Week 3 Storytelling: Ravana vs. Jatayu

Ravana let out a triumphant cry as he lifted the very ground that Sita stood on.

“At last!” he cried, “My plan has worked perfectly!”

He placed Sita and the slab of Earth into his chariot and hurriedly sped away before anyone could follow him.

“You demon!” Sita exclaimed as she struggled mightily to escape the chariot but to no avail. “You will pay for this,” Sita said unconvincingly as she grew tired of trying to find a route of escape.

Ravana just looked at her and laughed mightily, amused at Sita’s insignificant blabbering. Just as Ravana thought he was in the clear and no one had noticed, a big ball of wings, talons, and feathers rammed into his face, knocking all the air out of him.

It was Jatayu, the magnificent eagle, here to save the day! Jatayu took a moment to gather himself, as he had not anticipated the strength of Ravana, and readied himself for another flurry of attacks. Ravana, still trying to recover from the first hit, looked up just in time to witness Jatayu ram into him once again, this time hitting his chest! Ravana collapsed onto the ground, looking as he was defeated.

“Surrender Sita now and I will let you go on your way with no additional harm,” Jatayu commanded in a cold, harsh tone, “If you do not, you will not live to see your beloved wife and Kingdom”.

Ravana stood up and gave Jatayu an amused look.

“That’s it?” he asked Jatayu, as if amused. “Surely you can do better than that.” “Stay out of the way or I will crush you,” threatened Ravana.

“I warned you,” Jatayu said as he readied himself for battle. He rushed at Ravana, but this time Ravana was ready. He caught Jatayu in one swift movement and slammed him onto the ground with ease. Jatayu, not expecting Ravana to be so quick, was crushed into the ground. He could taste the dirt and feel the bruises that were sure to reveal themselves soon.

Ravana laughed again and looked at Sita. “See what you have done? You have led this poor, old bird to his undeniable death.” He then proceeded to stomp on poor Jatayu until his words were barely coherent.

“I will finish him off now and this is all your fault Sita!” he exclaimed.

Ravana grabbed his sword and pierced through Jatayu’s heart. Jatayu was dead before Ravana could pull the sword out.

Ravana looks at Sita with a devilish look in his eyes and says, “Now you know what happens to people who try and cross me”.

Sita stares at Jatayu horrified and faints while Ravana hops into his chariot and continues his journey to Lanka.

Ravana defeats Jatayu; Wikipedia

Author's Note: In this portion of the Ramayana, Sita has sent Rama into the woods to find a magnificent deer and kill it. When Rama finished the job, the deer lets out a scream that sound like Rama’s voice which deeply terrifies Sita. At this point, Ravana’s plan has succeeded and he has Sita away from Rama so he can abduct her. Rama realizes this and immediately goes back to find Sita. Ravana proceeds to take Sita in his chariot but Jatayu, a magnificent bird, puts up a valiant fight in trying to stop Ravana from taking Sita.

I didn’t’ really change up any of the story. I mainly just imagined a more detailed battle scene and elaborated on that. I described the battle scene in greater detail and added some dialogue that I felt was appropriate at that time.

I chose this story to write about because whenever I was reading the original story I was hoping there would be more details to the battle. It was an interesting development in the Ramayana and I felt like there could have been more action and more detail to the battle.

I feel like the image I used basically describes the battle. Jatayu put up a valiant fight but stood no chance to Ravana.