The Scion of Ikshvaku

Author -> Amish Status -> In Progress | Pending

Part 1:¶

3400 BCE somewhere near the Godavari River, India.
Abduction
Ram Lakshman Hunting deer
Sita screams
Jatayu dead

Part 2:¶

90 % profits to kingdom deal
The war
Dasharath’s loss
The baby’s birth
Dashrath’s hatred for Ram

Part 3:¶

Guru Vashishtha’s visit to palace
Ram and his brothers (Bharat, Lakshman, Shatrughna’s) departure for gurukul
Raw - over idealistic prince who believed in laws
Bharat - Practical and real who believed practicality over laws
Shatrughna - The younger prince who was the most knowledged
Lakshman - With immense strength, the one who believed blindly in his older cousin brother Ram

Part 4:¶

This was his fifth girlfriend in the last 13 years. Her name was Radhika. She looked like a celestial maiden from the skies.
Bharat had full trust on her that she would break the law of the forest people for him and marry outside their community.
On this, Ram congratulated Bharat because he saw how much Bharat liked Radhika, Bharat on the other hand taunted Ram that he also wanted to congratulate Ram, and asked whether he liked any girl in Ayodhya or anywhere?
To this, Ram replied that he found nobody worth it. He didn’t want an immature girl but a woman. Love was secondary for him, he wanted someone whom he could respect.
‘A relationship is not just for fun, it is also about trust and the knowledge that you can depend on your partner. Relationships based on passion and excitement do not last.’
‘I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want a woman who is better than I am; a woman who will compel me to bow my head in admiration.’

Part 5¶

Princes came back to Ayodhya after 14 years of education
Ram became the chief of Police and administered strict laws that he thought were necessary for people.
He even made sure that the laws applied to himself again and again, once, he had came to Ayodhya after dusk, and even though the guards opened the gates Ram had declined and decided to sleep outside the city as it was the law that the gates shouldn’t open after dusk.
Ram was hater even more by the elites due to his equal for all laws, previously they had only blamed him for Dasharatha’s loss but now the hatred was personal, but this just gave common people more reason to love Ram
He was given the title - ‘Law Giver’ by the people

Part 6¶

Dasharatha was still a man who loved royal hunts, royal hunts were occassions which lasted several weeks.
On one such occassion, while going through the forest. The hunting party had came to a halt for some reasons. Dasharatha, Lakshman and Ram sat on an elephant’s back which was designed specially for Dasharatha.
There was a tiger which had been hunted in front and that’s why the entourage had came to a stop.
Suddenly, as everyone was talking about the hunt, Ram yelled for his father and jumped towards his side, he had spotted a leopard who had perfectly planned the jump at Dasharath. But the timing of Ram was perfect as he hit the Leopard, but due to the sheer forces of their bodies, missed and hit in the leopards leg instead of his chest.
The leopard and Ram fell on the ground and dug its teeth deep into the triceps of Ram, Ram yelled in agony.
Lakshman came after them and thrust his knife into the eye of the leopard and killed him, Ram lay on the ground covered in the blood oozing from his tricep and the blood from the leopard.
Dasharatha shouted at all his soldiers to rush back to the camp

Part 7¶

Ram awoke and saw the suryavanshi symbol above him, he sat up, though in pain.
His father commanded him to lay down. Ram saw that his father was looking different this time, his eyes were sparkling, there was the metallic sternness back in his voice. His father was looking like what Ram’s mother had told him his father was before Ram was born.
Dasharatha asked Ram, why had he saved him even though Dasharatha had hated and blamed Ram for his whole life
To which Ram simply replied - ‘It was his Dharma’. His father was stunned by his answer but it was the first real conversation he and his eldest son were having.

Part 8¶

The next day king Dasharatha had again came to Ram
There he stood on the door, looking at Ram who was awake now, and he commanded Ram to kneel.
Ram was surprised, and in utter disbelief.
Dasharatha looked at Ram again and repeated his command
To which Ram somehow stood up walked towards his father and bent on his one knee. He looked on the ground, asserting sheer self control, not letting a single drop of tear fall on the ground.
Then, Dasharatha said the words, ‘Rise, Ram Chandra, Protector of Raghu Clan’, everyone in the court gasped hearing this. They didn’t believe what had happened.

Part 9¶

As guru Vashishtha Ram’s guru had warned Ram, someone very powerful indeed had came to ask for Ram, he was guru Vishvamitra. The chief of Malyaputra tribe, the decendants of the previous Vishnu, Parshu Ram.
Vishwamitra was asking for Ram and Lakshman to come with him.
A week later, Vishwamitra had Ram and Lakshman standing aboard the Malyaputra ship which was sailing down the river Sharyu.
They visited far lands where previously lord Parshu Ram had been, they did yagna’s there and helped people, and during the journey, they reached Mithila on the way back to Ayodhya.
Due to the river near Mithila changing its path, Mithila had lost its port and the sub-traders sent by Raavana, and now the once majestic city was running low on funds.
The king of Mithila, king Janak, who would have been one of the world’s finest saints if it was what he had done, but fate had made him the king, still he had done well in making sure that Mithila was the knowledge capital of the Sapta Sandhu.
King Janak had two daughters, his biological daughter was called ‘Urmila’ and the other one, his adopted daughter was called Sita.
Sita was the prime minister of king Janak’s empire, and she was the one who was coming to escort Vishwamitra and his convoy to the city.
While going to the meeting point where the party would meet Sita, Arishtanemi mentioned that Bharat had been to a nearby kingdom previously, perhaps for marriange alliance. To which Lakshman had replied that, why would a kingdom like Ayodhya go to a small nearby kingdom for political alliance,
On this Arishthanemi had replied that, a king can have multiple wives, thus mutiple political alliances.
Hearing this, Lakshman looked at Ram, and Arishtanemi asked Ram for his thoughts on the topic.

Part 10¶

Lakshman butted in and answered, “Ram dada believes marriage is sacred. It shouldn’t be treated as a political alliance”
Arishtanemi laughed and said, That was the way in the ancient world, no one believes in those values any more
“I am not a fan of all the ancient traditions but some practices from the past are worth reviving. One of them is looking upon marriage as a sacred connection between two souls; not as a political alliance between two power centres.”

Part 11¶

About a week later, they finally reached Mithilian territory, crossing the forest that surrounded mithila, they came across a huge moat which was now used for drawing water in instead of military purposes.
On the gate of the Mithila City’s fort was a huge Image of Saraswati Mata, The goddess of Knowledge carved on the wall, and below it was this simple couplet in sanskrit:

Looking at this Ram smiled, a city solely dedicated to Knowledge.
Once they entered the city gates, they came across a field which stretched as long as they could see on both their sides, and about a kilometer in their front.
It was a field used for farming, but also a perfect way to trap enemies if they somehow breached the first wall, they would be trapped between two walls.
As they crossed the second gate, they come to a halt, there was no way ahead, and on all their sides seemed what were like houses but 4 floors high.
Arishtanemi gestured them to climb up the houses using the stairs, Ram and Lakshman obliged.
once they climbed up, they were astonished by what they were seeing, on the rooftop of the houses was a nicely paved road, the houses were perfectly designed so that their roofs could be treated like roads.
On the sidewalks of the roads were trapdoor for people to get into the houses.
This place, was called the beequarters based on its beehive like structure. As Ram and Lakshman were to travel .
After staying there for a few days, Vishvamitra told Ram that he had given Ram’s name for the Swayamvar of Sita. To which Ram replied that he had no interests in political marriages, and he didn’t have his father’s permission.
Vishvamitra cunningly replied that it was a law that a father, mother or a guru could decide who the child had to marry, and Vishvamitra was his father’s thus his guru.
Ram had no option but to oblige. To clear his head he and Lakshman went in the city for a walk.
As they came near a crossing, they heard someone yell, ‘Stop Princess Sita, hand over that boy to us!”

Part 12¶

There was a crowd standing on one side, and a lady, protecting a little boy on the other side.
A man from the crowd warned sita to give the boy to them, the boy was a thief. Sita didn’t show a sign of nervousness even though there was such a big crowd against her. She looked at the crowd and said the boy would be brought to justice, but by the law and not by you all.
If anyone interferes they would also have to face the law.
A man rushed ahead at Sita, Sita picked a bamboo nearby, dodged the man, and swung the bamboo with all force at his leg. The man fell on his back, and the crowd took a step backwards.
Sita called for her helpers to take the injured man to the hospital and to take the boy to the jail for his punishment for stealing.
Ram was astound at seeing her. It was as if the whole universe had garnered all its talents into creating a feminine face - of delicate beauty and ferocious will.
Sita held the boy’s hand started walking briskly towards Ram and Lakshman as they were standing in the way.
Ram was too mesmerised to move. Almost as if it was beyond his control, Ram bowed his head.
Lakshman held his breath as his mouth fell open. He had never thought he’d see this day; after all, which woman would inspire the admiration of a man such as his brother? That love would slam into a heart that had only known obedience to, and strict control of, his mind? That a man whose mission was to raise every person’s head with pride and purpose would find comfort in bowing to another?

Part 13¶

It had been five days, there were two days left for the Swayamvar, Lakshman came in the room of the beehive, where Ram was, grabbed his hand and asked him to come to the roof. Just outside the gates of the Mithilian fort were standing about ten thousand men. This was not an army, from their uniform, they were the bodyguard corps of the king of Lanka, Raavan.
Lakshman wanted to leave knowing that the lives of his and his beloved brother might be in danger. It was an unprecedented action by Raavana, not even Vishvamitra had known that Raavana was coming.
Ram, was calm as always, but on the inside, he was burning with anger, which even he knew was not rational, but rationality was a concept unknown to the little boy within Ram, the little boy who knew, that all the reason for hatred from his family was because Raavana had won the war.
Ram decided to stay for the Swayamvar at the requests of Arishtnemi.
A day before the Swayamwar, Sita came to meet Ram along with her sister Urmila. As they entered the beehive room in which Ram was, Lakshman saw Urmila for the first time, she was much fair looking than Sita, A princess aware of her beauty unlike her elder sister.
Sita talked to Ram about her Swayamwar, and asked him for his views on marriage. She was impresssed by Ram’s answers. She asked Ram for his shooting skills as those would be required for the Swayamwar. Ram let a smile through as he was confident about his archery skills.

The Day of The Swayamwar¶

The Swayamwar was to be held in the hall of Dharma, the royal hall wasn’t the biggest one, because the king Janak had donated the largest hall to the saints, and it was called the hall of Dharma.
As Vishvamitra was introducing the rules of the swayamvar to everyone, Raavan and 15 of his soldiers came in disturbing the whole situation
Then Raavan came forward to pick the bow, but Vishvamitra had interrupted him saying that Raavan wasn’t the first one to go for the Swayamwar but Ram from Ayodhya was.
Feeling extremely insulted at this, Raavana strung the bow, aimed an arrow at Vishvamitra and shot behind at the statue of King Mithi, the founder of Mithila. But no one from Mithila dared to object to Raavana.
Raavan then threw the bow back, and left with his troops. The man who was with Raavana unstrung the bow and lifted it and touched it as if apologising to it, as it was Pinaka, the bow of the previous Mahadev.
Vishvamitra claimed everyone’s attention and asked the competition to be started yet again.
Ram rose from his chair and walked towards the Pinaka. He bowed with folded hands, and whispered the chant, Om Rudraya Namah.
he strung the bow and shot the arrow straight at the target, the arrow hit the target straight in the center.
Ram’s mind reclaimed its awareness of the surroundings as his eyes continued to study the target ; he smiled. not because he hit the target, He had, in fact, earned a sense of completion of his being, with that shot. From this moment on, he was no longer alone.
Following afternoon Ram and Sita had married
Sita had asked Urmila and Lakshman’s wedding to be done at the same time as well.
Surprisingly for Ram, Lakshman had agreed to this at once.
They were eating lunch after dinner