Vrinda Sheth - [Sita's Fire Trilogy 01] Read online

  PRAISE FOR SHADOWS OF THE SUN DYNASTY

  “What especially stands out in this edition of the Ramayana is the celebration of the feminine voice: the female characters who would normally be overshadowed by their male counterparts are now invested with agency and power. The extraordinary positive contributions from such female personalities leaves the reader with a fresh view of this amazing tale.”

  — GR AHAM M. SCHWEIG, PHD, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Christopher Newport University, Virginia; Author of Bhagavad Gītā: The Beloved Lord’s Secret Love Song

  “Reader, be prepared for a treat. Vrinda Sheth’s Ramayana is far beyond routine story-telling. Her telling is full of the kind of personal detail and insight that comes from knowing her subjects at a heart level. Rama for her is not only an archetypal hero—he lives and breathes, radiating mystical power; Sita is more than tragic heroine or unearthly goddess—she is a powerful self-aware human yet divine being. The Ramayana is a feast of emotion and grand inspiration: it calls us to experience life to the fullest, not shrinking from its tragedies or rewards but giving ourselves fully to the whole cosmic drama. Immerse yourself in Sita’s Fire and you will find yourself doing just that.”

  — R ANCHOR PRIME, Author of Ramayana: A Tale of Gods and Demons

  “The intrigue and mystery starts with the opening line—never have I been pulled so quickly into a book through a few simple yet tantalizing words. The art and magic unfold page after page through story and image alike. From injustice and savagery to heroism and beautiful princesses, the unique style of Vrinda Sheth’s writing captivates the heart and mind, drawing one deeper into the burning intricacies of Sita’s Fire.”

  — BR AJA SORENSEN, Author of Lost & Found in India, Mad & Divine, and India & Beyond

  “What an excellent retelling of the Ramayana! If sheer artistry, imagination, storytelling technique, and descriptive writing were not enough, Vrinda Sheth accurately conveys the emotion and underly-ing philosophical content of the story as well. With God as my witness, I went in a skeptic and came out a believer—and now I can hardly wait for future volumes in the series.”

  — STEVEN J. ROSEN, Editor in Chief, Journal of Vaishnava Studies; Associate Editor, Back to Godhead; Author of Holy War: Violence and the Bhagavad Gita; The Hidden Glory of India; and Black Lotus: the Spiritual Journey of an Urban Mystic

  “Shadows of the Sun Dynasty by Vrinda Sheth is rich with deep insights into the motives and emotions of the entire cast, which makes for an unforgettable entrance into the political intrigue and web of emotions in the kingdom of Ayodhya. For those who enjoy an unforgettable story, you have in your hands a unique book that will pull you in from start to finish. Anna’s exquisite illustrations further enhance the story. I expect this beautiful book to enthrall the present generation, leaving its indelible mark in their minds and hearts, as other versions of the Ramayana have for countless generations.”

  — KOSA ELY, Author of The Peaceable Forest and The Prince and the Polestar

  of

  the

  SHADOWS

  SUN DYNASTY

  T H E S I TA’ S F I R E T R I L O G Y: B O O K O N E

  of

  the

  SHADOWS

  SUN DYNASTY

  A N I L L U S T R AT E D S E R I E S B A S E D O N T H E R A M AYA N A VRINDA SHETH

  ILLUSTR ATED BY

  A NNA JOH A NSSON

  San Rafael, California

  PO Box 3088

  San Rafael, CA 94912

  www.mandalaeartheditions.com

  Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MandalaEarth Follow us on Twitter: @MandalaEarth

  This book was made possible by a grant from Bhaktiland, a non-profit supporting the expansion of quality bhakti art.

  www.bhaktiland.com

  Text copyright © 2016 Vrinda Sheth

  Illustrations copyright © 2016 Anna Johansson

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Mandala Publishing, San Rafael, California, in 2016. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

  ISBN: 978-1-60887-659-4

  Book design by Raghu Consbruck

  www.raghudesigns.com

  REPLANTED PAPER

  Mandala Publishing, in association with Roots of Peace, will plant two trees for each tree used in the manufacturing of this book. Roots of Peace is an internationally renowned humanitarian organization dedicated to eradicating land mines worldwide and converting war-torn lands into productive farms and wildlife habitats. Roots of Peace will plant two million fruit and nut trees in Afghanistan and provide farmers there with the skills and support necessary for sustainable land use.

  Manufactured in China by Insight Editions

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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  To My Fathers

  Pita, Yogindra Das, for being the most sincere and unique person I know, for making spiritual growth the constant aim, for even now, showing me by example how to deeply interrogate the purpose of life.

  Len, bonus dad, for being fun and lighthearted, for dedicating time to effective communication, for being generous and invested,

  for loving my mother.

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  Contents

  Foreword

  xi

  Preface

  xiii

  Prologue by No One

  xv

  THE KING OF THE WORLD

  1 The Sound of Victory

  3

  2 Kaikeyi’s Mother

  15

  3 The Dead King’s Prophecy

  25

  4 The Great Queen

  33

  5 The Horse-Lord’s Daughter

  43

  6 Kaikeyi’s Bride-Price

  55

  7 With the Love of a Mother

  65

  8 The Flags on the Chariots

  73

  9 The Perfect City

  79

  10 The Power of a Phantom

  91

  11 The Women’s Curse

  101

  12 Holy Dancing Girls

  109

  13 A Queen to the Rescue

  117

  14 The Dream of Rama

  129

  15 The Queen’s Secret

  135

  16 An Earnest Wish

  143

  17 The Great Sacrifice

  151

  18 Poisoned Minds

  157

  19 Three Queens

  169

  20 The Firstborn Son

  177

  21 A Mother’s Morning

  183

  22 The House of Wrath

  191

  23 A Dirty Fight

  199

  24 Manthara’s Monsters

  209

  25 The Adopted Princess

  213

  26 Kaikeyi’s Favorite

  219

  27 The Summit of Fifty Kings

  229

  RAMA’S ADVENTURES

  28 The Enemy in the Shadow

  251

  29 The Pretender Strikes

  263

  30 Bharata’s Resolution

  275

  31 Shiva’s Bow

  283

  32 The Warrior-Turned-Sage

  291

  33 Rama’s Rite of Passage

  299

  34 Revenge and Enlightenment

  307

  35 A Woman of Stone

>   315

  36 A Miracle of Creation

  321

  37 Sita’s Visions

  329

  38 The Bow and the Princess

  335

  39 Sita’s Soul

  343

  40 A Father’s Blessings

  351

  41 Sita’s Secret

  357

  42 Rama’s Second Summit

  365

  43 The Future in the Past

  375

  44 Kashi Attacks

  379

  45 Sita’s Premonition

  385

  THE QUEEN’S PLOT

  46

  A Brother’s Memory

  393

  47 Dasharatha’s Haste

  403

  48

  The Fateful Servant

  407

  49

  Two Old Boons

  415

  50 Broken Hearts

  421

  51 The Honorable Son

  425

  52 A Mother’s Sorrow

  431

  53 Sita’s Destiny

  435

  54 The Departure

  439

  55 Sunset 445

  56 Kaikeyi’s Only Hope

  449

  57 Manthara’s End

  457

  Acknowledgments

  463

  Characters and Terms

  465

  Artist’s Note

  469

  Illustration Index

  472

  Foreword

  ne of the most striking features of the Ramayana storytelling tradition, which has Oenthralled and inspired readers and audiences throughout South and Southeast Asia for more than two millennia, is the absence of a single authoritative text. The Sanskrit epic attributed to the sage Valmiki, which many scholars now think may have been composed in the fifth or fourth centuries BC, is revered as the literary origin of the tradition and even as the adi kavya or “first poem.” Yet it is a remarkable fact that, prior to the colonial period, it was almost never translated, in the sense that we understand this term today: as a word-for-word rendering from one language to another. Instead, when storytellers in the many regional languages of the Indian subcontinent wanted to share the Rama story with their audiences, they seem to have relished the opportunity to retell it in their own languages and in their own ways, using local imagery and expressions and incorporating their personal insights into the beloved tale.

  Indeed, it is sometimes said that there are “three hundred Ramayanas,” and this is scarcely an exaggeration, for each one of India’s more than a score of official languages now boasts multiple retellings of the story, most of them centuries old—and they are all different.

  Of course, they all retell the basic story of a noble prince who wins a beautiful and virtuous bride, only to be cheated of his throne and sent into exile in the wilderness, where he must eventually battle and slay a ferocious adversary, who has kidnapped his beloved wife.

  for ewor d

  Yet, within this basic framework there is ample scope for creativity on the part of storytellers, especially in the matter of characterization and motive. For, although several of the main actors in the Ramayana are understood by Hindus to be divine incarnations and their worldly deeds part of a larger cosmic plan, this understanding has generally not gotten in the way of an appreciation of their humanity and even vulnerability when on Earth. Many years ago, a great Ramayana scholar and a pious devotee of Rama in the city of Benares described to me how, in his childhood, he and his family members would retell and, at the same time, fiercely debate all aspects of the story on long summer nights in their courtyard, sometimes deliberately taking unusual positions, raising serious doubts, or challenging conventional assumptions. This wonderful freedom to reinterpret sacred narrative has been one of the great strengths of the Hindu tradition, and has ensured that its most important tales have remained vibrant and relevant throughout millennia.

  Now Vrinda Sheth, assisted by her mother Anna Johansson, has added her voice to the ancient and echoing chorus of Ramayana narrators, giving us a freshly inspiring retelling of the Rama tale in English, beautifully illustrated, and intended especially for young adult readers. This is clearly a labor of love, but it is also—like the family Ramayana of my Benares friend—the product of much study, reflection, and even debate. It is grounded in two of the greatest classical versions of the story, the Sanskrit epic of Valmiki and the Tamil one of Kamban, which Vrinda has studied carefully in their English translations. I especially appreciate her use of the Kamban epic, which was probably composed in the twelfth century AD, for it was the first Rama epic in a regional language. It is even longer than the Sanskrit poem, and includes many original episodes and interpretations. Though still popular today in the Tamil-speaking regions of southern India, it is little known outside of India, and it deserves to be better appreciated. Happily, Vrinda has incorporated some beautiful insights into the story that are unique to this text.

  In recasting the Indian sources for her intended audience, Vrinda has been respectful and culturally sensitive, yet she has not sanitized or oversimplified, nor has she glossed over the tensions and controversies that sometimes enter the story. As in the most beloved Indian-language retellings, her hero and heroine have retained both their divinity and their humanity, and their story remains sufficiently complex and multi-stranded to allow Vrinda’s readers, who are sure to be many, to imagine the story in their own ways and, in time, to weave creative reinterpretations of their own.

  And so, the Ramayana tradition continues here . . . Let the journey begin!

  —  Philip Lutgendorf

  Professor of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies

  Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures University of Iowa

  Author of The Life of a Text: Performing the Ramcaritmanas of Tulsidas and Hanuman’s Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey

  x

  Preface

  hen I first started writing, I had no computer and no method. In its seed form, this Wbook was 150 pages and was named Prince Rama: Son of the Solar Dynasty. It was written entirely in internet cafes while I studied dance at Kalakshetra in South India. To say that I was fumbling around in the dark is an understatement. As I completed the entire trilogy (ten years later!), the work as a whole had taken unexpected turns. In the years that followed the release of Son of the Solar Dynasty, my creative process underwent a complete transformation, and my first effort just was not cohesive with books two and three. As we found a new publisher, I was thrilled to get this opportunity to redo book one. What began as a hesitant tread into the Ramayana-retelling tradition turned into a headlong sprint. And here I am.

  The book you hold in your hands now has more than tripled in size and is over 400 pages.

  With the support of my inspired editor Mirabai (Lee Harrington), I undertook an overhaul in point-of-view, absorbing much of the first text into this much larger body of work. This book also features thirty-three new full color illustrations, as well as three black-and-white drawings by my talented mother. As if all that was not enough, it has been renamed and completely redesigned. In short, a lotus in full bloom!

  In the early years, I struggled often during the writing process. In Son of the Solar Dynasty, I was careful to document any instance where I strayed from Valmiki’s original work. That

  pr eface

  would be impossible for this incarnation. Much as I tried simply producing a faithful retelling of Valmiki’s Ramayana, I could not. The ideas came to me through a creative impulse I could not contain. The creation process has given me joy, inspiration, and a desire to study Valmiki’s text deeper. When I finally surrendered to this creative impulse, I felt the wind under my wings. This jump into the realm of imagination took consistent leaps of courage, and I’m so thankful to my supportive husband and mother.

  If you do not know Sita and Rama’s story, this book is for you. If you
are a Sita-Rama connoisseur, this book is for you. I pushed my craft to its limit to invite the unfamiliar reader into this magical world. For the concerned reader, I want to assure you that I always kept the original work close to my heart. The vast majority of my material is derived through retrograde plotting. Also, I want to stress that my rendition is only one of the many possible ways to view the story. (In fact, I have a fantasy of writing a new version every ten years!) As I circumambulated the original text, nothing became more clear to me than this: each of the characters have their version of the story that they wish to tell, and so does every reader.

  xii

  Prologue by No One

  will not bother telling you my name. You will forget it. I am no one. Not a princess or Iqueen, not the daughter of a wealthy man, nor the wife of someone influential. I was an ordinary woman, married to a cloth merchant. We lived in a small village adjacent to the Great City. I was dispensable, like most women are. I did not know it until it was too late.

  In my last and final memory of being truly alive, the day was full of laughter and sunshine. My children and I had played in the forest, leaving any worries of a clean dwelling behind. The children were not concerned with such things, and I became a free being like them as I played hide-and-seek, tugging one of my daughter’s braids, running almost as fast as my son. I marveled that they, who grew in my womb, could run faster than I did. I blamed it on my long silken dress, which caught around my ankles and made me trip. I allowed my daughter to tuck hers up so that she could run unencumbered. I did not even object when she took off the linen shawl covering her chest and tied it on her head like a turban. What harm could it do when she was as flat-chested as a boy? Their father was not with us to object, but I was mindful to keep myself covered in case neighbors were watching. All that modesty did not save me in the end.

  After hours of play, even the children got exhausted. I hurried to unveil the food I had prepared and the utensils clinked and clattered. We ate it with relish. Afterwards, they

  prologue by no one

  insisted on letting my long hair out of its braid and combing it with their fingers, taking out the leaves and twigs. My daughter’s bangles tinkled by my ears.

  “You are the most beautiful, Mother,” she said.

  “Like a queen,” my son said.