Week 3 Story: Shurpanakha's Plan
Story: Ravana's wife Mandodari, who was a a double of Parvati, was a vegetarian however his sister, Shurpanakha was a carnivore. Ravana didn't think that this would be an issue as one typically would however, his sister Shurpanakha had the intentions of using this difference in her favor to get what she wants. One day, Mandodari had invited his sister in law Shurpanakha and her husband Vidyutjiva over for what she thought would be a nice family dinner. Shurpanakha had a special request for what she wanted to eat for dinner which was meat. Mandodari did not eat meat so she refused to have meat for dinner which Shurpanakha knew was going to be the case which was why she requested meat in the first place. Shurpanakha got angry that she was the guest and Mandodari would not give her what she wants so she was furious at both Mandodari and Ravana. This caused her to yell to her husband Vidyutjiva to Swallow Ravana. Vidyutjiva listened to his wife and did as she asked and swallowed his brother in law. Ravana shouted from the inside of Vidyutjiva's stomach "Help me, Shurpanakha!" Shurpanakha wasn't going to help Ravana since she was the one to tell her husband to swallow him out of anger. Ravana knew he wasn't going to get help unless he made a deal with Shurpanakha so he offered her son to be his heir and that he will find her a new husband. After hearing this Shurpanakha rushed to open her husbands mouth to rescue Ravana. Her plan worked exactly how she wanted it to and she got which she wanted in the beginning which was the heir. Her husband Vidyutjiva died afterwards and Shurpanakha blames it on Ravana to make him feel some sort of guilt although it was all apart of her plan.
Author's Note: I used the Tiny Tale "Shurpanakha and Mandodari" for the source of this story. I did not really change the plot of the story but changed it to look like Shurpanakha had a plan. I added a lot more details to make the story a little longer but essentially use the original story as a foundation and built on that.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Laura Gibbs, Tiny Tales from The Ramayana
Hi Sarah! I liked your story, and it made me think about how you could adapt it to modern times. There has been a lot of interest in veganism recently, so it would be really interesting to see how the original tale would play out if you changed the setting to 2021 and had it involve a vegan Mandodari! However, I do like how you added the element of premeditation to the original Tiny Tale; it makes Shurpanakha seem even more cunning!
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah! I like how you made it seem more vindictive than originally the plot was! Like this was premeditated, as someone who doesn't eat much meat (I eat chicken but that's it) I can also relate to this haha. A lot of times people get upset with me on my inability to eat red meat (I am allergic) and so it seems inconvenient to them, but they do not threaten to eat me so there's a big difference there haha. Also reading this story in the actual Ramayana was very confusing because I did not understand why they decided to eat her for not cooking meat, but I guess they must've just been hungry.
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