Week 4 Storytelling: The Death of Dasaratha

As I lay next to my beautiful wife Kausayla, I closed my eyes and slept for a short period of time. Then I woke up and remembered....

Kausayla gripped my hands, "My dear Kausayla, are you awake?"

In my sleep, I could barely hear my sweet Kausayla's words. Far in the distance, I hear a voice of a young boy. The boy cried out for me. He looked at me, "Why did you dagger me with your arrow?!" I couldn't bare to look at his face. I woke up and saw my Kaysayla holding my hands with tears in her eyes.

In my last mission, I helped Kaikeyi to convince the people that Bharata should be king. I originally wanted Rama to be the successor, oh Rama so brave and wise, he would surely fit to be the king, but what has gotten into me? Kaikeyi and Manthara had manipulated me to make Bharata the successor and force to exile Rama!Manthara was telling me the horrible stories of Rama and if he was king he would not only bring my people down but my family. Of course, I am worried. I am worried for my people and family; therefore, I had to do what was best and exile Rama, but as I look back I regretted everything. I should have never listen to Kaikeyi and Manthara and trusted my instincts in choosing Rama. I should have never taught Kaikeyi the language of animals. Why did I do it?! I knew it would cost me my life and now my wife is suffering. I am dying and I know it.

This dream that I had of the boy that I killed when I was a young man. I must tell Kausayla right now  and let her know my last words. I looked into Kausayla's eyes filled with tears and told her the flashback of the boy. As I was telling the story, she couldn't stop crying but I had to tell her. I love Kausaya so much.

I looked into her eyes and try to memorize the beautiful face. I could hear my heart beating slower and slower and then I spoke to my wife one last time....

"Queen, that whole crime now comes home to me. If Rama could touch me to live, but I have no other help. I cannot hear my own voice. My hand grows numb. I can hardly feel your hand, I barely speak. My death fast approaches. I have wronged my son, but he has done well toward me...Rama....Where are you?.... Rama..."

Dasaratha's sin of the boy he killed (Source): Dasaratha

Author's Note:This part in the book basically described Dasaratha's thoughts and his regrets when he was dreaming of the boy he killed. I pretty much just stuck with the original story but added more details of wrote some thoughts and feelings he had towards his wife.  I wanted to emphasize the regrets and sorrow for not making Rama the successor and how he regretted being manipulated by Kaikeya. I wanted the story to focus on Dasaratha's feelings and how much he loves his wife. Moreover, I made the ending scene more dramatic to emphasize sorrow and sadness and the pain Kausayla is going through when watching her husband die. I wrote the story in Dasaratha's perspective when he was about to die. I focused on his last thoughts and words to Kausayla and added some emotion to it with Kausayla crying. There is a little bit of anger towards Kaikeyi and Manthara in the context and regrets of not appointing Rama as his successor. The last paragraph are the actual words in the book of his last thoughts. I stuck with the original dying scene and just turned it in Dasaratha's perspective but in those few seconds before he told Kausayla his story. I also described his feelings toward Kausayla as he was telling her his story. 

Bibliography: William Buck, Ramayana 1976

Week 4 Reading Diary B: Buck's Ramayana

(pgs. 60-109)

This part of the book focused more on Rama than in the beginning. Buck really emphasized on Rama's bravery throughout the journey. Kaikeyi seems to be really annoying and kind of manipulative? She tried to convince that there would be disaster if Rama becomes king and but I guess it wasn't her fault since she was the servant of Manthara and her mind was being controlled. She was the reason for Rama's exile and Rama did oppose of it, even though he was nice enough to convince his father not to be angry with Kaikeyi. The actions of Kaikeyi does not bother me as much just because I'm not really a fan of Rama, even though the books are based on his journey and he is the protagonist and known to be the brave god. I don't like the way Rama treats Sita. I don't think their love is fair and he still doubts Sita's love when she has done nothing but loyal to him. Even though he saves her, he still questions her purity. I have talked about this numerous times in my past posts how I feel about their relationship.

The people in the city of Ayodha seemed really supportive of Rama during his exile, the animals were helpful and were a big part of Rama's journey. The death of Dasharatha was pretty sad and he probably feels bad for killing the boy. The ending part of was miserable and how he relates to the death of the boy to his son, although he could have died because he taught Kaikeyi the language of animals when he was not suppose to, so maybe karma on him? It was still sad that he died though, even though he was easily manipulated by Kaikeyi. This part of the story really emphasized the antagonist character of Kaikeyi. I actually enjoyed reading the bad behaviors of these characters.

(Brave Rama) Source: Rama

Week 4 Reading Diary A: Buck's Ramayana

(pgs 1-59)

I really enjoyed how the story starts out talking about Indra, the invisible demon warrior. So far, Buck's version of Ramayana is more descriptive and detailed than Narayan's book. Valmiki is such a great character for rescuing Sita. I don't understand why Sita unconditionally loves Rama when he doubted her over gossip, exiled her when she was carrying his sons, and also in the previous book, testing her in the fire for purity. Valmiki then becomes a poet and reveals the story of Rama to his two sons.

Moreover, I enjoyed reading about Ravana even though he is the antagonist in the story. He went through a lot of challenges and battles. I liked how the book described how destructive he was and really emphasized the evil in him. Another interesting part of the book was the marriage between Rama and Sita. Although I question Rama's love for Sita, it seemed as though Sita is so happy to be with Rama. It was quite intriguing how the three brothers of Rama all married the women in Janaka's household. It was like Rama and Sita were destined to be together or the brothers are meant to be with the Janaka's daughters. One thing that caught my attention was Buck's description of Sita's beauty. It was almost like she was a delicate woman and a presence of innocence in her.

Overall, Buck's version of Ramayana is pretty different than Narayan. He focused less on Rama's character and talked a lot about Ravana, which I liked better just because I'm not a big fan of Rama"s character. Buck also did a shorter version of Rama and Sita's love, he didn't add much details to their connection which was a bummer.

(Ravana the 10-headed demon) Source: Ravana