Portfolio Introduction

This portfolio presents a variety of creative retellings of original stories from the ancient Indian epic The Ramayana.

First, explore unique perspectives on the devious affairs of Kaikeyi in The Real Housewives of Dasaratha and The Break Room.

Then, you can move on to the light and amusing tale of the squirrel who built the Lanka Bridge.

Next, you may want to experience a chilling take on Sita's near-suicide, Unquiet Waters.

Finally, for a fairy tale version of Rama's battle against evil, read Prince Rama and the Rakshasa King.


Enjoy!

Week 3 Storytelling: Prince Rama and the Rakshasa King

Once upon a time...

 ...in the exotic, wild land of India there lived a rakshasa named Ravana. The rakshasas were strong, brave, and had many special powers, but none was as brave or as strong or as powerful as Ravana. He fought many battles, never losing, and grew stronger and stronger. He unlocked the secrets to many rare skills and divine powers. Soon, none could stand in his way, and Ravana became the king of the rakshasas.

Soon, however, Ravana's great power kindled pride and arrogance within his heart. He spent all his waking hours training and fighting to increase his strength, or plotting what battles he would wage next. He became a mighty and fearsome creature, with ten heads and twenty arms which were all invincible to any attack.

Ravana, by Anant Shivaji Desair: Source

Throughout the land, legends of Ravana's might sparked fear in men's hearts, but none had the courage to challenge him. Then, Ravana crossed the line.

There was a great and noble prince named Rama, who had been banished from his kingdom by his evil stepmother Kaikeyi and was now living in the forests, kept company by the woodland creatures and spirits, as well as his faithful brother Lakshmana and his beautiful wife Sita.

One day, Ravana heard of Princess Sita's incomparable beauty, and vowed that he would steal her away to be his own bride. He succeeded in capturing the princess and spirited her away to be locked up in his own gardens of pleasure.

Prince Rama would not stand for this. "I must save my beautiful princess!" he cried. "But, oh, how am I ever to find her?"

Rama and Lakshmana searched far and wide, but could not find poor Sita. They were about to lose hope, but they soon encountered friends of the forest who helped them find their way. The great monkey king Sugreeva, his companion Hanuman, and their monkey army joined the search for Sita; the giant bird of the forest Sampati helped them find their way; and all the woodland creatures came together to build a bridge across the ocean to the island Lanka, where Ravana hid with Sita in his lair.

Rama and his monkey friends stormed into Lanka and a great battle ensued. After much fighting, it came down to a contest between Rama and the terrible King Ravana himself. It was a thrilling and perilous match. Rama skillfully shot his arrows, but they never seemed to harm the great demon. Rama sliced away the beast's heads, but to his dismay they grew back! Ravana hurled fiery weapons of demonic power at Rama. It seemed the duel would go on and on.

Finally, in a moment of divine inspiration, Rama drew upon his greatest weapon. It was imbibed with godly power, and when used by a great and noble warrior it could not miss its mark. Rama aimed, fired, and behold! - Ravana fell.

Rama and Lakshmana attack Ravana: Source

Rama approached the great dying demon. "Aargh! No! I am invincible!" Ravana struggled where he had fallen. "How can this be?"

Rama, looking down with compassion upon this poor, twisted soul, said, "Alas, great Ravana, your strength is great and your powers unmatched. You fortified every muscle and shielded all your flesh - but you forgot to strengthen your heart."

King Ravana, in his final moments, seemed to understand his error and Rama's saving goodness against the evil he had become. In peace he departed from this earth, and his armies surrendered.

Sita ran joyfully from her prison and into Rama's waiting arms....


... and they lived happily ever after.


Author's Note:

For this story, I chose to give a brief summary of the main story of the battle between good and evil in the Ramayana. I presented this retelling in the style of a classic fairy tale, a children's bedtime story. The overall theme of the Ramayana - good triumphing over evil - perfectly fits into this category, and is easily told in a way that seems like a familiar Western fairy tale. Of course, the other huge theme of the Ramayana is the love story between Rama and Sita. This would also fit well into a classic prince-saves-the-princess mold, but I chose to focus on the struggle between Rama and Ravana in this story to really do it justice.

Although this serves as a concise retelling of the entire battle between good and evil in the Ramayana, I was particularly inspired by Rama's final battle with Ravana. I was struck by the symbolism of Ravana's heart being his one point of weakness. I chose to emphasize this metaphor in my retelling, for I think it is a beautiful representation of the moral message of the story.  Also, the simple yet powerful imagery reminded me of familiar Western children's tales, so it fit well with my style of storytelling.


Source:  Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana

Week 6 Storytelling: A Squirrel's Tale

In a great, towering tree in an ancient forest there lived an old squirrel. He kept a quiet, peaceful home, spending his day methodically gathering nuts to store up for the winter. He had few neighbors. Other squirrels flocked to a sunnier part of the woods, scrambling over one another for the best morsels and filling the woods with their chattering and rustling, but this squirrel was content to stay in his secluded little nest. He had had enough excitement for a lifetime. 

One day, high-pitched squeaks and squeals broke the silence of his cloister – his grand-pups had come to visit. The youngsters bounded up the trail, their parents lagging behind. “Grampa, grampa!” They scurried up into the boughs of the tree and gathered around their grandfather. “Mama says you’ll tell us a story!” 

“Oh?” he smiled. He wasn’t much of one for chatting, but he could never resist those fuzzy little faces. “Which one shall we hear this time? The Squirrel who Saved the Monkey King? Or how about The Squirrels on Moving Mountain?” 

“No, Mama says you have a different story.” 

“A new one.”

“Yeah!” 

Finally, their mother caught up. “I told them it was time to hear the story of 'The Squirrel who Built the Lanka Bridge'”. 

“Ah,” the old squirrel settled in. “Now there is a story. Gather round, pups, and listen closely. This is a true story about the squirrel who built the Lanka Bridge – and that squirrel was me.” 

The pups all drew closer and gazed at their grandfather with wide, shining eyes. All was silent and still as the old squirrel told his tale: 

Well, a long time ago, when I was just a young pup like you, some very strange creatures came to our part of the forest. They were very bad creatures, always crashing about the forest, fighting and causing harm to others. They were like men – I’ve told you stories of men – but different. They were horrible and fearsome to look at. Some had horns, or claws, or great pointed fangs. Some were giants. And some even had too many heads. 

These creatures were called rakshasas, and the squirrels weren’t the only ones who wished them gone. Word traveled through the trees that a band of humans, accompanied by some very strange animals that walked on two legs and even talked like men, was in pursuit of these rakshasas. Their journey led them right to the coast, where Lanka Bridge now stands. Only, there was no Lanka Bridge back then – just empty sea. 

I was a youthful, curious lad then, so naturally I followed the humans. There was one in particular – he seemed to be their leader. They called him Rama. Now, pups, you all know that squirrels and humans generally don’t mix, but I can tell you that as soon as I laid eyes upon this man, I felt a deep awe and devotion to him. I cannot explain it, but I was sure I was in the presence of the Great God himself, he who pulls the leaves from their winter slumber and sends acorns raining from the skies. I knew that, if I only could, I would go to any lengths to help this great man. 

Rama needed to get across the ocean to Lanka, for that was where the rakshasas nested. He made a great deal of noise and made a fuss with some local gods, as men are wont to do, but finally things seemed to go his way. His strange animal crew began piling stones into the ocean and, somehow, they floated on the surface. Without a thought, I began my work. Every instinct in my body guided me. I scrambled from my comfortable branch and ventured out onto the dangerous coast, where I began to gather, not nuts, but stones. I packed as many of those sharp, dirt-tasting pebbles into my cheeks as I could and carried them to the bridge. There, I deposited my supplies, filling in all the gaps and cracks left by the careless larger creatures. Back and forth, I made my journey, never tiring. Even after all the men and monkeys had gone to sleep, I carried on, building Lanka Bridge pebble by pebble. 

Finally, after days of work, the bridge was done. Rama and his army of creatures crossed to Lanka and fought the rakshasas. I did not go on this adventure. No one, not even noble Rama, thought to ask the help of a simple squirrel.

 But I know, and now you know too, that I was the squirrel who built the Lanka Bridge. 

Building the bridge to Lanka  

Author's Note: 

I thought it was sort of funny and random how both versions, in fact, mentioned that squirrels helped build the bridge to Lanka. But, unlike all the other animal characters mentioned in the Ramayana, these squirrels aren't given names or speech or any other human qualities. So, I decided to tell the squirrel's story. Of course, we might not think the squirrel's contributions could have been that great, but from a squirrel's point of view his contribution would be a big deal. So, in this story, the squirrel spins it so that he was the hero of the story, and the whole effort would have fell through without his help. This gives the squirrel his chance to be an important character. I also explored the effect Rama seems to have on people and animal characters - many of them are able to sense that he is special, a god, etc., just by being in his presence. In this story, even though the squirrel is the hero, Rama is a very important and heroic character. He plays a role similar to that of the gods in many stories - he is a powerful but distant force that motivates the main character's actions.

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

Week 12 Reading Diary A: Gambling Problems

So, we hear about Yudhishthira's gambling problems again. Stupid. I mean, at what point do you learn man? Smh...

And man, Draupadi's story is just even more brutal. Poor woman. She's pretty awesome though.

So anyway, then we get the story of King Nala from Vyasa.

Is it weird that a swan is spreading love advice? That's just not weird to you, you take the swan at his word?

And is it normal for gods to be at a swayamvara? And what's so special about Damayanti that all the gods are fighting over her? And why would she want Nala over any one of the gods? Because a swan told her so??? So many questions.

Hmm, so Nala loses because a demon possessed him. Yudhishthira just loses because he sucks.

Wow, Nala's kind of a jerk. And how does that work. each wearing half a robe? I mean, that could probably cover up Nala, but I doubt half a robe is doing much for Damayanti. Where was Krishna to give her a robe? These women really have it rough.

So Indra gets a naga to help Nala... by biting him and horribly disfiguring him? Some help. I mean, it ends up helping, eventually, but I feel like there could have been a better way. And there's so much focus on gambling. I mean, wouldn't the best advice about gambling be to just not gamble? Obviously it doesn't work out well for these people.

Wasn't Nala supposed to be unrecognizable?

So it's a happy ending... except for all the suffering and abandonment and wandering half-naked in the forest and the fact that a woman can be gambled among men. Yeah.

And more sketchy gambling advice. Just say no man, just say no.

Week 11 Reading Diary B: Trouble Brewing

Same basic story about the booby trap house..

Thought: who were the people they put in the house to make it look like they had died? I mean, that's not very cool. And did no one notice their loved ones's corpses disappeared? Did the Pandavas just walk unnoticed through the streets carting away these corpses?

Bhima fights another evil rakshasa demon king. Are these guys just always running around?

Another weird inanimate object conception story with Draupadi and the butter. There wasn't even any semen involved this time. Reminds me of Dasaratha's thing with the rice. Butter and rice. Yum.

Same story with Draupadi's swayamvara, Arjuna wins, she has to marry all five of the brothers.. Krishna shows up a little more in this version, talks to Arjuna, but isn't really an important character yet.

Dhritarashtra's a good guy. Duryodhana's a jerk.

Ha ha Krishna's like a spoiled lazy bro. A magical bro.

More butter, what's with the butter? Mysterious woodsman. Troubling story about burning down the forest and all its creatures again. Poor Bambi.

Yud. has a gambling problem. Seriously dude, know your limits.

And, that's where the section ends. Stuff's about to go down, though. Wasn't much new material in this section, as compared to Narayan, but the action is also picking up now.