Week 5 Storytelling: Ravana's Curse

There was once an Apsarasa named Rambha. Everyone who saw her praised her beauty. “What a heavenly creature!” they’d say. That Apsarasa woman happens to be me.

I’ve always been close friends with Lord Indra. I want the best for him. So when a mortal king started encroaching on his power I didn’t think twice about going down to try to tempt him away from living a goodly life.

I did everything I could think of to try to seduce him or draw him away from goodness, but he would not give in. After several weeks of ignoring my attempts, he finally got fed up and turned me to stone. It was terrible! I kept all of my senses, but lost my ability to move. You don’t realize how agonizing it is to see and hear and smell everything but never be able to reach out and take part in it.

The king left me behind and people forgot that I was actually human. Some new men came by one day and thought I was a statue. “What a lovely ornament! Let us take it back to Lord Vaishravana so he may praise us for finding this beauty!” they exclaimed. So they picked me up and took me to their Lord, who put me in his garden.

Many years later the spell that held me in stone form wore off and I could move again. Oh, how happy I was! The first thing I saw after regaining my humanity was Vaishravana’s son, Nalakubara. He was such a beautiful man, so kind and gentle looking. We fell in love with each other immediately.

I knew that I did not belong on Earth, but in heaven. This was such a terrible feeling for me. I wanted to be with my love. So every night I would sneak down from heaven and be with him. Those nights brought so much joy and happiness to my life.

There was another king, the king of the Rakshasas, named Ravana. Ravana and his armies had taken control of much of the world and the heavens by force. He decided that he wanted many wives of all different races. He cared nothing for the women, just their beauty. He’d take them away from their homes and families by force and would force himself on them. He kept them as prisoners.

Of all his hundreds of forced wives he did not have an Apsarasa. Since he had heard rumors of my beauty, he decided that he wanted me. He drove his chariot all the way to Vaishravana’s kingdom and waited for me to come down to meet my lover in the garden. As soon as I was in his sight, he jumped out and started harassing me. “Who are you seeing? What lucky man gets to get drunk on your love tonight? You should want me! Love me!”

I naturally was not interested in this man of such hideous character. I told him, “I cannot love you because I am already married.”

“Apsarasas don’t marry!” he growled back. “How can you be married?”

“You do not need a ceremony to join the hearts of two people who love each other,” I told him.

As I said that he jumped on me and raped me. He just used me and left me there to suffer. I got up and ran to Nalakubara, who was waiting for me across the garden. I told him all that happened as tears streamed down my face. “Please forgive me for my weakness, for you are my husband and another man has been with me,” I pleaded.

“I have no need to forgive you. You did not give in to him, he forced you. Please stop crying, love,” my lover gently said. As Nalakubara was trying to console me, a tear fell from his eye and he shouted out in anger, “Ravana! The next time you try to force yourself on a woman, may all ten of your heads burst!”

Though Ravana had already made it back to his home thousands of miles away, he still heard the curse. To this day he has not forced any woman and cannot, lest he die.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author’s Note:  I chose to tell this story from Rambha’s point of view because she was already disrespected enough when she got raped. She deserves to be able to tell her side of the story. I added the part where Nalakubara doesn’t see the need to forgive her; there should be absolutely no blame put on rape victims. The original story did not specify whether or not she was forgiven for her “weakness,” so I thought that the story needed to specifically say that there was no reason for blame to be put on her.

Bibliography:  Buck, William (1976). Ramayana. Pages 177-180.

Image Source:  Wikipedia

Week 5 Reading Diary B

Maricha predicts that Surpanaka will lead to Ravana’s destruction

Rama has a “holt hairdo” (page 164) why? Unknown

“I don’t listen to criticisms any more, just tell me the good parts”—Ravana page 165

Maricha knows that he’ll die on the mission

Lakshmana drew a circle around Sita before he left and told her not to step over it; when she saw Ravana in disguise she crossed the line

Jatayu became blind in the middle of the fight

The earth was upset at Sita’s capture and tried to rescue her

Sita called Ravana’s palace a kennel, indirectly calling the residents dogs and therefore bitches

“Jatayu has had a place in heaven for a thousand lifetimes, but he won’t use it; he won’t be born anything but a bird, and he loves Earth. Over and over, again and again he gives his life for what’s right, never once wondering should he do it or not, nor reflecting will it do any good, nor would it be better to live to fight another time!”—Indra page 180

“See how in every race of creatures live the brave”—Rama page 182

Rama was so angry that fire seemed cool to him

Hanuman can’t be killed, can change form at will

Vali was battle hungry, looked for fights, killed many

“On Rishyamuka Hill, when a man falls asleep, if he has bad in him he is beaten by Asuras in a dream, and wakes up sore and bruised all over. But if a totally good person sleeps there he dreams of gold and wakes up really rich.” Page 194

Hanuman is a woodcutter

Rama asked Lakshmana if the jewelry was Sita’s. Shouldn’t Rama know better? It’s his wife after all…

Sita’s, Vali’s, and Ravana’s left eyes winked; that’s a good sign for women and a bad sign for men

“the only reason to consult a woman is to find out what not to do!” “it is actually wrong for wives to command their husbands”—Vali page 196

Interesting perception of the universe pages 207-210

Week 5 Reading Diary A

Bharata disowns his mother

Vasishtha predicts that all of Kaikeyi’s future lives will be terrible and she’ll be terrible people; he also predicts that she’ll die before Rama’s return; both of these will only happen if Bharata doesn’t forgive her

The trees absorbed gold, silver and rubies from the dirt and displayed them in their bark

A crow attacks Sita; Rama shoots him, the arrow follows where he goes, he gives up and bows at Rama’s feet, he is allowed to live if he chooses to sacrifice a body part and he gives an eye

Sita acts like a poor, defenseless woman in the forest

Rama’s sandals would beat together if a case was wrongly judged before them

The people stopped using chariots and playing music in remembrance of Rama

Disturbing story about Vatapi and Ilwala on page 139

Valakhilyas are little sprite-like creatures

“Do not carry war with you, or by small degrees your mind will alter”—Sita pg 144

“Dharma leads to happiness, but happiness cannot lead to Dharma”—Rama pg 144

Indra is several different people who have succeeded each other? Not reincarnation, but like how one king replaces a dead or defeated king and both are king of that land?

“Agni put on a cape of fire and a hood of flames to keep himself cool”—page 150

Garuda can change his form, is really fast, becomes all-knowing

Snakes have split tongues because they licked sharp grass trying to gain immortality