Week 4 Story: If only I knew
Death of Maricha: Wikimedia Commons
I knew from the moment I met Rama that I would never be able
to kill him. Recently, my twin brothers were killed in battle with Rama. I escaped
as soon as I realized that the battle between us would not be won and I sulked
my way back to the camp I am living in. I walked for days thinking about my
brothers being effortlessly slain by Rama, and at first, I was angry. I wanted
to get revenge, but I lacked the energy and willpower to do so because of the
days of walking. As I mourned their deaths, I began to realize that I would be
unable to fight him, and I could only hope that someone more powerful than I
would defeat him. During my sorrow, a rakshasa more powerful I came through my
camp. Alone and in despair, I welcomed him into my home and it was then he told
me his plan. He, along with dozens of other rakshasas, would attempt to capture
and slay Rama. The Rakshasa, Shiv, needed me to join them in battle. At first,
I was hesitant, but I realized that I had nothing more left to lose, and so I agreed,
and we headed out this morning. I am writing this as we walk through the forest
on our way to confront Rama again, and I sincerely hope that we can defeat him.
Our plan is to surprise Rama. The other Rakshasas will attack from the front and
distract Rama. Shiv and I will assume the form of a leopard to surprise him
from the back. The battle will hopefully end very quickly, but I have a sinking
feeling that there will be plenty of casualties as the battle goes on. I want
to be known as the Rakshasa that slayed Rama in battle.
Authors note:
I did my story
based on the character Maricha from the Ramayana Part B. Even though Maricha did not play a significant role, I still found him very interesting because he
was forced to go into battle even though he already lost to Rama once. I chose
to write about it in a diary format because I wanted to write about it from
Maricha point of view after the first battle and before the second one with
Rama.
Bibliography:
Author: Various contributors
Title: Ramayana
Source: Public Domain
Hello again! This story does a wonderful job at highlighting the struggle of power between the lower ranking rakshasa and the might of Ravana. Maricha had no choice but to cooperate and die by Rama’s hand, or to refuse and die to the hand of Ravana. This interesting mechanic was not really mentioned much in the readings, but rather given minor undertones.
ReplyDeleteYou said in your author’s notes that you wrote the story in the form of a diary entry. However, the text of the story is all in one paragraph on the website. I think it would appear much better if you split it up into chunks as if Maricha was writing different passages on different days.
Hello Trace! Nice Story you wrote there. I like your story because I have never seen or read a story that shows a viewpoint of the low ranking Rakshasa and it was interesting to see how he struggled to just stay alive but eventually he died in the hand of Rama. He had no control of his life if you see in a different way because if he betrayed Ravana then he would be killed by Ravana but if he did go on the battlefield to fight he would die by Rama. It was really sad.
ReplyDeleteHello Trace!
ReplyDeleteI like your story that was based on Maricha and he lost to Rama but still gathered up enough courage to challenge Rama again. I really like the way you presented the story in Maricha's view and what he felt when lost to Rama. Also that he will not back down again to fight Rama again. I hope to read more of your stories in the future.