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).