The One Worthy of Sita: Week 3 Story

As a child, Sita would listen to the same bedtime story told by her father, a story of a princess gifted to him by the goddess of the earth. Every time, he would end the story with "and that princess is you" as she falls asleep. Sita is King Janaka's precious daughter whom he adopted and loves dearly. She is the definition of beauty and purity. She had a wonderful childhood filled with love and joy. Finally, the time has come as Sita has become of age for marriage. King Janaka is preparing for the social season to arrange matches and possible suitors for his daughter. 

He announces to the public, "The man who is able to lift any of these bows will be the one worthy of my daughter." Little did the public know, the king ordered bows made of compact sand that would disintegrate immediately if not held delicately. Only one person has successfully done so and that person was Sita.

Sand (Source: PxHere)

Suitors from the whole land would line up awaiting the challenge. "Easy enough" as each of them would initially think. One by one, they all failed. All captivated by Sita's beauty but none could impress. Then came Ravana, the one who has always eyed Sita, who failed the challenge and vowed to return for her whether she liked it or not. Sita became depressed as no one was able to win her heart, and so the king held a ball in hopes of restoring hope. 

The king held the most luxurious ball of the decade inviting every single bachelor in Videha and kingdoms around. At the ball, Sita danced with every suitor who attended and was unimpressed as all they cared about was her title. Feeling broken, she escaped to the garden hoping to get a breath of fresh air when Ravana appeared prepared to kidnap her. A handsome man appeared to save the damsel in distress. He fights Ravana steering him away from Sita. Afraid of being caught by the king and guards, Ravana ran away. Afraid to be seen together alone with Sita as people would think the worst, the gentlemen ran off as well not before making sure Sita was alright. Sita called and ran after him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

The next day, Sita sees the same man preparing to lift the bow at court. He was the only suitor present in court as others have grown tired of the impossible challenge. He lifts the bow delicately using his arms as if he was holding a baby. Sita fell deeper in love with him admiring his gentleness. The man introduces himself as Rama. King Janaka held Sita's arms and hands her to Rama. He announces that Sita and Rama were to be married.

Bibliography. "Ramayana" from Tales 31-100 of Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs. Web Source.

Author's note: I wanted to do a fairytale version of how Sita and Rama met. Mostly, I was inspired by the new Netflix series Bridgerton. I highlighted the father-daughter relationship between King Janaka and Sita as I thought it was sweet and endearing when I first read it. In the original story, the bow was impossible to lift as it was heavy, but Sita and Rama were able to (because the bow used to belong to the god Shiva). Since in my version the story is more of a human fairytale, I decided to keep the idea of a bow but to have it as a test of a man's gentleness and tenderness. In the original Ramayana part B, Ravana successfully kidnapped Sita. I integrated this to how Sita and Rama met and made it into a typical bad guy- good guy story.

Hidden Egg: If you watch Bridgerton, there are some hidden eggs in this story that you might recognize. Comment below if you do!