Storytelling Week 7: Lakshmana's Dilemma

             When I entered that room, I never expected to hear what he said.  His face was turned away, but I could see the tension in body.  His hands never relaxed their nervous grasp from the window’s ledge.  There was no color in face.  There was no life within his eyes.  He looked as if he just heard that he would die a painful death in a few days and instead of living it to the fullest, he collapsed emotionally.  Finally after a few moments of him trying to speak through quivering lips, he spoke.

            “Lakshmana, will you do something for me.  Before you say anything, I need you to promise me that you will do whatever I say,” he begged.

            “Rama, you know that I will always do whatever you ask of me.  You are my brother…you are my closest friend.  I would never imagine disobeying you.  The loyalty we share is worth more than…than anything.  Why do you think that I would betray you in such a way?”

            “I need you to do something that is very difficult for me to ask of you,” he struggled as he desperately tried to fight the sting of tears.

            “What?” I asked softly as I reached out to place a hand on his forearm.

            “Tomorrow, Sita expects to go to the forest.  I need you to take Sita to the Ganga River tomorrow, and desert her,” he said harshly.

            “What? How can you ask me to do something like that?  She’s pregnant with your child.  What do you expect to become of her?  She may die.  She may kill herself.”

            “The people of Ayodhya speak harshly of her.  They wonder why any man, any king would embrace a woman who was touched by another man.”

            “You mean Ravana?  But her innocence was proven through the fire.  Surely, you won’t let ignorant men determine your life.”

            He again turned his back to me.  “One crack in the foundation leads to the destruction of a house.  As a king, I cannot let there be one fault in my kingdom.”

            “Don’t talk to me in metaphors,” I snapped.  “This is your life.  She is your wife…the mother of your unborn child.”

            “Are you going to do this or not?” he coldly asked.

            “You just want me to…to leave her?  That’s it, right?”

            “Yes,” he muttered.

            “Rama, I would never want to disobey you, but this…this is something that I never thought I would have to do.  I don’t know what’s right or what’s wrong.  Hopefully, you do,” I said as I walked away.

Sunset on the Ganga River.  Source: Wikimedia

Author’s Note

For this storytelling blog, I wanted to Rama discussing Sita’s abandonment with Lakshmana through Lakshmana’s perspective.  Within the Ramayana, Rama decides that it is best for the kingdom of Ayodhya to abandon Sita.  Within the original, Lakshmana is hurt by Rama’s decision, but I was a bit upset that Lakshmana argue that much Rama’s decision to abandon his pregnant wife.  Through my story, I wanted to capture this dialogue between Rama and Lakshmana.  However, I wanted to stretch Lakshmana’s resentment towards such an idea.  Other than this obvious stretching of Lakshmana’s thoughts, the story is true to the original plot. 

Bibliography

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