build him one.


“I have constructed you the world’s first indestructible building. However, there is one thing that can cause this building to fall: lead. Unfortunately, I am deathly allergic to it and therefore I don’t have knowledge of the material which is why I could not protect the building from it. So as long as lead does not touch these walls, the building will continue to stand tall.”


Devaki waited ten years before conceiving her second child. She thought that surely by now her brother would have let go of the thought that one of her children would kill him. However, she was terribly mistaken. One by one, Kamsa took Devaki's children from her and killed them. Kamsa would take her child to the forest and kill it by throwing it against the wall of what looked like an abandoned building. He loved his sister dearly but he couldn’t risk giving up his position. This horrible routine continued on for years. Kamsa constantly lived in fear that Devaki’s next child would be the one to kill him. This strain caused him to become delusional.


After he gained news that Devaki had had another child, he rushed to claim it. He once again proceeded to the abandoned building in the forest and continued his routine like normal. All of a sudden, the ground started to shake and the building collapsed, trapping Kamsa inside of it. It turns out that due to his mind being destroyed by the constant fear that he would someday die, Kamsa had hallucinated. He had thought that he was carrying the baby from the prison where his sister was kept to the forest when in fact he had grabbed a small statue from his home. That statue turned out to be made of lead and the building that he would go to in order to kill the babies was the building that Vishwakarma had built for Krishna.


In the end, Kamsa died not from one of Devaki’s children, but from the fault of his own deranged mind. After the whole ordeal, Krishna was finally reunited with his mother and he became the king of Mathura. People no longer had to live in fear. The city flourished under Krishna’s rule.




Author's Note:

In the original story, Krishna is born as the eighth child. The person who told Kamsa of his fate told him that it would be the eighth child of his sister that would one day kill him. Kamsa locks up his sister and her husband as a result of that. In order to make the story flow the way I wanted it to, I made it to where Krishna would be the firstborn child. That way, it would allow for Devaki, Kamsa’s sister, to have more children that Kamsa would kill over the years. I wanted him to be continuously exposed to this in order to show why he became mentally ill. In the original story, Krishna does return to the city of Mathura and kills his uncle. This caused an uproar amongst the allies of Kamsa. They began to continuously attack the city which prompted Krishna to take action. He asked the divine architect, Vishwakarma, to build him a new city, the city of Dwarka. In my story I made it to where Vishwakarma built him a building, which was where Kamsa would go to kill Devaki's children. As you can see, I decided to focus more on Kamsa than on Krishna, as it is in the original story. I wanted to demonstrate to the audience how powerful the mind can really be. The irony in the story was that in the end Kamsa wasn’t killed by any of Devaki’s children, but by his own mind. He brought about his own demise because he wanted to keep his power.




Bibliography

Epified TV (India). Krishna. Link to videos online.

Story: The Reconciliation.

(A temple in the town of Hastinapur. Image source: Wikipedia.)

There once lived a king who ruled over the land of Hastinapur. His name was Pandu. He grew up in an environment that taught him that it was okay to harm people in order to get what you wanted. He grew up to be a king that many people hated but more people feared.

King Pandu loved to hunt. He felt a sense of satisfaction when the arrow would hit the animal. One day, he decided to take a break from his duties and go hunting. The forest was dim due to the many trees that provided shade to the ground. As King Pandu ventured deeper, he encountered two deer. Excited at his discovery, he drew his bow and aimed. They dropped to the ground. Pandu ran over to his catch excitedly only to find that the two deer had now taken the form of humans. It turned out that King Pandu had accidentally shot a Brahmin couple. The two were taking their last few breaths when the Brahmin whispered a curse.

“For this wretched deed you have done, I curse you to forever die in the arms of your wife.”

Pandu quickly ran out of the forest and tried to forget the events that had happened that day.

Pandu felt anxious over what had happened so he tried to sleep it off. That night, he dreamed. He dreamed of the time when he was pure, of the time when he had not been exposed to the evil of society. He suddenly awoke by the sound of a rooster.

“Well, that was an odd dream.”

King Pandu then went about his day. He got dressed and took a stroll around town. While walking through the marketplace, a kid bumped into him. He was taken aback at first but then moved on. When he came back to the palace, he was greeted by his favorite wife, Madri.

“How are you today, my sire? Isn’t it nice to finally see the sun after the rainy season?”

“Yes, it is, my dear.”

They proceeded to take a romantic stroll through the palace. The smell of fresh flowers filled the air. The couple walked along a long path that led to a field of flowers. Suddenly someone stepped in the middle of their path.

“Who are you?”

Out of nowhere, the strange man drew his bow and shot Pandu right in the chest. The king fell into the lap of his wife and died. Suddenly, Pandu woke up again in his bed.

“What just happened? Was it really just a dream?”

Confused, Pandu once again started to get ready for the day. He started with his usual stroll through town. Then, a little kid bumped into him. Wasn’t that the same kid from my dream, he wondered to himself. He continued on his stroll and then headed home. He was greeted once again by his wife.

“How are you today? Isn’t it nice to finally see the sun after the rainy season?”

“Why are you asking me the same thing again?”

“What are you talking about? This is the first time I have asked you this.”

Puzzled, King Pandu decided to brush it off. He and his wife began to take a stroll through the palace to try and take his mind off of the matter. Suddenly, as they were strolling along the path, a man appeared. He looked very similar to the man in Pandu’s dream. This time Pandu wanted to know who this mysterious man was. However, right as he was about to speak, the man drew his arrow and shot the king to his death. King Pandu once again awoke in his bed. This cycle occurred continuously. To King Pandu, months seemed to pass but to everyone else, it was just a new day.

Pandu started to think about what the Brahmin had said to him before he died. He wanted to seek answers but could not since the Brahmin was dead.

The next day, Pandu got ready as usual. He got dressed and proceeded to stroll in town. As he was walking, he saw the group of children running around. He braced for the impact of the child that was going to run into him but nothing happened. The child was nowhere to be seen. King Pandu then went to find the child because he thought that the child could be the solution to this miserable cycle. He began to search far and wide for the child. Then, he heard a loud screech.

Pandu decided to follow the sound. He followed it all the way to the forest. He couldn’t seem to pinpoint the source of it, so he decided to give up. As he turned back around, there stood the child.

“Who are you?”

“I am the lost soul of Brahmin. I have followed you around in order to make sure that the curse I placed on you carries through.”

“How could you make sure? You are only a child.”

“Think again, my confused one. I am not only the child that bumped into you every day, but I am also the man that killed you as well. I wanted you to pay tenfold for what you had done to me and my wife. I wanted you to suffer because I thought that it would bring me peace in the afterlife. However, I was wrong. I know now that in order to leave this world peacefully, I must make amends with you. So I stand here today to forgive you. I hope this not only helps you to realize the importance of a life, but also be a better person.”

With that, a bright light appeared and the Brahmin proceeded to walk into it. After that event, King Pandu began to change his ways. He became kinder to the people who worshipped him. He became more aware of how much life had to offer him. Last but not least, he became the person he once was. He became Pandu.

Author’s Note

For my story, I decided to once again keep many of the original components of the Mahabharata while still adding my own twist. In the original story, King Pandu accidentally kills the Brahmin and his wife in disguise while he was hunting. The Brahmin then places a curse saying that King Pandu would die in the arms of his wife. I decided to keep that part of the story. To make my story more interesting, I wanted to add an interesting twist. I decided to make it to where Pandu had to continuously relive his death. I forgot to add earlier that this idea was inspired by one of my favorite shows, Supernatural. In the show, one of the brothers has to continuously relive his older brother's death. This was the work of a trickster. In my version, I wanted these events to be the result of a curse. I did this to Pandu because I didn't want to actually kill him. I wanted him to not only survive, but to also learn that what he did was wrong and to pay for his sins. In the original book, the Brahmin and Pandu simply died without any continuation of their story. I wanted them to make amends with each other in order to create a happier ending which is why I brought the Brahmin back in the form of a lost soul. That way, he would be able to release the anger that he felt towards Pandu while also letting go of his past in order for him to successfully leave the world in peace.

Bibliography

Public Domain Mahabharata. Link to the reading online.

Story: Redemption's the Winner.

(A valiant looking Rama. Image Source: Wikimedia.)

The battle raged on and on. Ravana had begun to reach his breaking point. He utilized most of the resources that were available to him but to no avail. Rama seemed invincible as he countered all of Ravana’s attacks one-by-one, but Ravana was determined not to give up. When it seemed as if Ravana had nothing else to offer, Rama thought that it was time to end this strenuous fight. He decided to try and use the “Maya”, an ancient weapon that allowed to user to confuse his/her opponent by creating illusions. Ravana started to charge at Rama with full force. Upon stepping within arms distance of Rama, Ravana suddenly entered another dimension.

“What just happened? Where am I?”

Ravana began to wander around aimlessly in search of an exit. He walked for awhile until he reached a tunnel. He saw a light at the end of the tunnel so he began to walk towards it. As he reached the end, he faintly heard the voice of a woman. Suddenly a blinding light impaired his vision as he exited the tunnel. When his eyes refocused on the scene, he found himself to stand before a woman holding a child. At first, Ravana was confused by the whole picture. However, as he examined the woman more closely, he was bewildered to find that that woman was in fact his mother. Ravana did not understand what was happening. Slowly, he found himself wanting to touch the face of his mother. Step-by-step, he inched closer and closer to her. Just as he was about to touch her cheek, a bright light once again appeared. When Ravana regained his vision, he found himself in his home. He looked around to find all of the things he use to enjoy as a child, from the toys he played with to the blanket that he always held to so dearly. He began to explore the house when he was stopped by a little boy. The boy looked up at Ravana and spoke in a soft voice.

“Who are you?”

“I am Ravana. Who are you?”

“I am also Ravana.”

At that moment, he once again heard the voice of his mother.

“Ravana, come here my little one.”

Ravana watched as the little boy happily ran to his mother, well, their mother. He continued to watch and admire as the boy and his mother laughed and frolicked. He suddenly started to think.

When did I become so engrossed in hurting people? When did I become so evil?

Ravana did not understand how such a pure little boy could become what he had become. He began to also think about the fight that was going on with Rama.

“Why am I fighting Rama?”

Ravana knew that he wanted to fight Rama for the hand of his wife but he began to rethink the choices he had made. Deep down, Ravana knew what he was doing was wrong, it’s just that he didn’t know how to stop. He didn't know when to stop living up to the picture that people drew of him. For the first time in a long time, Ravana felt remorse. He felt remorse for the wrongs that he had done. He felt remorse for ever straying off into the wrong direction. With that thought, the room started to shake. Suddenly, Ravana found himself back on the battle field only now, everything was frozen in time. This was the perfect moment. Ravana had the chance to defeat Rama once and for all. However, Ravana could not move his feet. He had this new feeling inside of him that prevented him from moving forward with the heinous act. For the first time in his adult life, he felt sympathy. He felt not only sympathy for Rama but he felt sympathy for himself, for a once innocent boy who somewhere along the line took the wrong turn. At that moment, time began to proceed again. Ravana was once again very confused. Rama was now looking at him.

“You, Ravana, have passed the test of the “Maya”.

“The test of the “Maya”?”

“I used the test of the Maya in hopes that you could be redeemed. The Maya is an ancient weapon used to create illusions. For people who cannot be redeemed, it will cause them to go crazy; but for people who even have the slightest chance of being saved, it has the power to show the victim how they once were. Everyone is born pure, and many stray off that path, but the “Maya” was built to restore that path. You, Ravana, have successfully passed the test and therefore, in my book, have beaten me."

So that was the end of the great battle between Rama and Ravana. Though the battle did not conclude with a winner, Rama was able to save another lost soul and that in itself made everyone a winner.

Author's Note

I was really intrigued with the description of how the "Maya" worked which was why I decided to focus on the effects it had on the victim in my story. The Maya was a weapon that had the power to create illusions for the person who it was used on. I wanted the outcome of the fight to be one that was happy and the only way I felt that that could have happen was if Ravana was somehow redeemed and/or if he realized the error of his ways. I made this possible by tweaking the effects of the Maya a little by making it send Ravana down memory lane. By doing this, Ravana would be able to see the person that he once was. We are all born pure but some of us end up taking the wrong path. In the end Ravana came to realize that the fight he was in was not worth it. I wanted to make everyone a winner; I wanted a happy ending and with this, I was hopefully able to create that for the readers. I still stuck to the original story of them having an ongoing, strenuous fight but I added my own twist to it i.e the happy ending. 

Bibliography

Narayan's Ramayana, Link to Reading online. 

Story: Redemption's the Winner.

(A valiant looking Rama. Image Source: Wikimedia.) 

The battle raged on. Ravana had begun to reach his breaking point. He utilized most of the resources that were available to him but to no avail. Rama was invincible as he countered all of Ravana’s attacks one-by-one, but Ravana was determined not to give up. When Ravana had nothing else to offer, Rama thought that it was time to end this strenuous fight. He decided to try and use the “Maya,” an ancient weapon that allowed the user to confuse their opponent by creating illusions. Ravana started to charge at Rama with full force. Upon stepping within arm's distance of Rama, Ravana suddenly entered another dimension.


“What just happened? Where am I?”


Ravana began to wander around the dark and ominous field in search of an exit. He walked for a while until he reached a tunnel. He saw a light at the end of the tunnel so he began to walk towards it.

As he reached the end, he faintly heard the voice of a woman. Suddenly, a blinding light impaired his vision as he exited the tunnel. When his eyes refocused on the scene, he found himself standing before a woman holding a child. At first, Ravana was confused by the whole picture. However, as he examined the woman more closely, he was bewildered to find that that woman was in fact his mother, Kaikesi. Ravana did not understand what was happening. Slowly, he found himself wanting to touch the face of his mother. Step-by-step, he inched closer and closer to her. Just as he was about to touch her cheek, a bright light once again appeared. When Ravana regained his vision, he now found himself in his childhood home. He looked around to find all of the things he used to enjoy as a child, from his favorite old slingshot to the blanket that he always held on to so dearly. He began to explore the house when a little boy stopped him. The boy looked up at Ravana and spoke in a soft voice.

“Who are you?”


“I am Ravana. Who are you?”


“I am also Ravana.”


At that moment, he once again heard the voice of his mother.


“Ravana, come here, my little one.”


Ravana watched as the little boy happily ran to his mother, well, their mother. He continued to watch and admire as the boy and his mother laughed and frolicked. He suddenly started to think.


When did I become so engrossed in hurting people? When did I become so evil?


Ravana did not understand how such a pure little boy could become what he had become. He began to also think about the fight that was going on with Rama.


“Why am I fighting Rama?”


Ravana knew that at first he wanted to fight Rama for the hand of Rama's wife, Sita, but he began to rethink the choices he had made. Deep down, Ravana knew what he was doing was wrong. It’s just that he didn’t know how to stop. He didn't know when to stop living up to the picture that people drew of him. For the first time in a long time, Ravana felt remorse. He felt remorse for the wrongs that he had done. He felt remorse for ever straying off into the wrong direction.


With that thought, the room started to shake. Suddenly, Ravana found himself back on the battlefield. Only now, everything was frozen in time. This was the perfect moment. Ravana had the chance to defeat Rama once and for all. However, Ravana could not move his feet. He had this new feeling inside of him that prevented him from moving forward with the heinous act. For the first time in his adult life, he felt sympathy. He felt not only sympathy for Rama but he felt sympathy for himself, for a once innocent boy who somewhere along the line took the wrong turn. He felt apologetic for causing Rama pain. At that moment, time began to proceed again. Ravana was once again very confused. Rama was now looking at him.


“You, Ravana, have passed the test of the Maya."


“The test of the Maya?"


“I used the test of the Maya in hopes that you could be redeemed. The Maya is an ancient weapon used to create illusions. For people who cannot be redeemed, it will cause them to go crazy. However, for people whom even have the slightest chance of being saved, it has the power to show the victim how they once were. Everyone is born pure, and many stray off that path, but the “Maya” was built to restore that path. You, Ravana, have successfully passed the test."


“You have given me the chance to redeem myself and for that, I will be forever grateful. To make up for my past wrongdoings, I shall now live my life in a righteous manner as you do. I shall return Sita to you immediately. I greatly apologize for the trouble that I have caused.”

So that was the end of the great battle between Rama and Ravana. The battle did not conclude with a death but with a birth, the birth of a new Ravana. Rama had once again succeeded in saving another lost soul.



Author's Note

I was really intrigued with the description of how the "Maya" worked which was why I decided to focus on the effects it had on the victim in my story. The Maya was a weapon that had the power to create illusions for the person who it was used on. It was a weapon   I wanted the outcome of the fight to be one that was happy and the only way I felt that that could have happen was if Ravana was somehow redeemed and/or if he realized the error of his ways. I made this possible by tweaking the effects of the Maya a little by making it send Ravana down memory lane. By doing this, Ravana would be able to see the person that he once was. We are all born pure but some of us end up taking the wrong path. In the end Ravana came to realize that the fight he was in was not worth it. I wanted to make everyone a winner; I wanted a happy ending and with this, I was hopefully able to create that for the readers. I still stuck to the original story of them having an ongoing, strenuous fight but I added my own twist to it i.e the happy ending.


Bibliography

Narayan's Ramayana, Link to Reading online.

Story: The Demon Within the Forest.

(Rama and Lakshmana stand before Jatayu. Image source: Wikimedia.)

Rama wasn’t going to ignore the will of his mother. He would go into exile for fourteen years. His brother, Bharatha, took the throne as per the request of Rama. Although Bhraratha did not want to seem as if he was going against his brother, he knew the kingdom needed someone to rule it in the meantime.

As Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana ventured deeper into the forest, they began to feel exhausted even though it had only been two days since they started their journey.

“I feel so weak, my lord,” said Sita.


“Please don’t give up, Sita. I won’t be able to go on without you by my side,” said Rama.

“I will go and find us a place to rest so that we may regain our energy,” said Lakshmana.


Lakshmana left in search of a place to rest. He came across an old abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. He was cautious as he approached the brown, rickety building. He felt sort of uneasy about the place but decided to ignore the feeling. As he ran back to tell his brother of the news, he heard a faint cry.


“Who dares hide in the shadows? Come out where I can see you.”


Then, a shadowy figure came racing towards him and rushed through him. Lakshmana collapsed onto the ground. After a while, he regained consciousness.


“What just happened?”


Confused, Lakshmana got up and continued over to Rama and Sita to tell them of what he had found.


“Come, I have found us a place to reside.”


They entered the old house. The floors and walls were made of cracked oak wood that seemed to be molding by the odor that filled the air. As they explored deeper into the rooms, they discovered something strange. There were scratch marks that ran along the floorboards. They all felt uneasy about the place but decided to stay and rest to regain their energy.


As night came, they prepared to rest. Halfway into the night, noises began to fill the house. A sound that mimicked that of nails scratching along a surface filled the rooms. Then, out from the floor came a shadow of a lady different from the one that attacked Lakshmana before. The shadow crept along the walls. For some reason, it was drawn to Lakshmana, who was in another room. He had become weak after the other soul had passed through him. It entered his room.


Early next morning, they continued their journey. They reached an area of the forest where no trees grew.


“I wonder why there aren’t any trees around here,” said Sita.


Then, as they turned back around to face the once bare field, they now found themselves looking at a field filled with trees. However, they were not the color of normal trees. They had a ghostly appearance to them. Upon closer inspection, the trees seemed to bear faces. They discovered that every tree enclosed the body of an individual. Rama noticed that one of the trees closely resembled his brother. Suddenly, the ground started to shake. A crack started to form and out emerged a large being. The being had dark skin and eyes. It definitely wasn’t human.


“I am Soorpanaka, demon of the souls. I see you have encountered the forest where I keep the souls that I have captured, one of those being your brother.”


“Give me back Lakshmana, you monster!” said Rama.


Suddenly, soulless Lakshmana attacked Rama. Rama then signaled Sita to go hide in the bushes. She did not want to leave her love but she knew that she would only become an obstacle for him if she stayed.


“Before you can get to me, you must defeat your brother,” said Soorpanaka as she slid back into the crack from where she came.


Rama did not know what to do. Even though that wasn’t his brother, it was still his body and he didn’t want to hurt him. Suddenly a bright light in the shape of a bird appeared before them.


“I am Jatayu, guardian eagle and old friends of your father. I was too a victim of Soorpanaka but I managed to escape after a man chopped down my tree and released my soul.”


“Jatayu, what can I do? I want to save my brother from this wretched deed that Soorpanaka did to him.”


“We won't be able to cut down all these trees one by one, since there are far too many. However, there is another solution. The only other way we can save your brother and everyone who has been a victim of Soorpanaka is if you and I merge. I cannot help you unless I have a vessel. With the combined purity of our souls, we can defeat Soorpanaka and therefore release the souls.”


Jatayu then entered Rama and their souls merged; now there stood a mighty winged beast that bore the face of Rama. Lakshmana attacked Rama but was blinded by the light Rama and Jatayu emitted. That light then surged throughout the forest. Suddenly, all of the trees started to disappear. The souls began to find their way back to their original owners. Lakshmana regained his senses.


“Oh, my brother, I apologize greatly for the trouble I have caused!”


“No need to apologize, my brother. Now that you are you again, I need you to go and protect Sita while Jatayu and I defeat this demon.”


Lakshmana ran to Sita. Soorpanaka once again emerged from her crevice. Her appearance had changed; she was old and frail-looking. The souls that had once kept her youthful were now gone.


“How dare you release all of my souls!”


“They were never yours to begin with.”


With those words Rama released the eagle of light in him. The eagle entered the demon and obliterated it from within.


After that encounter, all was well in the forest again and the group of three continued into the forest with Jatayu watching them from afar as he always did.

Auhor's Note:

For my story I wanted to focus on the obstacles that Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana encounter during the exile of Rama. In the original story, Rama and Lakshmana are brothers by blood but best friends by choice. Their close relationship allowed me to use Lakshmana as a weapon which was why I chose him to have his soul taken. I knew that Rama wouldn't suspect much since it was his brother. Why would his brother ever want to hurt him? In the Ramayana, Soorpanaka is a demon who is very fond of Rama when she meets him. She falls deeply in love with him which is why she then tries to get Rama to leave Sita and follow her. She even tries to harm Sita. I didn't incorporate much of the romance quarrel that happened between the three into my story due to the fact that I tried to make the feel of this story a bit more ominous instead of a love-oriented one. I kept Soorpanaka as a demon in order to make her the antagonist of my scary story. As per the suggestion of my classmate, Candace Johnston, I made it to where the reason that Soorpanaka kept the souls was because she wanted to stay beautiful and youthful. If she didn’t consume them, then she wouldn’t have the power or strength to revert back and forth between her beautiful appearance and her demon one.



Bibliography:

Narayan's Ramayana, link to reading Guide B.

Story: Revenge's Reality

A simple mistake in a simple surgery led to the demise of the grandma of a young girl in high school. The surgeon did not see the fault in his mistake and did not bother to apologize for the girl’s loss. With great determination the girl vowed to make him pay and apologize for the pain that he had caused her. She thought the best way to attack him was to first become a surgeon, that way she could attack him with a voice.

 (A Justice Balance)

Over the course of the next 13 years she was able to become a successful surgeon. She began to plan out her revenge.

“I’ll make you suffer for what you did by always staying close as a constant reminder and I’ll watch you fall apart.”

However, it didn’t go as she had planned. No matter how much she pursued this goal of hers, it just seemed as if luck wasn’t on her side. The people around her whom she love began to become collateral damage. Although she didn’t want to dishonor her grandma, she felt as if the best she could do in her situation was to step back. She began to accept the fact that she might never receive the apology she so hoped for.

Then, things started to take a different turn. The very person who treated her sick grandmother now needed treatment. At first she was set on not agreeing to perform the surgery. As time went by, she began to once again remember who she really was, a doctor. She set their differences aside and became determined to save him as that was her duty as a doctor. She succeeded in her task and received something from the person that she could have never imagined,

“Thank you”.

Although she didn’t get the apology she had worked so hard to obtain, in the end she had gained something much bigger, sincerity.

The scars which you hold on so tightly to may be the very thing that’s stopping you from obtaining what you truly strive for.

Author's Note: In the original fable, the author spoke of how "Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten". It starts out with the son of a countryman being bit by a serpent. unfortunately the son died so the father set out to seek revenge on behalf of his son. He cut off the tail of the serpent. However that seemed to cause him more trouble than it was worth. The serpent began to cause harm to the father therefore causing him a detrimental loss. The father tried reconciling with the serpent but it was of no use. I took the theme of revenge from the story and incorporated it into my own story. I wanted to demonstrate how revenge isn't always the path that will lead us to happiness like we think it will. I wanted to demonstrate the reality of revenge, hence the name. 

Bibliography. "The  Man and The Serpent",  from The fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source. 

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons