Week 3 Storytelling: Ravana and the Decapitated Head

Ravana was desperate. He was trying to find a way to make Sita his. He thought that if he got her away from Rama and she was with him, then she would fall madly in love with him. This plan failed. Sita stayed true to Rama all through the time with Ravana. Ravana brought her to his home and tried to flatter her with gifts and compliments, but this failed to work. Ravana was angry! He could not think of anything else to do to make Sita fall in love with him. He sent her out to the Ashoka Vana pleasure garden and guarded her with demons. Ravana could not stand to look at her beauty anymore. He was mesmerized by her beauty, but could not convince her to be his. He was not used to not being able to have anything and everything that he wanted.
Ravana came up with one last plan! He thought that maybe if Sita thought that Rama was dead, then she would want to be with him. "Maybe she is just a faithful wife," Ravana thought. "Maybe if Rama is dead, she will be mine." Ravana went to a sorcerer and got him to make a fake decapitated head of Rama. He took this head from the sorcerer and rushed to Sita in the garden.
Sita had been very depressed since she had been captured by Ravana. She missed Rama and longed to be with him. She believed that Rama would come to rescue her. As days passed, she was starting to lose hope. She cried constantly, even though she was in a beautiful garden. She did not like being guarded by demons. They scared her. She saw Ravana walk into the garden with a decapitated head. This scared her, but she wondered what he was up to.
He told her that Rama had been killed and showed her the decapitated head. At first, Sita was very sad. Then she thought that Ravana was trying to trick her. She knew that Rama would defeat Ravana in a battle. She believed in her husband. Ravana's trick did not work on her!
Ravana was angered that his final plan did not win over Sita. He realized that she would never be his, but he was not going to give her up! He left her in the garden guarded by the demons. He planned to keep her there forever. He no longer cared if he had Sita. He just did not want Rama to have her back.

Ravana and Sita

Author's Note: I chose this story because it seemed very brief in our reading. I thought that it would be interesting to add more detail and background to this story. I feel like the readers learning more about Ravana and Sita would be interesting for them. Sita and Rama have a great love and I wanted to show that Sita believed in Rama. She would not give up on him or lose hope in him. The good people always win and triumph over the bad people. Ravana thought it would be easy for Sita to be his, and he was wrong. He did not want to work to win her and that is what you must do for love. Sita knew that Ravana was deceiving and a liar. That is why she did not fall for him showing her the decapitated head of Rama. I feel that the image I chose fits well with this story. Sita is sitting in the grass next to a tree and Ravana is coming to her. I assume that he was going to her to try to deceive her and make her fall in love with him. She refuses to even look at him and will not fall for his tricks.

Bibliography: Narayan, R,K. (1972) The Ramayana.