The Princes of Ayodhya-The Ramayan Through Short Stories

The First Glimpse of Heaven

    "Wow, look at the length of the green fields!" whispered Ram, eyes caught by the beautiful agricultural beauty of Mithila, flowers blooming, men and women farming, endless rice fields occupating the area where people would take up in busier cities. Lakshman nodded along, admiring the clean blue skies, not very used to them as Ayodhya's were filled with clouds often. Vishwamitra had taken a carriage ahead of them, and they were in a seperate one.

"I wonder if anyone can join Sita's swayamvar, what do you think?" Ram tried to ask nonchalantly, stretching his arms without care. Lakshman, as always, saw right through his brother, and internally smirked, and adopted an inquisitive face.

"I'd imagine so. Why do you ask?" he wondered out loud innocently. Ram did not answer, looking out the sides of the carriage again, his entire face and neck turning red in embarrassment at being caught as Lakshman laughed silently.

As they reached the gates, a short, stout man welcomed them with a large beam and open arms, literally. He wore blindingly colorful clothes, and Lakshman's sensitive eyes practically died. His crown was large, not as large as Ram's, but still humongous, and laden with shining jewels. He wore exquisite slippers made of the finest silk, and his face was soft and puffy like a pillow. He was also known as King Janak.

"Hello! Hello!" he cried, waving them forward. "Good to see you finally, I've been hoping to meet you all for ages, but Dasharath, the hogger, won't allow you all to visit!" The princes touched his feet, and he waved them off. "Such great manners, why did I not expect that? Kaushalya would ensure that you represent your kingdom well, Kaikeyi is quite the charmer, and Sumitra is so kind, she would be appalled if you all didn't learn your manners!" He guffawed as Ram and Lakshman looked at each other in awe at how their mothers were when they weren't born. He beckoned them to follow him.

"I'll give you all a tour of my humble palace. Probably nothing compared to gold and silver, but we try to keep it natural!" Janak showed them the saplings and light green creepers, and finally took them to an abundant flower garden, which, he expressed happily, like most everything he did, was his pride and joy.

"Your flower gardens are vast, may we stay here for a while?" asked Ram, looking around in wonder at the colors, while poor Lakshman closed his eyes and walked blind as not to ruin his eyesight permanently at all the sun and shine. Janak laughed heartily. "You are the only man who appreciates them. Only my daughter cares for them, the rest of the subjects think me mad that I'm attached to them. I'll leave you all alone for a while, enjoy the flowers."

"Sita! Sita!" squealed Urmila, running towards her sister exuberantly, her feet moving so fast that they were a blur. Sita whirled around just as Urmila slipped on the freshly washed marble floor. She wasted no time getting back up, not even caring about the little scratches on her knee.

"You forgot to water the flowers today! They'll dry up and shrivel into tiny brown curls, and father will be very, very angry." Sita pouted, not wanting to look up from her book, a classic story that she had never quite gotten to amidst all of the marriage preparations. "Imagine, the lotus flowers, dead. At this rate of sun, our garden will be a graveyard in minutes, come on!" Urmila stated ominously, and Sita, very grudgingly, got up from her bed and grabbed a can of water.

"You were actually right, Urmila! The sun is going to kill all the plants. Not just the flowers, maybe even destroy some of our tree saplings." Sita looked around, picking up a tiny, blue flower and placing it in her hair gently. Urmila rolled her eyes and grasped another, bright red rose, its thorns not harming her skin.

"Ouch!" came a grunt, and Urmila looked up to see that Sita had bumped into someone. A very tall someone wearing a large golden crown, a green angavastram, and a blue dhoti. He had dark hair like the night sky, blue, lotus shaped eyes that looked cold, but warm at the same time, and a muscular frame. Most definitely a prince. And apparently one which Sita could not stop staring at.