Week 5 Story: Remember the Love

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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Author's Notes: This story takes elements from both The Ramayana by R.K. Narayan and the movie Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. In the movie, Sita Sings the Blues we learn about what happens to Rama and Sita after they return to Ayodhya. Within a short time, Sita is pregnant, and Rama doubts that she is carrying his child and banishes her. Sita lived out in the forest raising Rama's two sons still devoted to Rama and teaching the boys to love him as well. I decided to change this story to have Rama not banish Sita. The couple already had to endure a lot in the first story, so I wanted the couple to have a happy ending. Rama had already witnessed the fire trail, so he should not be doubtful of Sita anymore. However, I also included the information about Ravana not being able to touch a woman without her permission found in R.K. Narayan story to help reiterate her purity. I wanted to have Rama remember his love for Sita and believe in her.

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Image: Couple taking pregnancy photo. Source: pixabay by Niky filipova

Reading Notes: Reading B: Sita Sings the Blues

Why did they even try a sequel? 

I watched the second part of Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley for the reading. I had remembered that at the end of The Ramayana by R.K. Narayan, he had explained that there was a sequel to the story, but he omitted it because it was not very popular and considered not to be authentic (p.157). After watching the second part of Sita Sings the Blues I can see why the sequel is not popular, the storyline seems to take away traits from the two main characters. I could defiantly see many ways to retell the prequel. While I understand not every story can have a happy ending the way this story ends are not working for me at all. Sita does not seem like a strong woman who was able to endure being kidnapped but a foolish woman in love with a man who does not seem to love her back. Even the comical narrators point out that Sita "should not love someone who mistreats her." Then you have Rama who had already doubted his wife once, so Sita went into the fire to prove she was pure. When he questions her again, it is as if Rama does not believe and trust in his wife. He also has no faith in his religion because he does not think that his wife is pure even though she survived being in a fire with the help from some god. There are two ways I could go with a new story. First, I think the beginning of the story could be recreated to reflect a woman who has come to accept that her husband no longer loves her. When Rama questioned Sita purity for the second time, she will not cry as she is banished and keep pining away for Rama but leave with one final word to Rama. Another option is not to leave and or have Rama question her purity for the second time. I think some of the other gods could intervene to tell Rama how foolish he is being. I enjoyed the different storytelling and still think that the narrators were my favorite part, mainly when they talked about the animals' rights of the monkeys. They kept the story comical but all worked well together telling the story. I hope I can figure out a way to bring in some comedy into my retelling of The Ramayana.

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Image: Sita in the fire to prove her purity to Rama. Source: Wikimedia Commons by British Museum

Reading Notes: Reading A: Sita Sings the Blues

Confusing start. 

For this week's reading, I choose to do the film option of, Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. The film began with a bizarre start, and I was a little confused with the combination of the three different storylines. There is the storyline of the "singing Sita". From what I have gathered the songs were composed by other musicians and Nina Paley found them and fit them into the storyline. Very clever! (Here is the soundtrack list.) I also found a video that gave more information about Nina having to pay so that she could use the songs in her video. (Here is the video about the music.)The second storyline is about Nina, herself and her relationship with her boyfriend, Dave. From what I can tell so far, Dave does not show her attention and appreciate being with her. From not giving Nina his phone number while he is India, to agreeing to stay in India for an extra year without discussing with Nina first, you can tell that Dave is not taking an active role by including Nina in choices that will affect their relationship. For a separate storyline to this particular plot, I could create a friend that tries to help and reassure Nina that Dave is not a very good boyfriend. This friend could try and help Nina see that she does not need to be with someone who is not including her in the decision that will affect their joint relationship. The third storyline and my personal favorite are the three narrators retelling the story of The Ramayana in their "own" way. You can tell that each of the narrators grew up hearing and knowing the story and piece it together in a unique fashion with some comedy added. I would like to figure out how to add this type of comedic narrator into my recreation of The Ramayana in my storybook project, Kosala High School. Also, the narrators have slight differences in their retelling of The Ramayana. First, Lakshman's character is not mentioned very much in the first part, but they do point out that Ravana was not a bad guy other than stealing Sita. The go on to say that they were taught that Ravana was considered a scholar and at one time prayed to the gods and respected them. I could create a prequel story about Ravana before he became power hungry and evil.

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Image: Saxophone. Source: pxhere by unknown