 |
| (Image Information: Photo of Rama and Sita. Source: Daily Kos) |
There once was a very handsome man named Rama, son of Dasharatha. Although, Dasharatha favored Rama over his other sons, his wife and Rama's stepmother, Kaikeyi knew this was the case and had a plan to make her son, Bharata the ruler of the land, Ayodhya. She banished the poor Rama to the forest and in doing so, opened the doors to Bharata to take over the throne after Dasharatha's death.
However, Bharata knew that what his mother had done was wrong and that he could never be as good as Rama would be as the leader. Bharata escaped Ayodhya while his mother was not looking and set out to find Rama in the forest. Once he finally came across his brother, he asked him for forgiveness for the actions that had taken place. Rama knew it was not Bharata's fault and forgave his brother. Bharata attempted to bring Rama back to the city and grant his brother his rightful throne. However, Rama refused to go back Bharata only had two options. First, he tried to convince his beloved brother to let him take his place in banishment. Rama would not let his brother take this punishment for him, though. Bharata's only other option was to allow his brother to rule from afar until he would one day be able to return.
So. Bharata took the glass slippers from Rama's feet and took them back to the city to place them upon the throne. Bharata took over the operational aspects of rule, but diligently made sure that his brother came first. Every time someone brought a gift for them, the glass slippers were presented the item first. Whenever it was raining, Bharata would make sure that the slippers stayed dry. Bharata would wait for his brother to return, and was willing to wait forever. Meanwhile, Rama had other duties to tend to in the forest. An evil was lurking near him and his wife, Sita.
To be continued..... Will Rama ever return to Adyohya? What was the evil in the forest? What will happen next? Stay tuned next week to see the outcome!
Author's note: While I was reading the story of Rama's banishment, the only thing I could think about was a correlation to Cinderella. So that is what I wrote about! The image of Rama’s stepmother (or at least one of them) and the description of her jealously tied to Rama made a connection in my head to the stepmother in Cinderella. Due to the layout of the family, I actually googled the story to see if it had any influence on the princess story that we all know so well. AND THE VERDICT IS… no there is not a connection between the two, at least not one that they intended when they were making the childhood tale. Even though the connection did not exist, it did not mean that I could not make it exist. That’s right guys, I started something new and exciting. Although the story doesn't exactly follow the Ramayana, it presents the knowledge you need to know but just in a different manner. You should still be able to see the symbolic connections in my version of the fairytale. I thought it was pretty clever to turn the sandals into glass slippers and one of the stepbrothers into Rama's fairy godfather.
Resources: "The Sandals", Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).
Heather!
ReplyDeleteI loved your twist on Cinderella and looked at it as told by a man's perspective. I think that this story tied in well with Cinderella, because his banishment was because of his father's wife and her jealousy to make her very own son ruler. I cannot wait for next week to see how you finish the story, or the next chapter.
This was such a great retelling of the Ramayana story and Cinderella combined! Like you said, it did get the essential information across but it was in your own way. I think it was so sweet the way that Bharata had the glass slippers on the throne and how the gifts were presented to them first. It was a good way for Bharata to keep the symbolism of Rama still ruling.
ReplyDelete