Bonafide Urban Chick

[Disclaimer: This post is my personal opinion and the figment of a questioning mind. It is not intended to hurt anyone's beliefs, sensibilities or faith. If you disagree, you can put it in the comments section, I really don't mind!]

Every Indian, be it a hindu or a non-hindu, knows the story of Ramayan. We all know who wrote it. And we all know how it unfolded.

However, we are so caught up in peer perception that we fail to look at things differently. We have been TAUGHT that Raavan was the bad guy, Sita was the damsel in distress, Ram was the hero and Hanuman was the saviour! What if, we change the perception a tad bit.

Everyone knows that Raavan was a highly educated, maha-buddhishaali, gyaani who had done years of tapasya. He was a great king and managed 10 things at a time. That could be why he was said to have ten heads, maybe? Now, Ram was a good son who, on the insistance of his step mother, went for van-vaas. Now, thats all fine. It shows his strength of character to take challenges with a smile.

Sita, a princess by birth, agreed to follow her husband into van-vaas. That is good too, after all, if a couple cannot face challenges together, what can they do?

Raavan, a king of a kingdom (with apparently hideous women) saw Sita and was besotted. Why wouldn't he be? She was a princess and known to be gorgeous. Raavan was a young, powerful king, I am sure he had his testosterone raging too! He fell in love with Sita, and like 90% guys, made a small mistake in getting her.

Since she was already married, asking her out or talking to her was out of the question. And being a hot blooded, love-struck king, he made the mistake of kidnapping her. He took her to his kingdom in the hopes that she would get to know him, and eventually fall in love with him

Ram sent Hanuman, a celeb-struck blind follower to get Sita back. Hanuman followed the orders, which is understandable, after all Sita WAS RAM'S WIFE! But why would Ram need help? If Ram was the hero, his sheer goodness would have been enough to defeat the big bad king of Lanka!

Anyways, Hanuman went down there, burnt the Golden city of Lanka and brought back his idol's lady. The whole time, Raavan, the gentleman that he was, did not force his affections on Sita at all. He tried resoning, and treated her with utmost care and respect. Now, which VILLIAN does that?

So Hanuman brought our damsel in distress back. When Sita saw her man all she wanted was to see love, and all she got was doubt. Ram did not trust his wife! When she said that she was untouched, he did not believe her! After all, Raavan was believed to be the villian, if he would have done something, telling everyone would only have made his image worse. What would have been the harm in that?

So Ram didn't trust Sita, and sent her off the kingdom while she was pregnant with HIS TWINS! You call that a hero?? While Raavan treated the woman he loved with respect, despite the fact that she was his prisoner and that he could have done anything with her. How does that make him the villian?

All I aim to say here is that there are always two sides to a coin. Ram regretted his decision of sending Sita off, and Raavan died as a man madly in love. Ram's sons grew up hating him, while Sita had to go through an agneepariksha to prove her chastity! Things are often portrayed a little differently than what they are. Or maybe, it is just a matter of perception! Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8