Week 4: The Boy in the Forest (Storytelling)

I watched as Dasaratha slept. His wife, Kausalya, sat nearby. The old king shifted and tensed in his sleep. I knew he was remembering me.  The night that ended with him burning the bodies of my parents and me.

I wished, for his sake, that he didn’t have to go through losing a son. I had seen what it did to my parents. When he killed me, it had been an accident. But Rama’s exile was not one. Kaikeyi’s spite and fear had poisoned her husband’s spirit. He would be dead by morning.

I thought back to that night, so many decades before. When the king was a prince and I was just a child. That night contained many mixed memories for me. Obviously, my death and watching my parents mourn and die was not a happy occasion. However, when Indra welcomed me into the Heaven of Warriors, well that was an amazing. It wasn’t long before my parents joined me, with their eyes and bodies repaired.  I thanked Dasaratha for that every day. He could have left my parents to die slowly, wondering what had become of me. But he was a good man, one who made a mistake but tried to fix it as best he could.

Everything had changed so suddenly that night. It had been a normal day. My mother wanted water before bed. I usually don’t like going out at night, but the sun had just set and the river wasn’t far. I’d taken our water jar, and after kissing my mother and father, I promised to return shortly, I left my home for the last time. After a short walk, I knelt down and dipped the jar into the river. Branches crunched to my left and I began to stand, turning towards the sound. Before I was upright, I saw something flying at me and felt the pain through my chest. Next thing I knew I was lying in the dirt, looking up at the stars.

“Who has killed me!?” I cried out, answered only by silence. Then footsteps began coming towards me. In the moonlight stood the prince, Dasaratha, looking pale and shaking.

He stared for a moment, as his face turned a sickly shade of green and tears filled his eyes. He didn’t speak, but stood, staring at what he had done to me. “Prince Dasaratha, have I wronged you in some way that made you want me dead? My parents will now die too. They are blind and sick, unable to move. They have never hurt anyone. Take out the arrow you have killed me with.” Even as I spoke I could feel my life slipping away.

The prince approached me, leaning down to examine the wound. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was bad. “If I take it out,” he said slowly, “You will die. I’ll leave it in and go find a doctor.”

He began to stand but I grabbed his wrist with the last of my strength. “I’m not afraid of death. I don’t curse you, it was an accident. But please release me. It’s too painful.” Dasaratha did as I asked and pulled out the arrow.

 Soon I was soaring to heaven, being welcomed by Indra. “Child,” the god said, “You have died a warrior’s death.  Come and rest now.” I watched as the prince found my parents, told them what he’d done and carried them to my body. They saw me in the sky one last time before they died as well.

I knew that Dasaratha’s mistake would cost him dearly. That’s how everything works. You get returned what you give. But as I watch him wake and tell Kausalya my story, it feels unfair that a mistake would be answered by maliciously exiling the son he loved so dearly.

Dasharatha and the Blind Boy's Family. Wikimedia.

Author's Note: I kept the story mostly the same, but changed it to the perspective to that of the boy, watching from heaven as Dasaratha lost Rama and remembered that night in the forest. Besides the point of view change, most of the original story was kept the same, with only some wording differences. I decided to expand beyond just the actual event when Dasaratha accidentally kills the boy to connect it to Rama's exile and Dasaratha's reaction. Because the boy and the parents were so understanding of Dasaratha's mistake, I thought that when the karma came back to Dasaratha, the boy and his parents would be sympathetic to Dasaratha's situation.

One reason I decided to use this story was because I thought the part in the story when Dasaratha sees the boy's soul's path going to heaven and being accepted into the heaven of heroes was a really cool touch to the story. I also chose this story because it is a great example of how karma works in Indian tradition. Lastly, it also explains Dasaratha's behavior after Rama is exiled, which in Naryayan's story, without the inclusion of the sotry of the Boy in the Forest, seemed a little overly dramatic.

Bibiography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. P. 105-109