Storytelling for Week 7: Sita Abandoned

It has been almost ten thousand years since Rama and Sita were back in Ayodhya. Throughout all these years, Sita wasn't able to have a baby. Although she wanted one very much, Rama was too busy taking care of Ayodhya.

One day, Sita heard some great news which might change her life. Sita was finally pregnant! She was so joyous that she could not handle her emotions that were going through her. Sita had tried so hard to become pregnant. The first thing that popped into her mind was to tell Rama the good news!  When Rama heard the news, he was so happy! Sita also wanted to visit the Ganges river as a family tradition. Every woman who got pregnant visited the Ganges to make the body clean. Because the Ganges river was considered sacred, she wanted to go to the river and make sure that she was cleansed before she gave birth. However, there were some unexpected tragedies that were waiting for Sita. 

There was an episode which led to this tragedy. Ten thousand years ago, many things happened to Sita. Sita was abducted by Ravana and had to live with him at his palace for a long time. Because people knew about Sita living at Ravana's palace they gossiped about Sita saying that she was dirty and not pure. The only person who did not hear the gossip was Rama. The gossip was cruel, so no one spoke about Sita in front of Rama. 

Sita was still at the Ganges and one day, Rama was walking around the garden to refresh his mind. While taking a walk, he saw two of his officers talking and heard them gossiping about Sita. He hid behind the tree to listen to the officer's conversation secretly. The two officers were talking bad about Sita and calling her names because she lived with Ravana for a long time. Although Rama knew that Sita lived in Ravana's house, he did not know that people were talking bad about her. Rama knew that he could not have Sita live with him anymore because he did not want his reputation ruined as a king.

After a couple weeks, Rama called his brother,Lakshmana, and gave him a mission. The mission was to take Sita to the Ganges with Sumantra, who was the prime minister, and to abandon Sita there. It has been only a couple weeks since Sita came back from Ganges, but she was about to return to the Ganges. Although it was cruel, Rama had to make a decision. He did not want to hear people talking bad about Sita. Lakshmana thought it wasn't fair for Sita, but there was nothing he could do about the situation. Since Rama was the king, Lakshmana did not want to do anything that was against Rama. While this was all going on, Valmiki, King Janaka's friend, found out that Sita was about to be abandoned. Before Sita's father, King Janaka, passed away, he told his good friend Valmiki to watch over Sita. Although Valmiki was a hermit, the Gods allowed him to have the power to travel from place to place in a split second. To carry out this will of King Janaka, Valmiki was going to save Sita no matter what. 

Lakshmana and Sumantra left Sita at the Ganges river. The Ganges river was the home of the goddess Ganga, who was an Indian Goddess. Ganga invited Sita to the water to clean her. Although Sita had been there two weeks ago, Ganga encouraged Sita to be cleansed once again. After Sita was done with the cleansing procedure, Valmiki came and took Sita to his hermitage. Sita was so confused and did not know what was going on. Valmiki informed Sita about the situation and Sita was shocked. Time passed and it was time for Sita to go into labor. Sita thanked the Gods for providing a place to give birth. Sita had mixed emotions about her life at that point, but she was able to give birth to two handsome sons, Kusha and Lava.

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author:  Himachal Pradesh

Author's Note

I decided to retell the story of Sita when she was abandoned by Rama. When I read this story, I thought it was very heartbreaking. I felt sorry for Sita. Because of the fact that Sita had to live with Ravana for years, many people talked bad about her and said she was not innocent. After ten thousand years, she was able to become pregnant. Even though she was  pregnant, Rama was bothered by all the gossip and rumors going around about Sita.  Due to all the gossip and rumors, Rama decided to abandon Sita at the Ganges. For the most part, I kept the original story. I added some details on how Valmiki and King Janaka were friends. I thought adding a character like Janaka to the story made the story more interesting because he was able to save Sita from her misery. There were changes made to the time frame of the story because I made Sita go to the Ganges two times. I inserted the picture of Valmiki's Hermitage in the story. I picked this picture because Valmiki's hermitage was where Sita gave birth to her sons. I thought it was significant for her to give birth at a place other than her palace. 

Bibliography

- Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Week 7 Reading Diary B

• The whole scene of Rama's journey back to Ayodhya is so memorable. Rama tells Sita about what happened at certain places, how he met Hanuman ,and etc . Hanuman reminded me of Abu from Aladdin because they are both monkeys and they help out with the person's life.
• When Bharata heard that Rama was coming back, he was so excited that he cried! Because Bharata was going to kill himself if Rama did not come back, it was definitely a  good news.
• The coronation was just filled with Joy. I thought it was really cool that Sugriva gave collection of water from all world's river to Rama. Also, Sita gave a pearl necklace to Hanuman because Hanuman was the one who told Rama the message about the necklace that he picked up when Sita was abducted.
• I thought it was wrong for Rama to abandon Sita. Although the people were talking about about Sita, Rama should have kept her by he's side. 
• It was nice to find out the wishes Kaikeyi had to send Rama on a exile.Whenever Dasharatha was wounded, Kaikeyi took care of him and that is why she was grated those wishes/
• Sita gives birth to two sons in Ganges. 
• I thought it was crazy how the festival lasted for a year. They sang songs of the Ramayana.
• The friendship between Hanuman and Rama was amazing. When Rama was about to leave Ayodhya, he offered his jewelry to Hanuman to keep. Hanuman ripped opened he's body and showed Rama that his bones have name of Rama. This showed a great significance on how much Hauman respected Rama. 

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Week 7 Reading Diary A

• I thought it was very interesting for the Time or Kala to threatened Ravana. Because Ravana thinks he is the greatest one, there was nothing that could hinder him. Although time is something that could be stopped, Ravana was not scared.
• I saw it coming, but when Rama cut Ravana's head, it grew back again. Because Ravana had several heads, it was probably no big deal for him if the head was cut. The final between Rama and Ravana was very dramatic. When Ravana paralyzed Rama, I thought Rama could not survive. The suspension that was created during the battle made the story more fun.
• It was nice to see Rama defeat Ravana. Although Rama was paralyzed, at the end, Rama was able to kill Ravana. I like happy endings. 
• I thought it was very unexpecting to find the letter from Ravana to Rama. In the letter, it said that Rama should take Sita back. This was confusing because why did Ravana take Sita  in the first place? 
• I felt really sorry for Mandodari because she seemed like a good women. She was in sorrow because of Ravan's death.
• The significance of jewelry comes out again in this weeks reading. Whenever Sita was brought back, Sita pit Rama's ring on his finger. The whole ceremony had a significant meaning. 
• Because Sita was gone for so long, the fire God Agni came and proved Sita's innocence. All the ceremony and rituals describes how things were in India.
• It was nice to see that Hanuman getting rewarded for the things he had done to help Rama and other people.

The final battle ( image source)