When will you learn to trust the one you love?
After the conclusion of The Ramayana, we find our hero, Rama, and his beautiful wife, Sita, settling into life as the King of Kosala country living in the capital of Ayodhya. Within a couple of months, Sita comes to tell Rama very enthusiastically that she is pregnant.
"Rama, I have the best news. I am pregnant. I cannot wait to carry your beautiful child! This is a blessing from the gods that our troubles are now over," Sita told Rama.
Rama said nothing back to her but walked away in the opposite direction. Sita knew that Rama was again questioning her purity when she was with Ravana. He did not fulling believe the child she was caring was his own. Sita sadly left to talk with Kausalya, Rama mother. Maybe she could help Sita reassure Rama that she was caring his child and help restore Rama's love to her. He had become distance to her ever since they returned to Ayodhya.
"Kausalya I am sorry to bother you, but I have a serious subject I need to discuss with you. It is about Rama and myself," Sita explained to Kausalya.
Kausalya looked at Sita, smiled and ushered her over saying, "Sita, of course, you can talk with me. But I think I know what this is about; you are pregnant with Rama's child. Which I am very excited about, but Rama has his doubts."
Sita burst into tears. Kausalya comforted her and told her, "You must have the devotion that he will come to the realization that you have been faithful. Rama hears the whispers of subjects who are doubtful that you were faithful, but they did not witness the gods protecting you when you entered the fire. They do not know your purity. Rama will come to his senses just give him time and continue to carry yourself as you have been. Sadly, the burden that you bare as a wife is to wait for your husband to realize the truth."
That night Sita waited for Rama to come to bed. It soon became very late, and Rama had still not come to bed. Sita began to pace with worry. Finally, she went off to look for him. She found Rama sitting outside in one of the gardens. When she approached him, she bowed her head and sat beneath him on her knees with her head looking down at Rama's feet.
Timidly Sita spoke to him, "Rama I can understand why you have doubts about my purity. But Ravana could not touch me. Ravana suffered from an ancient curse that would not allow him to touch a woman without her consent or he would die. Please pray to the gods for assurance. Find it in your heart to remember how much I love you and that I am carrying your child."
Rama lifted Sita face up to look into her eyes. When he saw her beautiful eyes, he was reminded of the first time he saw Sita when he arrived in Mithila. As the tears in Sita's eyes began to appear Rama honestly felt the shame of what he had done to his wife. This courageous woman had followed him into the forest when he was banished, not her. Then she was kidnapped by a crazy man because of his revengeful sister that he had again caused. Rama finally had his moment of clarity. He slid off the bench down to his knees with Sita then leaned down and kissed her belly with tears of happiness in his eyes.
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Image: Couple taking pregnancy photo. Source: pixabay by Niky filipova
Hey Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI want to start off by telling you this is such a sweet story, the middle part was filled with emotion. Stemming off of the part of the end of the Ramayana is great. Your creativity in Ram and Sita's interaction after they return was great. At least in this version Ram comes to his realization sooner rather than later.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteThis story was wonderful! It was well-written. I liked how you retold it to have Sita get advice from her mother-in-law since the Ramayana did not ever mention her after the beginning. The dialogue made it easy to understand what was going on too. It sounds like Kausalya understood what she was going through. I'm wondering why she didn't get involved though if she knows Sita was innocent. It was unfair how Rama treated her. but I'm glad Rama finally came to his senses and that the couple worked out their differences. I think it would've been nice to have some dialogue from Rama though. Although his actions reflected what he was thinking, it would've been nice to have him communicate with Sita about the matter, even at the end. The paragraphs were nicely broken up which made it easy to read. I enjoyed reading this story and look forward to reading more of your stories.
Ashley, I really liked your narrative style for this story, it was very different compared to anyone else's I have read in this course, by both using typical third person narrator with some first person observations. I felt you made it sound like something the reader was invested in, like they were watching the next episode of their favorite show. The emotion you interjected in the story also was amazing, because in the short readings we have emotion can often be lost in the brevity.
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