Week 4 Story: Rama's Conflict

Edit: You can find the revised story at my portfolio here.

The tide of the war appeared to be changing. My fellow men and comrades were fighting back the onslaught of Ravana and his army of demons. We had found new hope. Garuda had restored our physical bodies to pristine condition. Our mental strength became fortified with every passing minute. We knew we were going to win the battle and end this demon's reign of terror. I glanced to my right and saw Sugriva rallying his army of monkey warriors. I turned to my comrades and did the same. Everyone answered to the rallying cry and we charged back into the darkness. 

The demons came from every direction. They were mischievous and dreadful on the battlefield. Ravana and his demons resorted to cheap tricks and magic while fighting. They could not be trusted to engage in traditional combat. Sugriva and his monkey army fought valiantly. They began to overwhelm some of the rakshasas. I continued to plow my way through the demons towards the palace. I had an endless desire to defeat Ravana and end this conflict for good. All seemed to be going well.. Until everyone on the battlefield heard the thunderous noise emitting from the palace.

The ground began to shake violently. I stumbled backwards as I had lost my footing. The monkey warriors began to cower. I saw fear in their faces. They began to walk backwards as they became more afraid of what was waiting on the other side. A monstrous roar deafened our ears, and my worst fear had come true. The demon Kumbhakarna came soaring through the air. He crushed the earth as he landed and immediately began reigning terror. With one swing of his arm he sent hundreds of monkey warriors flying through the air. Kumbhakarna began to devour them by the handful to try and satisfy his insatiable hunger. The hope had diminished from everyone's eyes. We were suffering heavy casualties all across the battlefield. Kumbhakarna had managed to capture my dear friend and leader Sugriva. I knew I had to act soon. I knew that I had to be the one to slay this monstrous demon. I nocked my arrow and jumped into the fray...

(A photo of Rama fighting Ravana. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Author's Note: My story comes from a section of the Ramayana. The scene takes place during the fighting between Rama's forces and Ravana's forces. Rama and his forces seemed to have turned the tide of the battle as they were recently healed by Garuda. The forces of the monkey king and Rama battled fiercely against Ravana and his demons. There was a lot of back and forth action and Rama appeared to be taking a stand. However, Ravana summoned his brother Kumbhakarna. His brother was a giant and ferocious demon. His brother would sleep for six months and awake for only one day. During his one day awake, he would consume a monstrous meal and go back to sleep. Kumbhakarna begins to dominate the battlefield as he kills thousands of monkeys and even captures Sugriva. Rama engages in battle with the demon and emerges victorious. My story focuses on Rama's internal conflict during the struggle from a first person perspective. I wanted to continue to buildup to the battle scene. I want to extend this story to include the battle or make an entire story solely dedicated to the battle itself.

Bibliography: Ramayana Online from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie. Source: Blogspot

Reading Notes: Ramayana Online, Part D

I finished up the reading for the Ramayana today. This was definitely an interesting and unique experience for me. I do not think I have read an epic in quite some time. It was really cool to read about the adventures of someone as powerful as Rama. I took notes over the most favorite sections of mine in part D.

• I read the battle scenes and instantly knew this is what I wanted to write about
• The scenes capture so much emotion and violence
• I love the fact that Rama and the monkey's are teaming up together
• The demon forces of Ravana are very strong
• It looked grim for a while for Rama and his comrades
• The demons did not fight fairly on the battlefield
• They resorted to magic and tricks to injure and kill Rama and his men
• I did not expect the tides to turn for Rama and his men so easily
• Lakshmana appeared to be dead and hope did not seem evident
• I did not expect the help of Garuda
• I think it would be really cool to detail what Garuda did as he healed the Rama and his men
• Kumbhakarna was a terrifying and ferocious demon
• Just as the tides seemed to be turning in favor of Rama, more bad things happened
• I think the battle between Rama and Kumbhakarna went largely untold
• I have so many cool things I could include in this fighting scene
• Kumbhakarna killed thousands of monkeys and took their king
• It would be awesome to detail these events and put some emotion into the story

These last few sections were some of my favorite in the entire epic. The battle scenes described here were truly awesome and entertaining. There is so much I could do with these battle scenes. The monkey king and his people were some of my favorite from the entire epic. Reading about Rama and the monkey kingdom fighting together was truly incredible.

(A photo of Rama battling titans. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography: Ramayana Online from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie. Source: Blogspot

Reading Notes: Ramayana Online, Part C

I continued with my reading for this week. I am now on the third part of the Ramayana. I decided to again take notes over the sections that I really enjoyed. I think that I will be able to retell the best story from these sections.

• I really liked the character of Sugriva
• I was curious to see if he was in any way related to the Monkey Sing, Sun Wu
• I really like the idea of being able to write about the Monkey King and his people
• I think the new team of Rama and Sugriva opens a lot of doors for new adventures
• I might create some crazy new heroic story revolving around their travels
• The tale of Sugriva was a sad one. It was hard to see brother turn on brother like that
• Vali was eager to challenge Rama and his brother Sugriva
• I knew that Rama could not be defeated by Vali
• I found the format of this section to be a bit difficult to follow
• I would like to change it to more of a traditional storytelling format
• The decision of Rama to help Sugriva did not surprise me
• However, it was a bit random for Rama to wait in ambush
• I did not expect Rama to ambush his allies foe
• I can see how it is considered controversial to some
• I think Rama was moved by Sugriva's will to fight and wanted to help his new friend
• It was difficult for the whole kingdom to lose its king
• It was hard for Sugriva to come to terms with his brother's death
• I would like to explore Rama's feelings after the battle
• There are a lot of cool options for me to write about this week concerning these events

I think there are a lot of directions to take the storytelling this week. I will continue to think of ideas and different ways to retell these events. I am open to changing the battle scene. 

(A photo of Rama and Lakshmana meeting with Sugriva. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography: Ramayana Online from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie. Source: Blogspot