Week 5 Story: A Sage Never Stops Learning

Updated Story

I was born Agni Sharma in the forest and have not left the forest ever since.  Why would I ever leave?  I have a never ending supply of luscious fruits, a forever flowing stream of melted snow running down from the Himalayas, and a plethora of forest friends in the form of animals to keep me company.  This natural beauty is everything a young poet could ever ask for.

As a young boy I met an old sage name Narada.  I followed Narada around as his apprentice for three years watching his every movement and listening to all of his words.  I hoped that I could one day be as wise as him.  Narada taught me all about Vishnu, the god of protection and everything good.  The lessons learned from Vishnu became my favorite stories to write.

A little later on, in my teenage years, I was sitting on the ground during a warm spring afternoon trying to come up with a plot inspired by the rays of sun sneaking through the trees.  I wrote the story I envisioned, but I was not satisfied with it.  This story writing process occurred for the next 80 years.  I put story after story on the pages but never felt like any of them met my standard of perfection.  Everyone seemed to enjoy my books, but I knew inside that they had not yet seen my full potential as a writer.  One day, at the age of nearly 100, I found everything I was looking for.

During my morning stroll through the forest I came across a pregnant woman weeping.  She told me her name was Sita, and I knew immediately that I ran across the wife of Rama, king of Ayodhya and avatar of Vishnu.  Remembering all that I had learned about Vishnu from Narada, I was ecstatic to learn about Rama through Sita.  I asked her why she was crying and she told me her life story.  This story became the Ramayana, the epic I dreamed of composing my entire life.  Of course, I twisted Sita's story to focus on Rama.

The Ramayana became one of the most popular stories in the history of India.  Immediately after I wrote the epic, huge anthills began to rise around me.  This is where I was given the name that most know me by, Valmiki, meaning "born of an anthill."

Quickly, my dream story became a nightmare.  My Ramayana was ruined by the younger Indian poets.  They rewrote my story changing all the important details.  What was perfect became polluted and nobody seemed to know the real story of Rama.

While I was sulking and feeling sorry for myself I came across a young poet named Vyasa.  Vyasa was one of the poets who rewrote my story.  At first I was angry with him, but after spending more time with him we became good friends.  He told me his perspective on newer writers coming up with new versions of my perfect story.  Vyasa said that the Ramayana allowed new poets to explore their own creativity and grow them as writers.  It was an honor that they chose the Ramayana to rewrite.

My opinion of these writers quickly changed.  They were able to explore all the possible plot twists in ways that I would not have been able to do.  Maybe a story is greater when it is told from many angles.

Author's Note

My idea for writing this story came from Sita Sings the Blues.  Sita who is sad after Rama sends her into the forest meets Valmiki who she tells her story.  Valmiki is then credited with writing the Ramayana.  I found Valmiki very interesting and looked up his story on Wikipedia.  Some of his backstory I edited to make my story a little more interesting.  To advance the plot I thought about how an author would react if many other authors rewrote his or her story.  I imagine there might be some animosity towards the newer writers.  I know there are many versions of the Ramayana so it happened to be the perfect story for this plot.  I ended the story with Valmiki realizing that the rewriting of his story was actually a good thing for the new storytellers.  It allows them to learn how they can write a story using their own creativity.  After all, that is what I have been able to do in this class and it has been a bunch of fun.  I ended the story with a theme I learned during last weeks writing lab from

Bibliography

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley
Valmiki on Wikipedia
Vishnu on Wikipedia
Vyasa on Wikipedia
Valmiki's Name from The Name Meaning
The Danger of the Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Image Information: Sita Tells Valmiki Her Story: The Indian Express

Reading Notes: Well Actually Movie Notes pt. 2

Sita Sings the Blues

Rama finds out Sita was pure after all
The woman in the present day gets her heart broken by her husband.
After this a song plays for a couple minutes.  The song sounds like a modern song, I wish that the lyrics were included in subtitles.
Sita becomes pregnant.
She gains a bad reputation for staying in Ravana's house for so long.
This brings shame upon Rama.
This is a big cultural difference between the United States and India.  The United States is a guilt culture while India is a shame culture.
Rama tells his brother, Lakshmana, to take her to the forest and abandon her there.
Rama was king and needed respect from his people.  It is not that he necessarily thought she was unpure, he just wanted to gain favor with people and set an example.
In the forest Sita says that she must have committed terrible sins in the previous life.  In reincarnation, it seems that you pay for your sins in your lives to follow.
She meet Valmiki in the woods and tells him her story.
Valmiki then goes on to write the Ramayana.
Sita has twins.
Valmiki taught the two kids how to sing praises of Rama.
The song that was sung praised Rama but felt a bit sarcastic because it talks about how perfect he is and how he kicked Sita out of his house.
Sita loved Rama despite how he treated her.
Rama goes to the forest and hears two boy singing. He doesn't know who they are, but he is curious.
He learns that the two boys are his sons and tells them to come back to Ayodhya with him.
He sees Sita and asks her to do another trial.  Instead of trial by fire he asks her to do a trial by water  to prove her purity.
If she sinks she is unpure, if she floats she is pure.
Sita asks the gods if she is completely pure, let Mother Earth take her back into her womb.

One of the things that I find really interesting about this version of the Ramayana is that the narrators argue a bit over what actually happens.  This just shows how many different versions have been passed out.  It is likely that each of these narrators heard the story told different ways growing up or throughout their water.


Bibliography

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley

Image Information: Valmiki Writting the Ramayana: Flickr

Reading Notes: Well, Actually Movie Notes

Sita Sings the Blues

Sita has dark hair, green eyes, and four arms.
The beat during the intro credits is kinda fire.
Two gods, the sun god and the moon good riding on chariots. The sun god was pulled by four horses, while the moon god was pulled by two deer.
The earth was portrayed in a large woman's belly.

A long time ago B.C. in Ayodhya
Dasharatha had 3 wives, 4 sons
Sita's father was Janak
Janaki and Veidehi are other names for Sita
Rama was about to be crowned king
Dashratha was sick and was nursed back to health by Kaikeyi.  Dasharatha said he would do anything for her.  She said to exile Rama for 14 years.
Rama is described as noble, good, the embodiment of righteousness, a brave warrior prince, joy of heaven and earth, the ideal man.
Rama was not upset.  He said if that is your wish father, I will go.
Sita towards Rama "I cannot live without you."
Sita starts singing the blues because she is with Rama in exile.
Rama slayed monsters with ease in the forest.

Ravana was the king of Lanka.
Ravana kidnapped Sita.
Soorpanaka is Ravana's sister.
She told Ravana about Rama slaying his monsters in the forest.  She tells him to take revenge.
Ravana was told that Rama was powerful
He tells his sister to not come to him with petty requests.
She tells Ravana about Sita, the most beautiful woman in India, and Ravana changes his mind.
Ravana sends his servant to go as a golden deer to attract Sita.  She sends Rama to get the deer.  While he is out, Ravana takes Sita.
Sita drops here Jewelry on the way to Lanka.  This is how she was to be traced to Lanka.
Hanuman is an incarnation of Shiva: He was born to meet up and help Rama.
Hanuman locates Sita in Lanka.
Sita cries and prays to Rama.
The monster guards are impressed by her devotion.
Then Ravana tries to tell Sita to be his instead of Rama's
She stays devoted and tells Ravana to get lost basically.  She says Rama will come and save her.
Ravana tells her she has two months to marry him or he will kill her.
Rama and the monkey army slay the monster army.  Rama shoots Ravana with and arrow.

No kissing in public in India (fun fact).

Rama was cold to Sita when he first saved her.
He was cold because she had lived in Ravana's house for a long time.
She says she cannot bear to live without him.

Bibliography

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley

Image Information: Sita and Rama as portrayed in the film: Flickr