Week 5 Story: Lava and Kusa fight for Sita's Honor

Although Rama knew that Sita had been loyal to him all this time, he banished her because it was the will of the people, and he valued his kingdom more. He knew it was wrong but did so anyway. Sita wandered for days until she came across the Saint Valmiki where he would give her shelter in his hut and later help raise her children. Sita told Valmiki what Rama had done and why he thought he had to banish her. Sita was more disappointed in Rama than mad at him. Sita told Valmiki, "How could he give in to the people of Ayodhya? I went through a trial to prove my loyalty to him, yet he still banished me." Valmiki understood Sita's pain. Long ago, Valmiki went through a similar ordeal. He was just a commoner in the village of Jana. He fell in love with Priya, a princess, and was going to get married to her, even though, they had no one's blessing. The king found out, banished him, and married his daughter off to a prince from a surrounding kingdom. He has been living in the woods ever since.

Sita told Valmiki that she was pregnant with Rama's children. Valmiki told Sita that she has a home here with Valmiki as long as she needs it. Sita gave birth to twins, Lava and Kusa. Valmiki helped Sita raise the twins. They grew up hearing about the famous stories of Rama, from Valmiki, but did not know that Rama was their father. Sita wanted to keep it that way, but Valmiki knew that it was time for the boys to know who their father is. One day Valmiki sat the boys down and told them about their father and how he banished their mother while she was still pregnant with them. The boys were shocked! "How could our father do that to mother?", Lava asked Valmiki. Valmiki told Lava and Kusa, "Your father was still very young and only listened to the people of Ayodhya." Lava and Kusa stood up and told Valmiki, " We will fight Rama for our mother's honor." So, the two boys left for the kingdom of Ayodhya, while Valmiki went to find Sita and tell her what had happened.

The boys reached the kingdom of Ayodhya and told the people that they had come to challenge Rama. All the people were intrigued by the arrival of Lava and Kusa, and Rama got wind of what was about to happen. Lava and Kusa confronted Rama and said, "We challenge you to a duel and will fight for our mother's honor." Rama was perplexed but asked, "Who is your mother?" Kusa said, "How could you forget the love of your life?" "Sita is your mother?" exclaimed Rama. He just realized how similar they looked compared to him. Lava and Kusa charged towards him, and they fought for seven days and seven nights until Rama called it a draw and told them, "I am so sorry for how I treated your mother, my beautiful Sita. I, King Rama, relinquish my title as King and bestow it and my kingdom upon my sons, Lava and Kusa. I will now go join Sita in the woods and live the remainder of my life with her." As soon as he said that Sita and Valmiki finally reached Ayodhya to find her sons. He said to Sita, "I am so sorry for how I treated you. Will you ever forgive me?" "Of course, I will. After all, you are my husband.", said Sita. The two of them said their goodbyes to the people of Ayodhya and their sons, who would now be co-kings, and left for the woods, along with Valmiki. They lived the rest of their lives together in the woods and enjoyed every moment of it.

Rama and Sita together again at last (Source: Daily Bhaskar)

Author's Note: I based this story loosely on F. J. Gould's "The Divine Archer." I decided to change the plot because I realized that sometimes men need to understand that they can be wrong too. In the original version, there was no fight scene between Rama and his sons, and Rama and Sita did not live happily ever after. Instead, Sita went to the underworld with Bhumi, the Goddess of Nature, and Rama eventually returned back to Heaven since he was a reincarnation of Vishnu. I really wanted to illustrate the tragedy of Rama missing the early years of his children's lives and the outcome of that. Also, I wanted to show how poorly he treated Sita. I wanted to make this story my own and with that, I hope you like my re-interpretation of "The Divine Archer."

Bibliography: The Divine Archer, F. J. Gould