Week 7 Reading Diary: Krishna's Younger Days

Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories by C. A. Kincaid (1920).

I really like the story of Krishna’s birth. It is very fast paced so one exciting thing after another is happening throughout. When the gods are a big part of a story it seems to be very exciting also because of all of the supernatural things they can do. This would be a great story to tell from Kansa’s point of view. We know that he hates the earth and humans more than the rest of the demons and that the insinuation of his death by the eighth born child of Vasudeva drives him crazy. However, we don’t really know why this causes him to throw his own father into prison other than just wanting the power to do whatever he wants. There is a lot of room to play with this story.

Krishna’s childhood is also exiting! The part about his mother tying the cord around his belly is my favorite part. No matter how many pieces she ties together it still will not reach around him. Then he feels bad for her and ties it around himself. I cannot imagine the confusion she is experiencing at this point. I do love battle. This chapter contains two different demons coming to kill Krishna. The first one is not exactly a battle, but he does suck the lifeblood out of her to which I am sure she fought to stop. The second is more of a battle, but is very short lived. It would be fun to make one of these events a more evenly matched fight.

Baby Krishna

Storytelling for Week 6: Vision Quest

Arjuna always seemed to find himself in this sort of predicament. On the one hand he felt that he needed to stay loyal to his brother Duryodhana who was also his king, but on the other hand he felt obligated to help the unfortunate Pandavas who had recently been exiled by Duryodhana because of his jealousy towards them. In most cases he would have picked family over some acquaintances that he had only met a few months ago, but in this particular case he did not agree with Duryodhana’s motives and he pitied the Pandavas. He knew how being exiled felt; he had been there before. So here Arjuna sat in the great forest contemplating his next move.

He had it! He would go to the sacred grounds at the base of the Himalaya Mountains to fast and pray to get in contact with the gods. The gods always know best, so he could ask them what to do and surely it would be the right decision. He packed what few possessions he had right away and began his journey.

It took him over a week to make the trip. Every day he ate less food than the day before to prepare for fasting once he arrived. Several times he spotted animals that he could have easily shot with his bow and arrow, but he did not think it was right to end a life just to eat a little bit of the body. He snacked mostly on fruits and roots. Finally he arrived at the sacred grounds where his parents had brought him as a child. It was beautiful in every direction as far as the eye could see. Nothing had changed since he had last been here.

Arjuna began to pray day in and day out. He worshiped small statues of the gods that the elders of the land had placed there long ago. For several days he did not even see another living creature, much less one of the gods. On the fifth day Arjuna was praying next to a tree at sunrise. He heard a twig snap several yards behind him. He whipped around to see a wild boar grazing in a bush. They locked eyes. Arjuna’s bow was far away at the place where he had slept and he had no weapons on him. The beast charged at him and lunged forward. Arjuna caught the boar by the tusks and threw him to the ground. They wrestled around on the ground exchanging blows for some time. As Arjuna was about to land a blow that would end the beast’s life it changed forms into a human-like figure. Arjuna recognized the face to be that of the god Shiva.

Arjuna rolled off of Shiva and knelt on the ground before him. Shiva congratulated him on the fight and presented him with the divine bow saying that he was to protect the Pandavas with it. The bow was stiff and made of oak and strung with the hair of gods. Arjuna knew that it held a lot of power. Then Shiva disappeared and Arjuna was left alone in the forest.

He immediately found his own bow and shot a squirrel with it. Then he roasted it over a fire and feasted on it. It was the best meal he had ever had. After the meal he returned to the divine bow again to admire its beauty, but to his surprise it was nothing but a stick with long grass stuck to it. He realized that the whole thing had been a delusion.

Arjuna receives the divine bow

Author's Note:

In the original version of this story Arjuna travels to the base of the Himalaya Mountains in order to get the bow knowing that he is going to protect his brothers, the Pandavas. He encounters a boar and shoots it with his bow at the same time that a hunter shoots it. They see each other and begin to fight, but the hunter eventually reveals himself as the god Shiva. He gives the bow to Arjuna and he takes the bow to be with the Pandavas.

I decided to make Arjuna and Duryodhana brothers simply to make it a more dramatic decision for Arjuna. I changed Arjuna’s reason for going to the mountains. In this story he is seeking advice from the gods on whose side to take in his dilemma. Then I had Shiva take the shape of the boar instead of the other hunter that shot the boar.  Finally, in my version of the story Arjuna never really saw Shiva or received the bow from him. He hallucinated from lack of food and upon eating again he realized this.

I chose this picture because it captures the central theme of this story. The whole mission was for Arjuna to find the gods and receive their advice. When Shiva reveals himself the entire story is brought together and the mission is completed.  

Bibliography: 

PDE Mahabharata: Arjuna and Shiva by Sister Nivedita (1914)

Week 6 Reading Diary continued: PDE Mahabharata

Arjuna and Karna by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913), Duryodhana in the Lake by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).

The battle between Arjuna and Karna is one of my favorite scenes in this story. I love the war type passages that you know are going to end in someone’s defeat, which usually makes it a big turning point in the overall story. I would like to rewrite this excerpt in one of a few ways. It could be told using characters from game of thrones. I can imagine this battle perfectly between Ygritte and Ramsay Snow. Another way to do it would be to change up the plot of the battle to make it a little bit more dramatic, which is one of my favorite ways to write for this class. It could also be written as letters home from a third party’s perspective.

Another great battle takes place between Duryodhana and Bhima. Duryodhana ran to hid under a lake once he realized that he no longer had the manpower to win the war. His hiding spot is compromised and he reveals himself. At this point the two warriors begin their epic battle. Duryodhana is said to have landed a blow to Bhima’s head that nearly ends the battle, but Bhima recovers and lands a crippling shot to Duryodhana’s knee. This is considered to be a violation of the combat laws of that day. So both Bhima and Arjuna have won their individual battles by neglecting the laws of combat, but not before being cheated by their opposition in one form or another. I like these two characters; therefor I wish that they had won more admirably. I would like to write about one of these battles being won in a more commendable fashion.

Duryodhana in the lake

Week 6 Reading Diary: PDE Mahabharata

Arjuna and Shiva by Sister Nivedita (1914), Krishna and His Army by Annie Besant (1899).

Arjuna travels to the Himalaya Mountains to fast and pray. There he slowly weans himself off of food. One day when he is praying he is charged by a wild boar and hits it with an arrow. An arrow from a huntsman also hits the boar at the same time. They argue over whom the boar belongs to and begin to fire arrows at each other for it. After Arjuna runs out of arrows he suggests wrestling and attacks the huntsman who puts his hand on Arjuna’s heart. He turns out to be Shiva who was just testing Arjuna. He was pleased with Arrjuna and gave him the divine bow. It seems like I remember hearing about native americans going on similar adventures called vision quests where they too fast. I think they get so hungry that they get delusional and start to see things. It would be fun to turn this story into more of a vision quest for Arjuna and get creative with it. There are endless possibilities for that.

Duryodhana and Arjuna both seek to find Krishna in order to secure his alliance. Duryodhana arrives at him first, but Krishna is sleeping. Then Arjuna reaches him and Krishna wakes to see Arjuna first. He agrees to help both, but lets the younger of the two (Arjuna) pick whether to have his army or his own company. Arjuna rquests the company of Krishna and Duryodhana rejoices. It could be fun to explore different reasons as to why Arjuna made his decision and how this effects the outcome of the war later on.

Arjuna Receiving the Divine Bow from Shiva

Thoughts about Comments

Most of the comments I have received talk about the readers favorite parts of the story. They have all been super nice! It stands out to me when someone asks me a question or lets me know something that I can do to improve my story. This challenges me to become a better writer and allows me to fix the story up and make it even better. This is good to keep in mind when I am commenting on other classmate's stories so that I can do the same for them. When I looked back at the comments I have made throughout the semester, many of them were positive feedback only. I will look to find things to constructively criticize in the future.

Storytelling for Week 5: The Great Fire

Prince Yudhishthira was the second oldest son of king Tutankhamun of Hastinapura. He was loved by everyone in the city because of his kind and wise nature. His less popular half brother Duryodhana was heir to the thrown. Growing up knowing that he would someday be kind had turned him rotten. As they got older Duryodhana grew jealous of Yudhishthira and feared that the people would serve him instead when the old king died.

Yudhishthira, wise as he was, understood the hatred from his brother and erred on the side of caution. One day he realized that his palace was susceptible to burning because it was made completely of wood and the furniture and tapestries were all soaked in oil. He knew that if Duryodhana were to plan something, it would be to burn him, his wife Kunti, and his children alive inside their own palace.

Yudhishthira immediately ordered to have a secret underground passage dug through the floor of his palace all the way to the forest at the edge of the city. It took weeks to complete. The night after the passage was complete the family slept deep knowing that they had a way out should anything bad happen.

Yudhishthira and Duryodhana’s palaces were separated only by a guard tower, which held the wicked guard Purochana who was on guard duty that night. Duryodhana ordered Purochana to set Yudhishthira’s palace on fire during the darkest part of the night and hurry back to the tower before anyone saw him. Purochana did just that.

Yudhishthira was woken by a bright light, which turned out to be his burning palace. He quickly woke the rest of his family and rushed them through the passage to safety. The flames from the burning palace reached fifty feet in the air; they could be seen from several miles away. There was a slight breeze that night that caused the flame to spread first to the watchtower and then to palace where Duryodhana was in a deep sleep in his bed. Both he and Purochana were burned alive.

The next morning at dawn Yudhishthira and his family returned to the lot where the three structures now lay in ashes. The fire had not spread past the palace of Duryodhana. The charred remains of both bodies were found. The king was notified of the events that had taken place in the night and Yudhishthira was named the new heir to the throne. Everyone in the city rejoiced.

Escaping the Fire

Author's Note:

In the original story Duryodhana is suspected of planning an attack such as burning down the palace where queen Kunti and her children are staying. A secret passage is dug and the family escapes before anything is even done to them. Bhima goes back through it and sets fire to the guard house and burns Purochana in it. That fire spreads to the palace with the passage and burns down too with a few visitors in it. The town takes the charred bodies to be the Kunti and her kids. They live in the forest in secret so that they will not be hunted.

I changed the story around to where Duryodhana hates Yudhishthira because he is more loved by the people of the city. Yudhishthira is married to Kunti and they live in the palace. Purochana actually lights the palace on fire, but it burns his guard tower and Duryodhana's palace. Yudhishthira and his family escape through the passage while the fire kills Duryodhana and Purochana. 

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata: The House of Fire by C. A. Kincaid (1921).

Week 5 Reading Diary continued: PDE Mahabharata

PDE Mahabharata by Sister Nivedita (1914), Donald A. Mackenzie (1913), and John Mandeville Macfie (1921).

Queen Kunti and the pandavas are in danger staying at the palace. They have been warned of this so they flee, but not before prince Bhima burns down the guardhouse with Purochana inside. When I was reading this story I thought they were building the escape passage just in case something went wrong. I imagined that they would go on living their lives normally until Purochana lit their palace on fire in the night at which point they would flee using the escape passage. That would be a fun way to rewrite the story. If I wanted to continue using the letters home writing style I could have either queen Kunti or one of the Pandavas write home.

In the forest a female rakshasa falls in love with Bhima. He does not trust her at first but eventually gives in and they get married. Then they have a son together. What if she was just trying to earn his trust so that she could have an opportunity to strike? I could do a story on this where she eventually turns on his family and eats them.

Arjuna falls in love with Subhadra who is to be married to Duryodhana. At Krishna’s advice Arjuna abducts Subhadra and takes her away. This almost caused a lot of controversy, but Krishna was able to convince her father to accept what has happened and welcome Arjuna into the family. In the reading I have done, not many kings have let someone convince them that there is a better way than their own, especially not their daughters. If king Balarama were a more stubborn man, this would have turned into a great chase and battle which would be a fun story to tell.

Bhima's Family

Week 5 Reading Diary: PDE Mahabharata

PDE Mahabharata by Sister Nivedita (1914), Donald A. Mackenzie (1913), and John Mandeville Macfie (1921).

The tale of Vyasa’s birth is very interesting. It is said that Uparichara’s semen just falls out his flying crystal car into a river below and that a fish swallows it gives birth to a boy and a girl ten months later. I could possibly switch up the type of animal that swallows the semen. The girl is beautiful, but has a fishy smell. Apparently she does not like this because she agrees to sleep with a man to get rid of it. From that Vyasa is born. This story already has so much imagination, which gives it tons of room to be altered or expanded on. Maybe I could focus more on king Uparichara and his relationship with the gods. It would be a cool story if he actually wanted to rob them of their power like they suspected of him.

Bhishma captures the three daughters of the king of Kashi in battle and takes them home to make them brides of Vichitravirya. There are several things that could be one with this story. Maybe I could focus on the story of that battle. I could have him fall in love with the princesses and run away to wed them himself. This would surely cause a lot of conflict with Vichitravirya. I really like my one of my previous stories that was written as letters home from Lakshmana to his mother. Something similar could be done here with one of the captured daughters writing home to her family about her voyage.

Bhishma abducts the three princesses

Week 4 Storytelling: Manthara's Revenge

The young Manthara was playing tag in the gardens just outside the city walls with a couple friends on a beautiful sunny day. She didn't have a worry in the world as school had just been let out for the summer, her favorite time of the year. She was "it" in a game of tag and was chasing a group of boys around when the city bells began to ring. They all stopped in their tracks. The bells only rang when something important that required the entire city's attention had happened, and that wasn't often. They ran into the main courtyard to see what the all the buzz was about. King Valarian and his son Dasharatha were standing in the middle next to a couple city guards. The guards were holding Manthara’s father.

Manthara gasped. What could this be about!? The king explained that some very valuable jewels had been stolen from his home the evening before and that a witness was claiming to have seen him do it. Manthara knew this was impossible because she had been with her father during the time the man was claiming to have seen him do this act. She ran to the front of the crowd to plead with the king. She tried to explain that this had to be a mistake, but Valarian tossed her aside. An adult man’s word was more reliable than a little girl’s. The king turned to his son and asked him what he thought should happen to the thief. He was teaching Dasharatha how to be a king. Dasharatha responded, “Thieves must be hung to make an example of." The king agreed and the deed was done. Manthara ran home and swore that one day she would get revenge on the royal family for what they had done.

She began plotting the best way to accomplish this. It would be hard to do anything because they were so well guarded. She decided that the best approach was to earn their trust so she could stay close to them and then strike when the time was right. So she earned a spot as their youngest servant. Throughout the years other servants would get old and retire until she was the royal family's longest standing servant, and certainly their most trusted.

By this time Valarian had died and Dasharatha had become king and been blessed with four sons. Dasharatha was so proud of all of his sons and loved them more than anything in the world. One son in particular, Rama, held a special place in his heart. Rama was to become the next king and this excited Dasharatha beyond words. Manthara realized this was her chance to strike. If she could ruin this passing of the crown somehow, it would break the king’s heart. She thought long and hard about how she could make this happen.

It suddenly came to her. A few years back the king had promised his wife Kaikeyi that he would grant any two of her wishes. All she had to do was convince Kaikeyi that her son should be king instead of Rama, and that banishing Rama would prevent him from attempting to take the throne. She did just that. Manthara was standing right beside Kaikeyi as she told her husband that she wished Rama be banished and her son made king. The king fell to his knees and began to weep. Suddenly Manthara felt sad, which caused her to cry as well. All these years she had imagined feeling a weight lifted off her shoulders when she finally got her revenge, but instead she felt horrible because she had learned to love the king during her time spent serving him. Never had she felt this sick in her life.

Birth of Dasharatha's Sons

Author's Note: 

In the original story Rama is set to be king. Right before the ceremony takes place, an evil servant named Manthara convinces one of king Dasharatha’s wives that Rama does not deserve the crown. The king had promised this wife long ago that he would grant any two of her wishes. At this point she uses her wishes to banish Rama for fourteen years and make her son the new king.

Nothing about Manthara’s background is stated in the text. I wanted to show how she got to be “evil.” I actually portray her as a happy young girl that gets hurt and gets set on revenge rather than evil. I changed king Aja's name to king Valarian in my story. The name Valarian seems to demand respect if you ask me, so I thought it was a more fitting name for a king.

This image of Dasharatha’s sons is crucial to the story line. Without them Manthara never would have had a way to get back at Dasharatha. They are the reason he is vulnerable.

I used this story to show that revenge doesn’t make heal our wounds. It only brings the person that wronged us down to our level of pain. In reality the only thing that can relieve her pain is for her father to be brought back to life, but obviously that cannot happen. We often think that revenge is our best way out of suffering, completely forgetting about forgiveness. Forgiveness lets us come to terms with what has happened to us. In the long run this usually makes us feel better than getting revenge does.

Bibliography: The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould (1911).

Week 4 Reading Diary continued: The Divine Archer

The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould (1911).

Hanuman has amazing jumping abilities. It would be fun to do a story on him acquiring his ability via a favor he does for the gods in his younger days. I could also show how he has used his ability for either good or bad throughout his life and how that has led him to where he is at in this story.

In this story the ocean god gives Rama the advice to build a bridge over the sea to reach Lanka because they can’t all jump like Hanuman. I could twist this story to where the ocean god does not want a bridge built over him. He could repeatedly tear it down and be a protector of Lanka so that Rama is forced to kill him in order to advance.

I could write about Rama and Sita’s twin sons Lava and Kusha. They were born in the home of Valmiki. It would be fun to twist the story to where they were actually Valmiki’s sons rather than Rama’s. Or I could tell the story of their childhood and what they do growing up until Rama comes and visits them.

I think its kind of sad that Sita asks the earth to take her as soon as she is reunited with Rama. Most of the story I was looking forward to Sita and Rama reuniting after Ravana took her away. From that point they really don’t spend much time together again. I would rewrite the story to let them grow old together in happiness.

Bridge to Lanka

Week 4 Reading Diary: The Divine Archer

The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould (1911).

When Rama successfully bends the bow of the god Shiva (and snaps it) he is threatened by the rival suitors, but they do not go into any detail about the account. I think it would be fun and interesting to expand on this account. Sita is rumored to be beautiful and is born of royalty so there were surely many men lining up to wed her. Because so little is said about it there is a lot of freedom to take it different ways. Maybe I could focus on one suitor that says something and it becomes a huge ordeal, or maybe show a few of them that say things but Rama just ignores them knowing that none of them are even worth the effort. After all he has already won her hand.

There is also not much said about time evil servant Manthara. This could be fun to expand on and there are a couple ways to do it that I can see. I do a story where she was wronged by the royal family as a kid and has been waiting her whole life to take revenge on them. I could also portray her as a good servant that was loyal in the beginning but was set off by something horrible that Rama did. Another option would be to rewrite the story of king Dasharatha killing a boy in his youth. I could twist it to where he killed the boy on purpose. Maybe the boy wronged him or Dasharatha was just a young warrior with killing in his heart.

Rama Breaking the Bow of Shiva

Week 3 Storytelling: Ravana's Story

To whom it may concern,

I am currently trapped inside my castle with my army outside making one last stand against the cruel and powerful Rama. These will surely be my last words as it is only a matter of time before his army is standing upon me. I know that from the outside it looks like I brought this upon myself, and to an extent I did. But, I did not do it for my own self-gain. I did all of this for the woman I love. I want the world to know my story.

It started a long time ago when I was a young creature. My parents died when I was three years old, so I was free to do whatever I wanted. I spent a lot of my toddler days wandering around travelling from city to city. One sunny day I met the beautiful young Sita. We instantly became friends and it became a common occurrence for us to spend our summer days playing together outside the city where she lived. I would sleep in the forest near the city wall and she would bring me food in the morning when we met up. This was the best time of my life.

One day Sita’s father spotted us together and banned us from seeing each other again. She begged him to reconsider, but he wouldn’t budge. He pulled her away from me without even allowing a goodbye. What had I done wrong? I can only guess it is because I am a rakshasa, and we are not extremely popular with humans. I walked home that day with a knot in my stomach and a crushed heart. I swore that if I ever got a chance to see her again I would.

That brings us to just a few years ago when I heard that Rama and Sita were wandering the forest. I left my kingdom with Maricha in search of them. When I discovered them, I knew I had to get Sita alone so I could talk to her. So, I convinced Maricha to take the form of a beautiful deer. This drew Rama away from Lakshmana and Sita. Maricha then used his voice to imitate Rama's and draw Lakshmana away from Sita too. I used this opportunity to approach Sita.

"Sita?"

"Who's there?"

"It's Ravana"

"Oh my gosh, I don't believe it! What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you. When I heard that you were here I knew I couldn't miss an opportunity to see you. It's been way too long."

"Oh Ravana, not a day goes by that I do not think of you. I've missed you so much!"

"You have no idea how much I miss you. Are you happy with Rama?"

"Rama treats me very well and he is an amazing guy, but my heart lies with you. I love you Ravana. We need to leave before they come back."

"I love you too Sita. This is the way."

The rest of the story is history. Because history is told by the victors of wars, I will be labeled as the beast that took Sita against her will. The story of this battle and my defeat will go down in the history books. I hope that whoever finds this note will share the truth with the world.

-Ravana

Maricha Distracting Rama

Author's Note:

In the original story Ravana is the villain and Rama is the protagonist. Ravana tricks the couple into separating and then proceeds to take Sita back to his kingdom against her will so that they can marry. Sita has never met Ravana before the kidnapping. Ravana is spotted taking her back and the word gets to Rama that they have gone to Lanka. He takes his army there and defeats Ravana after a long and grueling battle. Sita is very much in love with Rama and does not want to continue to live if they cannot be together. The story is told from a narrator’s point of view.

I made use of a note to tell the story from Ravana’s point of view. Point of view is everything and history is told by the victors of wars. Ravana may or may not have had good reasoning for what he did, but I thought someone should at least give him the benefit of the doubt.

I chose this picture because the distraction caused by the golden deer is what leads to the opportunity for Ravana to steal Sita. Without it Rama would have fought off Ravana and this story would be very different.

Bibliography: PDE Ramayana Parts C and D by Geraldine Hodgson (1903), Donald A. Mackenzie (1913), Sister Nivedita (1914), and Frederika Richardson Macdonald (1870).

Week 3 Reading Diary continued: PDE Ramayana

PDE Ramayana Part D by Geraldine Hodgson (1903), Donald A. Mackenzie (1913), Sister Nivedita (1914), and Frederika Richardson Macdonald (1870).

The whole army cannot make it to Lanka because of the gap of water. Hanuman is the only one that can cross because of his super powers. Rama asks the gods for help, but receives nothing so he begins attacking the ocean. This upsets the god of the ocean who rises up in anger. Rama is able to talk his way into getting a bridge. Rama attacks the city, and in panic Ravana tries to trick Sita into thinking that Rama is dead. He has one of his men bring in a head and bow that look identical to Rama’s and she begins to cry. He is then called to battle and the props disappear and Sita realizes what has happened. Ravanas son Indrajit is a powerful man and is severely wounding Rama’s army. I like this part of the story because we have an idea what direction the story is headed, but things are not looking good for our protagonist. We know that things will probably work out for him because we have been told that the gods put him in this situation to kill Ravana for them. After they win the war, Rama tells Sita he cannot accept her after she has lived with another man so long. She walks into a fire and returns unharmed by the gods. Rama was just testing her and she passed. I like that he does this just to make sure that she never had betrayed his trust. He then accepts her back.

Sita Tested

Week 3 Reading Diary: PDE Ramayana

PDE Ramayana Part C by Geraldine Hodgson (1903), Donald A. Mackenzie (1913), Sister Nivedita (1914), and Frederika Richardson Macdonald (1870).

We find out that Rama and Sugriva the exiled monkey king have very similar stories. Both of their wives have been taken from them and they have both been exiled from their kingdoms. Sugriva was in charge of a post at the mouth of a cave until his older brother Vali returned. Upon hearing his brother’s cry and seeing blood rush from the mouth of the cave, Sugriva assumes him to be dead and covers the mouth with a boulder to prevent the demon Vali was battling to escape. Sugriva now assuming he is the rightful heir goes home to rule his people. Little did he know that Vali conquers his enemy and escapes the cave to return home. The misunderstanding leads to Vali taking Sugriva’s wife and banishing him. Rama convinces Sugriva to challenge Vila to a fight. Vila obviously does not want to back down so they begin to fight while Rama hides in a bush. Vila has practically won the battle when Rama stands up and shoots him with the arrow that ends his life. Sugriva is appointed kind and agrees to help Rama on his quest to find Sita, but he says they must wait for the rainy season to end. Rama cannot enter any city because of his banishment so he has to wait in the woods, which he finds it hard to do. Sugriva finally sends four armies of monkeys and bears in all directions to search for Sita. One of the armies directed by Hanuman runs into Jatayu's brother Sampati who tells them where Ravana is hiding Sita. Hanuman goes to the city of Lanka alone and arrives after overcoming a couple of obstacles. He searches everywhere he thinks Sita might be held but has no luck finding her. He then goes out to a grove to think, but to his surprise he finds Sita there. He decides to watch from a distance as he can see she is guarded by Rakshasi. He then notices Ravana in a tree unsuccessfully trying to convince Sita to leave Rama and marry him. Hanuman is discovered and taken to court. Ravana lights his tail on fire as punishment for opposing him. This proves to backfire as Hanuman spreads the fire all throughout the city with Sita’s help. He then returns to Rama and Sugriva to tell them it is time to strike. All of Lanka except Ravana’s little brother Vibhishana want to fight against Rama. Vibhishana leaves the city to join Rama.

Hanuman Burning Lanka