(P) The Story of Rama and Sita
A long, long time ago there lived in India a prince called Rama. His kingdom was Koshala and the capital city was called Ayodhya. Rama had three brothers. His favourite was called Lakshman. When he grew up, Rama married the most beautiful princess, named Sita.
By trickery, Rama was sent into the forest. Sita loved Rama so much, that she went with him. She wanted to be with Rama even if she had to be poor. Before going, she gave away all her golden jewellery and her beautiful sarees. Lakshman also decided to leave the palace and to go with Rama and Sita.
While in the forest, the wicked king, Ravana, kidnapped Sita. Ravana had ten heads. He wasn’t really very clever, even with ten heads. He was actually very foolish. Ravana placed Sita on his magical chariot, which was pulled by asses. He flew across the sea to his city, called Lanka.
Rama was very upset, but Lakshman helped his brother to be brave. Together they searched for Sita, but couldn’t find her anywhere. Then, the two brothers met a monkey warrior called Hanuman. He was very strong and could jump huge, huge distances. Hanuman collected an army of bears and monkeys and they looked for Sita all over India.
On the south coast, a vulture told Hanuman that he has seen Ravana’s chariot flying through the sky towards Lanka. Hanuman climbed a mountain and jumped all the way to the island. There, he found Sita, weeping beneath a tree. She was very sad, missing Rama. Hanuman was spotted by Ravana’s soldiers, who chased and captured him. The evil king set fire to the monkey’s tale. But Hanuman escaped, and jumping everywhere, burned Lanka to the ground.
Hanuman jumped all the way back to Rama, on the other side of the ocean. He gave Rama the good news, that he had found Sita! The joyful monkeys waved their tails. They picked up stones and boulders and flung them in the ocean, shouting “Rama, Rama”. By magic, the stones floated making a bridge all the way to Lanka.
The monkey army marched over the bridge. Upon reaching Lanka, they fought with Ravana’s soldiers, who were very ugly and ferocious, and had sharp swords, spears and axes. The monkeys threw stones and trees. They defeated Ravana’s army. In the end, Rama shot a special arrow at Ravana and killed him.
Rama and Sita returned to Ayodhya. Lakshman and Hanuman and the army of monkeys marched with them. It was the night of the new moon, so it was pitch dark. Therefore, to light up the way, the citizens decorated the road and their houses with millions of lamps, called divas.
Rama ruled for thousands if years. While he was king, everyone was peaceful and contented.