Week 4 Storytelling: Diary Entries

Dasaratha's Diary:
The Night of the Sacrifice:
I went to my priest, Vasishtha, about my wives and their inability to give me an heir.
"It is so disappointing that I have no successor to my throne. I have three wives! Why can't just one of my wives give me a son?" I exclaimed in agony.
Vasishtha had an idea for a sacrifice. At nightfall, we went out into the night and started a fire. Vasishtha and Sumantra were chanting in unison. A big black giant appeared out of the fire with a gleaming, golden bowl. The bowl was filled with rice. The giant handed this bowl to me and told me to feed it to my wives. This would give me sons!
 I rushed home to my beautiful wives. I had told them previously of the sacrifice, and they were ready for it to be done. I gave half of the rice to my first wife, Kausalya. She ate her portion, then I gave Sumitra half of the remaining rice. I gave Kaikeyi half of what Sumitra had left. I thought that Sumitra needed more rice, though. So, I took some of what I gave to Kaikeyi and gave it back to Sumitra. I could not wait for my sons to be born!

Dasaratha accepting the rice sacrifice

The Births:
After nine long months of waiting, my first wife Kausalya went into labor. She gave birth to my first born son, Rama. This pleased me greatly. Soon after, Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharata. Even later in the day, Sumitra gave birth to Lakshmana and Satrughna.
I now have four sons! Sumitra even bore me twin boys! I now have an heir to my throne and my kingdom will continue to be reigned by my own blood!

Kausalya's Diary:
The Sacrifice:
I was so pleased when Dasaratha found a way for us to give him his heirs! He came home the night of the sacrifice so excited that we would finally be able to be pregnant. He gave us the rice from the sacrifice, and I got the biggest portion. This is because I am his first wife. I will be the one to give him the heir to the throne. My son will be our new king! The rice tasted so sweet, and was so good. I am ready to experience being pregnant. I want to give our kingdom their next king!

Author's Note:
I chose to explore the thoughts of Dasaratha and his first wife, Kausalya, through the process of the rice sacrifice and the birth of the sons. The story doesn't go into much detail about their feelings in that time, so I thought it would be interesting to see what they could have been thinking.

Bibliography:
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Week 4 Reading Diary B: The Exile of Rama

Dasharatha chooses to make Rama king and starts to plan the coronation. Bharata is away at this time. Bharata's mother Kaikeyi is pleased for Rama until her servant, Manthara, talks to her about how Bharata should be king. Manthara tells her it would be better for them. Kaikeyi goes to Dasharatha and uses her two promises that he owes her. She uses one to make Bharata king and the other to exile Rama for 14 years.

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana are prepared to leave, but must stop for the night. The elders of Ayodhya caused the river to rise up and blocked Rama from continuing his journey.

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana in the forest

Bharata's mother, Kaikeyi, previously had tried to get Dasharatha to teach her the language of the animals. Dasharatha is not allowed to share this information, and if he did, he would be killed. He decided that it was best not to share the information with Kaikeyi. This story is told by Guha.

By the urging of Bharadwaja (a sage), Sita, Rama, and Lakshmana start to live in Chitrakuta. Lakshmana builds them a house.

Dasharatha dies from the grief of his son, Rama, leaving. When Dasharatha was young, he accidentally killed a boy in the forest. He sees a connection between the death of this young boy and the loss of his son, Rama.

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Week 4 Reading Diary A: Starting the Ramayana by Buck

The demon warrior, Indrajit, begins the book by talking about Narayana and Valmiki (the poet). Rama has exiled Sita when she was pregnant with his two sons. Narada tells Valmiki to go rescue Sita. Valmiki must also teach the story of Rama to Rama's twin sons (Kusha and Lava).

King Dasharatha has no sons. He gets help and a sacrifice is prepared so that his wives will bear sons. Kausalya is Rama's mother. Kaikeyi is Bharata's mother. Sumitra is Lakshmana and Shatrughna's mother. When all of the sons are sixteen years of age, Vishwamitra goes to them and asks for their help in battling the rakshasas.

Ravana had great powers given to him by Brahma. He could not be conquered by gods, asuras, yakshas, nagas, or rakshasas. He challenges many powerful people because of his powers. His brothers also got powers. Vibhishana could always remember Dharma. Kumbhakama could sleep for six months after one day of being awake. Ravana is married to Mandodari and has one son, Meghanada.

Rama helps to break Ahalya's curse that she is under because of her husband, Gautama. This returns her to her former beauty. This curse was because her husband found her in bed with Indra.

Rama and Sita had fallen in love at first sight. For Rama to be able to marry her, he broke the bow of Shiva. He succeeds, and the two are married. Rama's brothers marry daughters of Janaka, also. Janaka is Sita's father.

Rama breaking Janaka's bow