The Princes of Ayodhya-The Ramayan Through Short Stories

The Bridge Between Two Worlds

This is truly one of the most famous moments in the Ramayan. I did not think I'd write long enough to write this. But I did. Here is this legendary chapter. Hopefully I did it justice. 

Astonished silence filled the beach as the monkeys and the bears watched Ram hold the bow up. The normally peaceful Ram, whom anger never touched. The normally graceful Ram, who felt regretful at killing anyone or anything. The normally careful Ram, now ready to dry up the very ocean, kill millions of fish, plants, creatures, so that he could cross to Lanka. Was it possible that this was the same Ram that they all knew? No one thought so.

The silence was painfully loud, the pleasant sloshing of the waves innocent and misplaced, the heavy breaths that Ram exhaled the only sound that rang in everyone's ears. "Five," he thundered. "Four." Angad and Sugriv exchanged a look. "Three." Neel bit his nails nervously. "Two." Jambavan only watched, folding his hands together and angling his head towards the ground, seemingly already mourning for the aquatic life. "One." Lakshman looked forward, crossing his arms.

But right as Ram pulled the arrow back, a wall rose from the ocean. The crystal clear cascading water allowed a glorious sight to be seen-fish and turtles and crabs and crustaceans, all swimming about in the large, stationary wave, as if nothing was happening. The wall of water did not recede like a normal wave would; instead, it stayed there as Ram looked up, pulling to arrow back from the bow and exhaling.

"Please don't dry up the ocean-" Lord Varun's voice, as he stood positioned, fully made of water, on top of his mini fountain, was soothing and flowing, just like the seas he guided. It also had a silky undertone to it; an uncomfortable one, that made one feel as if his mood could change within moments, within minutes, just like the choppiness of the waves in the ocean. "Please don't. There are thousands, maybe millions, of creatures here that depend upon the water to live. It would be a massacre."

Ram swallowed and stepped back, setting his bow and arrow aside, his gaze piercing into the eyes of Varun. But instead of again threatening the God, Ram kneeled down and joined his hands together. "Hello, Lord of the Sea. My name is Ram, Yuvraj of Kosala. I am stuck in a predicament. Ravan, Raja of Lanka, has abducted my wife and has taken her to his kingdom of Lanka. I seek a way to bring her back, and crossing this ocean is the only way that I have found. I seek a way."

Varun hummed. "Yes, I can sense that." He took in a deep breath and exhaled, and Ram just watched him. "I cannot divide the oceans, sadly." Ram looked down, exhaling. "However-" The entire army seemed to perk up, some even stood up to better hear what the God had to say to them. "-You have a monkey in your army, Nal-" A collective head turning was angled towards Nal, whom Neel nudged teasingly. "-who can make rocks float on the water."

Varun paused once more, and while that happened, the fish and turtles and creatures of all sorts drifted away from the fountain underneath him. "Remember one thing, Rajkumar Ram, Yuvraj of Ayodhya. Dharma always wins, eventually." Angad exhaled. "And no matter what hardships you go through, remember that it will win at some point." Lakshman swallowed. "And one more thing! Your name is a wonder. Varun is terrible compared to Ram. Not fair."

And with that and nothing more, Varun, God of the Seas, Oceans, and maybe even a couple rivers here and there (hey, he didn't discriminate!), disappeared back into the ocean, dissolving into the dark black waters of the Indian Ocean and leaving Lakshman with a bad taste in his mouth. But Lakshman just shook his head and perked his ears up to listen to the speech his bhaiyya was not very predictably about to give. He was not mistaken.

"Nal-come forward." Ram began gently, and Nal paced forward with a great big grin, tired of having Neel get all the attention for all his stories. "You'll be at the end of the chain. The other vanars will hand you the rocks and you can place them on the water. This way, we can build a bridge to Lanka." ram stared into the distance. "I don't know what he meant by my name being great though. Gods always speak so cryptically, but their every word is important, isn't that so Lakshman?" Lakshman nodded along, thinking that Ram wasn't so apart from this description of a so-called God.