As Rama tears through the forest in high pursuit of
the Golden Deer, he begins having conflicting thoughts about pursuing this deer.
"Why should I enslave this animal because it is beautiful? Is it not a
crime to not let it be free? Something is amiss. Sita would never have such
materialistic pursuits. A dark force is in play. I must figure out the truth
from this deer before it's too late!" Rama shoots the deer in the
leg and it suddenly changes back into Maricha. Rama instantly recognizes Maricha. He recalls his fight with Maricha and Subahu many years ago. Rama forces Maricha to tell him of Ravana's plot to kidnap Sita.
Immediately, Rama is off at racing speed to where
Sita first spotted Maricha disguised as the Golden Deer. Rama is traveling
at such high speed he is able to travel from tree limb to tree limb and dart
through the giant expanse of forestry. He quickly finds where Sita was but only
sees signs of a struggle and he instantaneously concludes that Ravana has already
captured Sita. Rama looks within himself to figure out a way to stop Ravana
before he reaches his impenetrable fortress in Lanka.
Rama knows if he can reach Sita’s thoughts, he will
be able to find out which direction they are heading in. Rama sends out his
thoughts in every direction and frantically searches for Sita’s thoughts. He
suddenly reaches them but they are faint and he can only make out feelings of
fear. Sita is far away and getting even farther by the second.
At once, he rushes in the same direction, pursuing Ravana at the same racing speed as before and readies his bow and arrow for one final blow to end his evil reign. Rama is now able to read Sita’s thoughts as he narrows the distance between them and assures her that he is on his way but to not alert Ravana in any way of this. Sita keeps calm as Ravana carries her off into the distance.
At once, he rushes in the same direction, pursuing Ravana at the same racing speed as before and readies his bow and arrow for one final blow to end his evil reign. Rama is now able to read Sita’s thoughts as he narrows the distance between them and assures her that he is on his way but to not alert Ravana in any way of this. Sita keeps calm as Ravana carries her off into the distance.
Soon Rama spots Ravana with Sita in tow and
quickly engages him into battle. Ravana suddenly grows through a process of
metamorphosis. Ravana begins to grow even more heads and grows to over twenty feet
in height. Ravana dashes toward Rama with multiple arms bearing different
weapons such as tridents, conches, and chakras. He swings his arms with blinding speed and his whole body turns into a
cyclone of spinning weapons. Rama knows he cannot engage Ravana directly in hand-to-hand combat and
pulls out his trusty bow to defend himself. Rama keeps his distance from
Ravana’s twister technique and strafes from a safe distance. Rama focuses his
aim on Ravana’s many flailing arms and begins shooting arrows through each of
his hands. Rama shoots an arrow through each of Ravana’s eighteen arms and soon
Ravana shrinks in size and brandishes his favorite sword Chandaras. He charges Rama in a blind
rage. Rama breathes in a deep breath, stands firmly upright with his chest out,
draws back the arrow and lets it fly. The arrow flies with pinpoint precision and hits Ravana between the eyes. Instantly, Ravana turns to dust. All is well again for Rama and Sita.
Author's Note: This story is an alternate and quicker ending to Rama’s battles with
Ravana. In this version he foils Ravana’s plans much sooner. I removed Lakshmana completely from the story because his role would be very minuscule in my retelling of the story. I used most parts of the original story. The only major change I made was killing Ravana much sooner. Also I had Rama find Sita through his own powers, instead of having her drop a piece of her jewelry. I added a long intense battle scene
between Rama and Ravana into the story because I have loved all the epic
battles we have read about in the past seven weeks in this class. All the
intense battles between the characters, especially the wars between Rama and
Ravana’s armies, are what inspired me to write this little battle scene into my
short story. I am extremely fascinated with the various weapons all the
characters use and hope to include some in my forthcoming stories as well. I also
just wanted to share that the image I used for this story is my favorite. Although this is a picture of Kumbakarna, I like that it shows Rama with his bow and it's the best representation I could find of the final scene in my story.
Bibliography:
- Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.
