Playing Rakshasa's Advocate UPDATED

Now this is not too serious. I personally think the serial should end soon without further dragging and strange script changes. However that is my serious opinion.

My mischievous side is thinking of something else. We all know how the Sagars love to drag stories that shouldn't be stretched too long (PRC was a prominent example of this and now Ramayan has been stretched out of shape with Jataka Tales and some regional variations.😆)

So, playing Devil's Rakshasa's Advocate just for fun 😈, here are some ideas and stories from other versions of the epic that Sagars could use to drag this serial on and on and on and on..... 😉

• The most obvious way of dragging the story is the Ashwamedha Yagya. There are many different stories and variants about the horse wandering from one kingdom to another. There is enough material here for the Sagars to literally drag the story of the wandering horse for several months before the climactic encounter between Ram and his sons. With hundreds of different versions of the Ramayan out there the possibilities are limitless.

• Tattvasamgraha Ramayana: Ram is informed by the rishis that there is a 100 headed Ravan who lives "beyond the seven seas" along with an asura called Raktabindhu. This Ravana has a boon that he cannot be killed any man. Sita then says that she wants to kill him. Ram agrees and sends her with Hanuman and other vanaras in the Pushpak Viman. Hanuman takes on the forms of Narasimha, Haygreeva and Garuda while Sita transforms into an eight-armed goddess and ultimately kills the 100-headed Ravan.

Clearly there is enough potential here to spend more than a week's worth of episodes given the slow pacing that Sagars are experts at.

• Ananda Ramayan: Again we have a 100-headed Ravan who lives in Mayapura who, along with Poundrak (son of Nikumbha) defeats Vibhishan and drives him out of Lanka. Vibhishan asks for Ram's help and he goes to Lanka to wage war. Unfortunately Ram is defeated in battle and Sita kills both Poundrak and the 100-headed Ravan.

• Ananda Ramayan: Vibhishan is driven out of Lanka (again!) by Mulakasura, Kumbhakarna's son after a 6 month long war. Ram takes Sugreev's soldiers and goes to Lanka where he fights Mulakasura for 7 days. At this point Brahma reveals that Mulakasura cannot be killed by a man due his boon. However he had been cursed by a rishi that he will be killed by Sita. Ram then tells Garuda to bring Sita to the battlefield where she transforms into Chandi, fights Mulakasura for 7 days and kills him.

There are also other smaller things that can be found in the Ananda Ramayan such as Ram bringing Sumantra back from the dead, Ram's promise to some apsaras, four brahmin women and 16,000 women that he will fulfill their wishes and marry them in his incarnation as Shri Krishna, etc . They've already taken some elements from this text so why not some more?

• Adbhuta Ramayan (Sanskrit version): And we go into even stranger territory. One day, Sita reveals to the assembled rishis that there is actually a senior and more powerful 1000 headed Ravan who lives on the island of Puskar. This Ravan was so powerful that he played with planets as if they were balls. Hearing this, Ram declares war on him and invades Puskar with his army. Unfortunately, this Ravan proved too powerful and killed all of Ram's soldiers and Ram himself faints due to exhaustion. Sita, who was with him, then decides to take things into her own hands. She transforms into Kali and starts fighting Ravan. Powerful matrikas emanate from her body and help her fight Ravan's army. Eventually she defeats him. Ram recites the thousand names of Sita and prays for her to go back into her normal form which she does.

There is a variation of this story: Ram boasted that he could easily defeat the 1000-headed Ravan just like he defeated the 10-headed Ravan. Sita was doubtful. Eventually Ram is defeated in battle and wept at his situation while Sita takes on the form of Kali to fight the 1000 headed Ravan. They fight for 10 years until Sita finally kills him, drinks his blood and cuts off his limbs and throws them around. She starts dancing with joy. The gods request Shiva to stop her and he throws himself at her feet. Then she stops and goes back to her form of Sita and rejoins Ram.

• I cannot recall the source for this but I did read this a long time ago: Ravan had a son, Saharasmuharavan who was a child when Ram killed his father. When he grew up, he obtained a boon from Brahma that only a truly chaste woman would be able to kill him. Then he attacked Vibhishan in Lanka and Sugreev in Kishkindha. Hearing this, Ram started preparations for war. Sahasramukharavan arrived in Kosala and started heading for Ayodhya to attack Ram himself. No one could stop him, not even Ram and his entire army. When the fact about Brahma's boon is revealed, Ayodhya's women are asked to go to the battlefield and fight this Ravan. As it turns out, not a single woman in Ayodhya was chaste enough to defeat the powerful enemy. Ram realized that only Sita could save them at this point. However, he was worried that Sita would not voluntarily come to his aid since he had banished her. So he instructed Hanuman to lie to Sita that he (Ram) was dying. Naturally Sita was extremely alarmed on hearing this and rushed to Ayodhya. Just outside the city, Sahasramukharavan refused to let her pass.Sita was outraged and she picked up a blade of glass, transformed it into a Shaktika missile using the power of her chastity and threw it at Ravan's heart. He died on the spot. Ram and rest of the people of Ayodhya came out, cheering for Sita who then realized that Hanuman had lied to her about Ram's health. She was angry and she cursed Hanuman that, just as his lie made her feel the pain of separation from Ram. he (Hanuman) would outlive them all and feel the true pain of separation from his Lord. After this she implored Mother Earth to take her into her abode.
  

In the interests of dragging the serial, I think the Sagars can take all these stories of 100 and 1000 headed Ravans, mix them up, add their own masala and produce a tasty khichdi of many headed Ravans. 😆

• There is actually scope for extending the serial beyond Sita's descent into the Earth. According to two Assamese texts, the Patali Kanda by Dvija Panchanana and the Adbhuta Ramayana by Raghunatha Mahanta (not to be confused with a Sanskrit text also called Adbhuta Ramayana), after her descent Sita resides in Patala as Vratesvari Devi. She misses her sons terribly and eventually sends one or more nagas to abduct them and bring them to her. Naturally, Ram is worried about his children and Hanuman is sent to bring them back. He descends into Patala and engages in a number of adventures in his efforts to find them. I believe he even fights the nagas (I will have to check the books to confirm this). He also changes into several different forms. At one point he even transforms into a corpse to lure Sita out and convince her that he means no harm. Sita makes one final effort to defeat Hanuman by creating many doubles of herself. Hanuman fails to recognize the real Sita and threatens to burn himself. This causes Sita to finally relent and reveal herself. She returns her sons to Hanuman. In at least one of these versions Sita herself also returns to Ram.

• There is a story about Ram's ring which can be found in many regional variations. The gist of the story is this: soon after Sita's descent into the Earth Ram drops his signet rin in a hole in the ground and asks Hanuman to fetch it. Hanuman descends into the Earth to look for the ring and eventually reaches Nag Lok where he found a vast assortment of rings, each one identical to Rama's signet ring. These were being guarded by Nagas who reveal to Hanuman that these rings all belong to Rama. Time is cyclical in nature and whenver the wheel of time comes around to the Treta Yuga there is an incarnation of Ram. And whenever the end of an incarnation of Ram approaches, he lets his ring fall into Nag Lok and Hanuman is sent after it. This folktale came about to acknoledge the staggering number of variants of the Ramayan. You can see the potential here for the Sagars to drag the serial. When the Nagas tell Hanuman about the rings, the Sagars can start showing us glimpses into the other iterations of the Ram incarnation using variants from other texts. This can be a mini-serial on its own. 😉

• By means of a series of retroactive flashbacks, short stories of Ram, Sita and Hanuman can be shown: Ram and Sita get into a humorous argument (nothing serious!) over which of them receives more devotion from Hanuman who avoids the issue by saying his devotion is to "Sita Ram". To test him, Sita asks him to fetch some water while Ram wants him to fan him. Hanuman expands his arms and completes both tasks simultaneously thus satisfying them both. There is a Kutch oral tale in which Hanuman shows up in Ram's court with a woman on his shoulder. He says that the woman is "Mother Fate" and he has arrested her and brought her to court to ask her why she wrote such injustice in Sita's fate. Her replies don't satisfy Hanuman and he starts beating her. Then she presents him with a conundrum: who wrote that she would be mistreated by Hanuman in this manner? This calms Hanuman and he apologised to the goddess. There are many such tales that can be included to keep on dragging the serial forever,
  

• If I am not mistaken, this is from the Kathasaritsagara: some rishis at Valmiki's ashram being to doubt her since her husband had exiled her. Sita tells them that they may test her in any way they like to confirm her innocence. The rishis tell her about a lake where another woman, also wrongly driven out by her husband, had been helped by Mother Earth. They ask Sita to go that lake and see if something like that happens. Sita goes there and calls on Mother Earth to appear and carry her across the lake as a sign of her innocence. Mother Earth grants her prayers. The rishis are convinced that she is innocent and begin to blame Ram for her wrongful banishment. She stops them from saying anything bad about her husband.
  

• The story of Hanuman composing a Ramayan. There are many variants but the gist is this: Ram becomes very withdrawn after Sita's banishment and keeps to himself, always depressed. Hanuman finds Ayodhya too empty and depressing in such a situation and he begins spending a lot of time on a particular mountain where there are many crystalline stone slabs. Hanuman starts to inscribe Ram's story in Sanskrit on these slabs with his fingernails. Many years go by and Hanuman becomes oblivious to the pasage of time. Meanwhile, Valmiki has completed his own version of the epic and one day he is informed about Hanuman's version. Out of curiosity, he asks Hanuman to show it to him. Hanuman carries Valmiki to the top of the mountain and shows him the stone slabs spanning the cliffs with the Ramayan written all over them. Valmiki goes all over the mountain, reading the epic and getting overwhelmed with emotion. Finally he reaches the end and goes silent and a bit sad. Hanuman asks him why he is sad and whether there are any faults in his poetry. Valmiki says that Hanuman's Ramayan is glorious and unequaled. Then he adds that , once people hear this Ramayan they will never want to listen to his one. Hanuman is momentarily shocked and then he smiles. He says it is a small issue and Valmiki shouldn't be bothered by it. Then he puts all of the stone slabs on one his shoulders and carries Valmiki on the other. He flies over the ocean and drops the slabs into the water, offering them to Ram. Hanuman's Ramayan is lost forever. Valmiki is ashamed and feels guilty. He thinks that it would have been better if Hanuman had thrown him into the ocean instead of destroying such a wonderful piece of work. But Hanuman has no regrets and tells him that he just wrote the story to pass the time and there is nothing more to it. Valmiki blesses him and then tells him that, some day he will be born again and devote himself to Hanuman, teach others about him and retell the story that Hanuman had composed.
  

I'll add more later. Please don't take this the wrong way. It's just a fun way of looking at variations in the epic for general knowledge and a little bit of poking fun at the way Sagars tend to drag serials on and on. 😆


UPDATE

Nice idea Chandra, this is Ramayan so Rakshasa is more appropriate than Devil. Text changed. 😉

Now then, some more material for extension of the serial. Hey, even if it's too late for this serial, the Sagars are coming with Mahavir Hanuman and that will have to deal with the Uttar Khand too. So they can use these ideas in that serial. We can have a separate thread for new ideas about dragging that show from the beginning. 😆

• Hanuman had once protected Vaishnavi (incarnation of Maa Vaishno Devi) from Bhairo. He gave her water and created a cave for her to rest in. He then wrestled with Bhairo for 9 months while Vaishnavi performed austerities. Eventually she gave up her human form and emerged as Adi Maya Shakti to finally kill Bhairo. She was pleased with Hanuman and accepted him as her attendant and permanent guardian of her shrine.
  

• Story of Hanuman, Matsyendranath and Stri Rajya: Hanuman attended to Ram's every need to such an extend that Sita began to get annoyed. She told him that he is denying her the joy of serving her husband. But Hanuman could not refrain from his devotion to his Lord either. Then she had an idea. She told Hanuman that she wants him to father a child and that he should leave Ayodhya and return only when he had produced a child. She knew that he would never be able to break his vow of celibacy and so her trick would keep him away from Ram forever. Naturally Hanuman was shocked and in despair. He wandered the Earth, singing songs about Ram. One day the women of Stri Rajya heard his song. His song was so powerful and potent that the women were all instantly rendered pregnant! 😆 In time, the children were born and they went to Hanuman and showed him how he had actually managed to have children without breaking his vow of celibacy. Hanuman was so happy that he offered them a boon. The women requested him to send a man to their kingdom since there were no men there in the first place. The gods had cursed that any man who entered the kingdom would die on the spot. So they were thirsting for a man.

Now, one day the great yogi Matysendranath came to the shrine of Adi Maya Shakti. He wanted to enter the shrine and learn occult secrets from her. Hanuman stopped him at the gate and they began to fight. Hanuman concluded that Matsyendranath was a worthy opponent and he allowed him to enter the shrine. Matysendranath, in gratitude, offered to do whatever Hanuman asked of him. It is then that Hanuman fullfills the wishes of the women of Stri Rajya: he realized that Matysendranath had the power to resist the divince curse on the land of Stri Rajya and he therefore told him to go the women and give them the male companionship they were so desperate for. Matysendranath gladly carried out Hanuman's wish.

• Now here's some strange material from a Malaysian version called Cherita Mahraja Wana: After the end of the Ram-Ravan war, Hanuman inquires if there are any surviving descendants of Ravan. He is informed that there are two infant sons, Setagar Wana and Sepedang Wana. Hanuman wanted to kill them too but the others convinced him to spare them. Vibhishan adopts Ravan's infant sons. Later, Setagar and Sepedang insist on being allowed to leave the capital city, saying that they can complete their studies with Vibhishan at any time in the future. They said they wanted to explore. Vibhishan gave them permission and they eventually go to Melur Ari, the land of Indra (the Malaysian Indra is not the same as the Indian version). They ask for his help to get the throne of Lanka which they believe is rightfully theirs. Indra consults his ministers and finally agrees to get Lanka back for Ravan's sons. He takes four officers and flies to Lanka where he demands that Vibhishan abdicate in favour of Ravan's sons. Vibhishan refuses and says that he is only ruling as Ram's regent and that only Ram had the authority to change the ruler. This angers Indra and he fights and kills Vibhishan! 😲 He then installs Sepedang and Setagar as joint rulers of Lanka and returns to his land.
  

Meanwhile, Hanuman Bongsu (son of Hanuman, I'll explain this in a bit) is sent by his mother to inform Ram, Lakshman and Hanuman of the tragedy. She said that she will keep Vibhishan's corpse in a special casket. Hanuman Bongsu has difficulty in finding Ram and co and eventually stumbles upon his father, Hanuman. Hanuman does not recognise his son and they get into a fight. Finally Hanuman Bongsu is able to convince Hanuman that he is his son. Hanuman takes him to Ram where he explains the situation. Ram orders Hanuman to organize an army, including Angad and Hanuman Ikan (Makardhwaj), and they set off for Lanka. There Hanuman and Angad fight Ravan's sons and capture them. Ram and Hanuman kill them both. Ram inquires if there are any more descendants of Ravan alive and is told that there are none. Then he brings Vibhishan back to life using special flower. Ram restores him on the throne of Lanka and tells him that Hanuman Bongsu will always be with him.

Then Ram sends a flying army to Melur Ari to take care of Indra. They defeat many of Indra's animal subjects but finds it impossible to defeat his two great warriors: an iron-coated frog and an iron-coated lizard. 😆 They go back to Lanka and Vibhishan says that inferior creatures like that can only be killed by inferior persons. They call two of Ravan's attendants, Pak Dolong and Wak Long (they are called clowns in some versions), who had two children who were considered "inferior" enough. They are promised the throne of Indra and they are sent to kill Indra's warriors. After some trickery, this is done and Hanuman's forces enters Indra's city. There is a great battle between Indra and Hanuman's armies and finally Indra's forces are defeated. Indra then comes out and engages in sorcery and magic. Hanuman, with Vibhishan's advice, manages to get past the sorcery. Indra and Hanuman fight but they reach a stalemate. Sugreev suggests that Ram should be able to kill Indra so they request Ram to come to the battlefield himself. Indra and Ram fight. Ram is not able to defeat him in a kris (Malaysian dagger) fight so he uses a powerful arrow to shoot Indra dead. Ram installs the sons of Pak Dogol and Wak Long, on the throne (well one of the sons anyway).

In another Malaysian version, it is not Indra who gets involved. Rather it is Raja Sibigadong who attacks Vibhishan to avenge his friend and ally, Ravan. In this version Vibhishan is wounded but not killed.

There is another version where Hanuman Bongsu also gets into a fight with Makardhwaj before learning that they have the same father. Then they all join forces with Ram to attack Lanka and recover the throne from the two sons of Ravan. In this version, Ravan's sons were said to have been born of one his servants.

Now, here is my take on this: obviously the first story can't be incorporated directly since there is no way to reconcile the Malaysian Indra with the Indian one. So I suggest that, take the first story and replace Indra with Raja Sibigadong from the second story. 😉

As for Hanuman's son. This is his story: Hanuman is not a celibate in the Malaysian version. After the end of the Ram-Ravan war, Vibhishan gets his daughter married to Hanuman. Hanuman had initially refused since he wanted to go with Ram and serve him (in this version Ram is Hanuman's father by the way). Ram tells him that he needs to stay with Vibhishan's daughter in Lanka for about a month and then he can join Ram. Sita says that Vibhishan had already declared the marriage in public and he would be humiliated if Hanuman refused. So the marriage happens and later Hanuman leaves her in Lanka while he goes to serve Ram in Ayodhya. In his absence she gives birth to their son Hanuman Bongsu. This is why Hanuman did not recognize him when they first meet. In the second story, Hanuman's wife was pregnant when Vibhishan was overthrown and only Pak Dogol and Wak Long could help her in that situation.

We need to reshape this story to preserve Hanuman's celibacy. We have already seen how Hanuman is able to repeatedly father children without breaking his vow of celibacy. So why can't something like that happen to Vibhishan's daughter? She gets pregnant with Hanuman's son without any physical contact or marriage. Magic! 😃

• In another Malaysian story, Pak Dogol and Wak Long serve Ram as attendants and one day he gets angry on them on a silly pretext and orders them out of his palace. They leave. The angry Pak Dogol leaves his body and becomes a giant who then attacks Ram's palace. Some weird things ensue but ultimately it all ends happily for everyone.
  

• In one Malaysian version, when Ram returns to Ayodhya, Dasaratha (who is still alive in this version) objects to the reunion of Sita and Ram and says they must get remarried first. On the advice of the sages, Sita is temporarily sent to wander the jungles. She coms across a "jungle princess" and stays with her using a new name, Mek Hutan. Meanwhile Ram goes on a bird hunt with Pak Dogol and Wak Long. A bird that he was targetting falls in the cave where Sita was living. He reaches the cave and falls in love with the woman but fails to recognize her as Sita. They make love and he later informs his father of the incident. Dasratha is embarassed. Ram's mother sends him on another hunt and then she summons Mek Hutan to court and orders her execution. Mek Hutan asks the executioner to place her body on a raft with flowers. She is then executed ! Ram, still hunting, smells the flowers and find the raft. He is shocked when he finds the corpse and stabs himself to death. Wak Long tries to follow suit but he is afraid to kill himself. He falls on his own dagger and dies anyway. Pak Dogol decides that suicide isn't an option and reports to Dasarath who summons Hanuman. Hanuman was busy meditating on a mountain. He finds the raft and the bodies of Ram and Sita and brings them to Dasaratha. Some supernatural incidents follow and Ram and Sita are finally revived and remarried.

Obviously the above story can't be incorporated intact. So just twist it. The Sagars had no problems taking Jataka Tales and stripping them of all Buddhist elements and then incorporating them, with colourful rakshasas no less! Why not do the same here? Remove Dasaratha from the story, remove Ram making love to a woman he doesn't recoginize to be Sita. Bring Surpanakha back and have her perform some sorcery here. She impersonates Ram's mother and does all the peculiar things while the real Kaushalya is held captive elsewhere. She puts a spell on Sita and makes her appear dead. Ram is shocked and becomes comatose. Hanuman engages in colourful adventures, defeats Surpanakha and revives Ram and Sita and they rescue Kaushalya. Better still, why not have Ram's nephews do this? Why keep them on the sidelines all the time? 😉

• In another version of Cherita Mahraja Wana, Hanuman has another son. There is a princess, who is the daughter of Dewa Berembum (who is the god who incarnates as Ram). She has a dream about Hanuman and this dream makes her pregnant. 😆 This results in a son called Hanuman Sapu Angin who goes on a search for his father. On the way he meets Hanuman Isan (Makardhwaj) and they fight. Eventually they discover that they are "brothers". Hanuman Isan then directs his "brother" to their father. Guess what? Father and son engage in fight as usual. Vibhishan stops them and they discover the relationship. Hanuman Sapu Angin fights Indrajit who manages to drive off both father and son.
  

• In the same variant as above, Hanuman has yet another son from another princess (who is said to be Indrajit's wife in another version). This son is called Hanuman Tegangga. He defeats a son of Ravan (by a naga princess) who leaves in the sea but was called to battle by Ravan.
  

• In yet another version of Cherita Mahraja Wana, Ram installs Lav-Kush as rulers of Lanka with Vibhishan and Hanuman Tegangga as minister and general respectively. Meanwhile, two sons of Ravan, Sumbu Badung and Sumbu Bandung want the thrown. They were infants when Ravan died and Vibhishan spared them. They get help from another king and attack Lanka. Lav-Kush are hurled into the sky while Vibhishan is imprisoned. Hanuman Tegangga escapes. Ram finds his sons and revives them. Ram and Hanuman take to the skies to attack Lanka. But Betara Guru (Shiva who is partial to the king who overthrew Lav-Kush) creates a storm. Hanuman falls into the sea and is found by the mother of Makardhwaj. By the time Hanuman leaves she is pregnant again and gives birth to another son, Hanuman Baghal. He goes to join his father in the battle and finally they win the war. Ravan's sons attack Lav-Kush. Ram and Hanuman Baghal kill them.
  

In the same version, there is another adventure of Hanuman Baghal. It so happened that Sita suddenly became unable to sleep. Vibhishan figures out that her soul has been stolen. Ram and his army sets out to find the demon who did this. Eventually they find him and, with the help of Pak Dogol's son (the one who helped Ram defeat Indra's warriors in the story where Indra helps Ravan's sons regain the thrown of Lanka), defeats the demon's forces. But Ram is unable to defeat the demon himself. He summons Hanuman Baghal who defeats the demon. Then Ram kills the demon. But Sita's soul refuses to go home. Then Vibhishan advises Ram to bring Sita's body and make offerings. Finally the soul returns to Sita's body and all is well. In a variant of this story, Sita's soul is transformed by the demon into a white swallow. It is revealed that only women can carry out this mission. So a female army is sent, including Sita's physical body which is somehow able to operate on its own. The only males are Pak Dogol and Wak Long's sons Dewe and Lembek. The demon's forces are defeated excepted one lion which is defeated by Dewe after he promised a reward of a damsel. Sita's soul is reunited with her body. Then Sita, in male attire, kills the demon, Some tweaking is necessary but this is a good opportunity to showcase the royal women of Ayodhya as warriors. 😉

• One more Malaysian version: Vibhishan is attacked by the king of Chakravala (at this time Vibhishan is king of Lanka). Hanuman is informed and he goes to fight the demon. But every time he tears the demon in half, the halves join together. Finally Vibhishan tells him to rip the demon's heart out which Hanuman does, killing him.
  

• And in another Malaysian version, Hanuman fights a demon who is too slippery for him to get a grip on. A rishi advices him to sprinkle sand on him which allows him get a hold of the demon and kill him. A variant of this story says that the demon was a son of Ravan (or maybe a grandson, the relationships in the Malaysian version are hopelessly muddled) who was born after 10 years of pregnancy. In this version, even after sprinkling sand and getting hold of him and tearing him apart, the demon keeps coming back. Finally Vibhishan tells Hanuman to throw half of the demon in the sea and to bury the other half. This kills him.
  

By the way, it is quite common for Sita to get repeatedly abducted in Malaysian stories. And not only her but other royal women too. Such as princesses who were supposed to get married to Ram's sons.

Some of the strangest stories involve Sita becoming a man, defeating other men and marrying princesses! 😲

Also, in Cherita Kusi Serawi which is a sequel to Cherita Mahraja Wana, Kush actually allows himself to be captured by Ram even though Ram could not defeat him in battle. Kush spends some time in prison while Hanuman tracks down his brother and eventually, their mother.

• Ok enough of Malaysian stories, let's go back to the subcontinent. A few more amusing tales of Hanuman. One day Ram teases Hanuman in court by saying that, he must be tired of the celibate life and he should get married now. Hanuman plays along and, to humour Ram, says that he is old now and who would marry him? Ram pretends to be serious now and asks if he would indeed marry if he did find a girl from him. Hanuman is now in a dilemma and finally says that he would do it only if the girl is also willing. Shatrughna then joins in and says that Manthara would be perfect for him. 😆 Hanuman says that woman was responsible for Ram's exile so how can this be possible? Ram says that Manthara has reformed now so that should be no problem now and she will be brought to court the next day to see if she consents or not. That night Hanuman knocks on Manthara's door but she was eating and refused to open the door. Hanuman breaks down the door and goes in. He tells her about the marriage issue and Manthara is happy: she says she is willing to marry him. Hanuman tries to convince her otherwise but she says that, a monkey would be better than no husband for her. This makes Hanuman angry: he grows into a giant and starts choking her (alternatively, he beats her up). She is scared out of her wits and finally promises that she will refuse to marry him. That is what she does in court next day. And Hanuman is free from the dilemma. 😆

• Another Hanuman story. Hanuman had a habit of taking on the form of a normal monkey and raid the gardens in Ayodhya. No one dared to do anything because his relationship with Ram. One day some boys decide to trap him in a net and take him to Ram to complain about his activities, especially since he had attacked a grove of fruit trees that they were protecting. They are succesful in capturing Hanuman (who is still in the form of an ordinary monkey). They take him to court where Ram recognizes Hanuman but refuses to do so. He says it is an ordinary monkey and the boys can do whatever they want with him. Later, Hanuman uses his powers to escape the trap and causes welts to appear all over his body. He goes to Ram pretending to having been severely beaten. Ram is sad. Finally Hanuman reveals himself and says that he played a joke on him just he did in court.

• One day, a merchant asks Hanuman to describe what it looked like when Hanuman burned odwn Lanka. Hanuman says he can't really describe it in words but he can show it. So he asks the merchant to wrap his tail in some cloth and set it on fire. Hanuman then proceeds to set fire to the merchants shop with his tail. 😆 Naturally the merchant is very upset and Hanuman says that that is exactly how the people of Lanka reacted. The merchant complains to Ram in court. When asked for an explanation Hanuman tells Ram the entire story. Ram asks the merchant is this is true and he admits it. He says that he never expected Hanuman to burn his shop down. Ram then asks if he expected Hanuman to burn someone else's shop down to "show" him what it looked like when Lanka burned? Ram scold him and tells him not to engage in such worthless curiosity in future and he compensates him from the royal treasury.
  

There are many such amusing stories of Hanuman in Ayodhya. I am certain that the Sagars can keep including them in the serial for as long as they want. This has the potential for years of dragging. 😆

• In the Jain versions, Lakshman is coronated instead of Bharat. Lakshman goes on expedition against many Vidhyadhara kings. He also marries thousands of times (as does Ram) but we can leave that out and spend many months on these expeditions. 😉

That's all for now. I'll add more later whenever possible. 😊

wow!! kal-el you have written lots of stories from different versions the sagar should use to drag the show if he wants. the show cud be dragged for more than a year if sagar use these stories. anyways thanks for bringing these stories here, many of which i never heard. I have read somewhr that Goswami is rebirth of Valmiki as you have written in your last paragraph that valmiki says to hanuman that he will born again to searve him and retail his ramayan. can you plz through light to it?😊

thanks kal-el for the stories..
would love to see debnia in chnadi avtaar..

[QUOTE=Kal El

• The story of Hanuman composing a Ramayan. There are many variants but the gist is this: Ram becomes very withdrawn after Sita's banishment and keeps to himself, always depressed. Hanuman finds Ayodhya too empty and depressing in such a situation and he begins spending a lot of time on a particular mountain where there are many crystalline stone slabs. Hanuman starts to inscribe Ram's story in Sanskrit on these slabs with his fingernails. Many years go by and Hanuman becomes oblivious to the pasage of time. Meanwhile, Valmiki has completed his own version of the epic and one day he is informed about Hanuman's version. Out of curiosity, he asks Hanuman to show it to him. Hanuman carries Valmiki to the top of the mountain and shows him the stone slabs spanning the cliffs with the Ramayan written all over them. Valmiki goes all over the mountain, reading the epic and getting overwhelmed with emotion. Finally he reaches the end and goes silent and a bit sad. Hanuman asks him why he is sad and whether there are any faults in his poetry. Valmiki says that Hanuman's Ramayan is glorious and unequaled. Then he adds that , once people hear this Ramayan they will never want to listen to his one. Hanuman is momentarily shocked and then he smiles. He says it is a small issue and Valmiki shouldn't be bothered by it. Then he puts all of the stone slabs on one his shoulders and carries Valmiki on the other. He flies over the ocean and drops the slabs into the water, offering them to Ram. Hanuman's Ramayan is lost forever. Valmiki is ashamed and feels guilty. He thinks that it would have been better if Hanuman had thrown him into the ocean instead of destroying such a wonderful piece of work. But Hanuman has no regrets and tells him that he just wrote the story to pass the time and there is nothing more to it. Valmiki blesses him and then tells him that, some day he will be born again and devote himself to Hanuman, teach others about him and retell the story that Hanuman had composed.
  
  
  

Thanks for all the info Kal El!👏 You're right that if the Sagars want to drag the story for a few more years😈, they could use any of these stories.

Can you change the title to 'Playing Rakshasha's Advocate: How to extend the serial', since we are talking the Ramayan here????😆

Originally posted by: Kal El

Now this is not too serious. I personally think the serial should end soon without further dragging and strange script changes. However that is my serious opinion.

I'm actually mixed about this. Since they've already screwed up the Ramayan, I'd like them to do it quite a bit more royally, so that nobody is left under any illusions that what we've been watching is the real thing😉😉😉

Originally posted by: Kal El

My mischievous side is thinking of something else. We all know how the Sagars love to drag stories that shouldn't be stretched too long (PRC was a prominent example of this and now Ramayan has been stretched out of shape with Jataka Tales and some regional variations.😆)

Also, the Rani Padmini serial that they are going to show will have 100+ episodes, including her fighting the Khilji army. WTF are they going to show for so long?😕😕😕 As for the Ramayan, I have a suggestion - since Rama's vanvas lasted 14 years, why not make that the duration of the serial as well?😆

Originally posted by: Kal El

So, playing Devil's Advocate just for fun 😈, here are some ideas and stories from other versions of the epic that Sagars could use to drag this serial on and on and on and on.....😉

That is right. Actually, before the Uttarkand started, there was a suggestion thread of how to authentically extend the story - by showing events in Ayodhya, Mathura and Valmiki's ashram all in parallel, showing the growth of all the kids, the various stories narrated in the Ramayan, like Raja Budh & Hila, and so on. But nobody imagined the swarna-kamal saga that we were all subjected to.

Originally posted by: Kal El

• The most obvious way of dragging the story is the Ashwamedha Yagya. There are many different stories and variants about the horse wandering from one kingdom to another. There is enough material here for the Sagars to literally drag the story of the wandering horse for several months before the climactic encounter between Ram and his sons. With hundreds of different versions of the Ramayan out there the possibilities are limitless.

Yep, particularly the Padma Purana story of how Shatrughan and Pushkal went w/ the horse, how the horse was captured by so many rulers, how Pushkal got killed by Virbhadra and then revived, and so on. So one could have that predecessor, followed by the story of the intensive battle K-L had not only w/ their Kakashris, but also w/ Hanuman, Sugriv, Angad, Vibhishan (!), Jambavan, and so on.

Originally posted by: Kal El

• Tattvasamgraha Ramayana: Ram is informed by the rishis that there is a 100 headed Ravan who lives "beyond the seven seas" along with an asura called Raktabindhu. This Ravana has a boon that he cannot be killed any man. Sita then says that she wants to kill him. Ram agrees and sends her with Hanuman and other vanaras in the Pushpak Viman. Hanuman takes on the forms of Narasimha, Haygreeva and Garuda while Sita transforms into an eight-armed goddess and ultimately kills the 100-headed Ravan.

Clearly there is enough potential here to spend more than a week's worth of episodes given the slow pacing that Sagars are experts at.

I'd suggest adding some masala to this one. There has to be a pretext for the 2 to go to war, aside from the rishis doing their usual begging. Here's one pretext for Ravan-100 to do so. He had come to terms w/ the death of Ravan-10 and his family, but after hearing about Sita's vanvas, he was infuriated!!! After all, had Rama, after winning Sita, kept her, it would have made sense, but if he was going to exile her, why not simply let Ravan-10 have her in the first place? So Ravan-100 decides to punish Rama for making the deaths of Kumbhakarna, Indrajit, et al go to waste - and let's throw this in - making a pativrata like Sulochana a widow. So he invades Ayodhya and wipes out its entire population, and RLB is unable to kill him, and what's more, he captures Urmila and Mandavi and is returning w/ them. Sita hears about this and is furious, and decides to go and rescue them, and in the battle, she kills Ravan-100 and rescues Urmila & Mandavi. Since all the people of Ayodhya are dead and no longer around to cast aspersions on Sita, Rama recalls her and K-L, and they are happily united. Rama then sends Bharat & family to conquer and rule Gandhara, and Lakshman & family to conquer and rule Karupathadesh. A few years later, Rama installs Kush & Luv in Ayodhya, and his bros do the same for their kids. They then take Pushpak airlines and fly back to Vaikuntha.👏👏👏

Originally posted by: Kal El

• Ananda Ramayan: Again we have a 100-headed Ravan who lives in Mayapura who, along with Poundrak (son of Nikumbha) defeats Vibhishan and drives him out of Lanka. Vibhishan asks for Ram's help and he goes to Lanka to wage war. Unfortunately Ram is defeated in battle and Sita kills both Poundrak and the 100-headed Ravan.

• Ananda Ramayan: Vibhishan is driven out of Lanka (again!) by Mulakasura, Kumbhakarna's son after a 6 month long war. Ram takes Sugreev's soldiers and goes to Lanka where he fights Mulakasura for 7 days. At this point Brahma reveals that Mulakasura cannot be killed by a man due his boon. However he had been cursed by a rishi that he will be killed by Sita. Ram then tells Garuda to bring Sita to the battlefield where she transforms into Chandi, fights Mulakasura for 7 days and kills him.

There are also other smaller things that can be found in the Ananda Ramayan such as Ram bringing Sumantra back from the dead, Ram's promise to some apsaras, four brahmin women and 16,000 women that he will fulfill their wishes and marry them in his incarnation as Shri Krishna, etc . They've already taken some elements from this text so why not some more?

Ananda Ramayan is pretty much what's been shown here, aside from the Jataka stories, and leaving out Rama asking Lakshman for Sita's hand - literally🤢🤢🤢If the Ramanand Sagar serial was predominantly based on Tulsidas, this serial seems to have been predominantly based on Swami Ananda. Since Tulsidas was based during Moghul times and Swami Ananda during the Golden Age, one could argue that the latter is more authentic.

Actually, Ananda Ramayan has a happy ending, in case the Sagars choose to show it - when Rama threatens Bhoomi Devi, instead of Brahma coming and giving him that flaky advise to ask K-L to sing the remainder of the Ramayan, Bhoomi Devi surrenders and returns Sita to him. I actually wouldn't have a problem w/ them showing this version at the end.

The only thing I don't like about the above 2 stories is Kumbhakarna's sons/grandson being involved and killed here. Also remember, there is Karkati-putra Bhimasura, who's actually capable of defeating Rama. But since his death happens at Shiva's hands and not Sita's, the best thing for him to do would be - you guessed it - wipe out Ayodhya's populace, and defeat Rama when he tries to avenge them.

Originally posted by: Kal El

• Adbhuta Ramayan (Sanskrit version): And we go into even stranger territory. One day, Sita reveals to the assembled rishis that there is actually a senior and more powerful 1000 headed Ravan who lives on the island of Puskar. This Ravan was so powerful that he played with planets as if they were balls. Hearing this, Ram declares war on him and invades Puskar with his army. Unfortunately, this Ravan proved too powerful and killed all of Ram's soldiers and Ram himself faints due to exhaustion. Sita, who was with him, then decides to take things into her own hands. She transforms into Kali and starts fighting Ravan. Powerful matrikas emanate from her body and help her fight Ravan's army. Eventually she defeats him. Ram recites the thousand names of Sita and prays for her to go back into her normal form which she does.

There is a variation of this story: Ram boasted that he could easily defeat the 1000-headed Ravan just like he defeated the 10-headed Ravan. Sita was doubtful. Eventually Ram is defeated in battle and wept at his situation while Sita takes on the form of Kali to fight the 1000 headed Ravan. They fight for 10 years until Sita finally kills him, drinks his blood and cuts off his limbs and throws them around. She starts dancing with joy. The gods request Shiva to stop her and he throws himself at her feet. Then she stops and goes back to her form of Sita and rejoins Ram.

This one I don't like, since Sita is Lakshmi, and not Kali. But I'm just wondering - should we keep just Ravan-100, or have Ravan-1000 as well? The latter can choose to want to avenge Ravan-100's death, and be immune to both Rama & Sita. Maybe, this time, leave it to K-L, or Shatrughan & Bharat to kill him. Better still, have the Ayodhya 6 sons/nephews of Rama take on him and each destroy 125 heads of his, killing him😆😆😆 After all, the nephews in particular seem to have such a dull life

Originally posted by: Kal El

• I cannot recall the source for this but I did read this a long time ago: Ravan had a son, Saharasmuharavan who was a child when Ram killed his father. When he grew up, he obtained a boon from Brahma that only a truly chaste woman would be able to kill him. Then he attacked Vibhishan in Lanka and Sugreev in Kishkindha. Hearing this, Ram started preparations for war. Sahasramukharavan arrived in Kosala and started heading for Ayodhya to attack Ram himself. No one could stop him, not even Ram and his entire army. When the fact about Brahma's boon is revealed, Ayodhya's women are asked to go to the battlefield and fight this Ravan. As it turns out, not a single woman in Ayodhya was chaste enough to defeat the powerful enemy. Ram realized that only Sita could save them at this point. However, he was worried that Sita would not voluntarily come to his aid since he had banished her. So he instructed Hanuman to lie to Sita that he (Ram) was dying. Naturally Sita was extremely alarmed on hearing this and rushed to Ayodhya. Just outside the city, Sahasramukharavan refused to let her pass.Sita was outraged and she picked up a blade of glass, transformed it into a Shaktika missile using the power of her chastity and threw it at Ravan's heart. He died on the spot. Ram and rest of the people of Ayodhya came out, cheering for Sita who then realized that Hanuman had lied to her about Ram's health. She was angry and she cursed Hanuman that, just as his lie made her feel the pain of separation from Ram. he (Hanuman) would outlive them all and feel the true pain of separation from his Lord. After this she implored Mother Earth to take her into her abode.
  

I have mixed opinions re: the above story. On one hand, there is a delightful irony that the peeps of Ayodhya, who were so stringent about the chastity of their queen, didn't have it in their own womenfolk. 🤣🤣🤣On the down-side, I don't like the idea of Urmila or Mandavi being considered unchaste. Maybe tweak this somewhat so that these 2, along w/ Sita, fight Sahasramukharavan. Actually, have Sita kill Ravan-100, Urmila kill Sahasramukharavan, Mandavi kill Malakasura, and the kids take on Ravan-1000.

Originally posted by: Kal El

In the interests of dragging the serial, I think the Sagars can take all these stories of 100 and 1000 headed Ravans, mix them up, add their own masala and produce a tasty khichdi of many headed Ravans. 😆

They should take my ideas😆

Originally posted by: Kal El

• There is actually scope for extending the serial beyond Sita's descent into the Earth. According to two Assamese texts, the Patali Kanda by Dvija Panchanana and the Adbhuta Ramayana by Raghunatha Mahanta (not to be confused with a Sanskrit text also called Adbhuta Ramayana), after her descent Sita resides in Patala as Vratesvari Devi. She misses her sons terribly and eventually sends one or more nagas to abduct them and bring them to her. Naturally, Ram is worried about his children and Hanuman is sent to bring them back. He descends into Patala and engages in a number of adventures in his efforts to find them. I believe he even fights the nagas (I will have to check the books to confirm this). He also changes into several different forms. At one point he even transforms into a corpse to lure Sita out and convince her that he means no harm. Sita makes one final effort to defeat Hanuman by creating many doubles of herself. Hanuman fails to recognize the real Sita and threatens to burn himself. This causes Sita to finally relent and reveal herself. She returns her sons to Hanuman. In at least one of these versions Sita herself also returns to Ram.

A mischievious side of me suggests that this story be tweaked further. Think about it - why is it necessary for Sita's kids to rule Ayodhya (the same Sita whom they had insulted) - all they need is someone from Raghukul, and since Bharat is Yuvraj, let it be his responsibility to provide the heirs (maybe show Taksha or Pushkal being made ruler of Ayodhya). So my suggestion here is that Sita gets back her kids, and K-L beg that they stay eternally w/ mom, rather than dad. They make that point to Hanuman as well, and so Sita says that if Rama wants them, he'll have to come to them. Since we know that at the end of the story Rama goes to Vaikuntha after a dip in the Sarayu, what they can show here is that as a part of that process, after entering the Sarayu, Rama finds the entrance to the lok that Sita is in, and gets there, and is happy to be united w/ Sita. They then crown K-L as the ruler of the Nagas (throw in Kush's marriage to Kumudhati to muddy the waters even further) and then, w/ the other bros & wives, return to Vaikuntha.

Originally posted by: Kal El

• There is a story about Ram's ring which can be found in many regional variations. The gist of the story is this: soon after Sita's descent into the Earth Ram drops his signet rin in a hole in the ground and asks Hanuman to fetch it. Hanuman descends into the Earth to look for the ring and eventually reaches Nag Lok where he found a vast assortment of rings, each one identical to Rama's signet ring. These were being guarded by Nagas who reveal to Hanuman that these rings all belong to Rama. Time is cyclical in nature and whenver the wheel of time comes around to the Treta Yuga there is an incarnation of Ram. And whenever the end of an incarnation of Ram approaches, he lets his ring fall into Nag Lok and Hanuman is sent after it. This folktale came about to acknoledge the staggering number of variants of the Ramayan. You can see the potential here for the Sagars to drag the serial. When the Nagas tell Hanuman about the rings, the Sagars can start showing us glimpses into the other iterations of the Ram incarnation using variants from other texts. This can be a mini-serial on its own. 😉

Or show the ring w/ Sita, and she is very happy to have it, and says if Rama wants it back, he has to give her at least one of her sons. Rama refuses, and so Sita sends the ring via one of the Naga kidnappers, who leaves the ring w/ Rama, but kidnaps K-L. Then loop back to the previous story.

Originally posted by: Kal El

• By means of a series of retroactive flashbacks, short stories of Ram, Sita and Hanuman can be shown: Ram and Sita get into a humorous argument (nothing serious!) over which of them receives more devotion from Hanuman who avoids the issue by saying his devotion is to "Sita Ram". To test him, Sita asks him to fetch some water while Ram wants him to fan him. Hanuman expands his arms and completes both tasks simultaneously thus satisfying them both. There is a Kutch oral tale in which Hanuman shows up in Ram's court with a woman on his shoulder. He says that the woman is "Mother Fate" and he has arrested her and brought her to court to ask her why she wrote such injustice in Sita's fate. Her replies don't satisfy Hanuman and he starts beating her. Then she presents him with a conundrum: who wrote that she would be mistreated by Hanuman in this manner? This calms Hanuman and he apologised to the goddess. There are many such tales that can be included to keep on dragging the serial forever,
  

This one would be a hoot. After all, we were cussing Vidhi and his great vidhan, and now you have it that Vidhi turns out to be a 'she'. That would prevent guys like me from torturing her, so I guess it will be upto our female readership here to do it. But the same conundrum would remain - anybody who did choose to torment Vidhi would be doing it at the behest of Miss Vidhi? What a story!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Incidentally, my candidate to play this Vidhi-devi would be Sunanda - the lovely hostess who made Kush her slave and made him wash their clothes.

Originally posted by: Kal El

• If I am not mistaken, this is from the Kathasaritsagara: some rishis at Valmiki's ashram being to doubt her since her husband had exiled her. Sita tells them that they may test her in any way they like to confirm her innocence. The rishis tell her about a lake where another woman, also wrongly driven out by her husband, had been helped by Mother Earth. They ask Sita to go that lake and see if something like that happens. Sita goes there and calls on Mother Earth to appear and carry her across the lake as a sign of her innocence. Mother Earth grants her prayers. The rishis are convinced that she is innocent and begin to blame Ram for her wrongful banishment. She stops them from saying anything bad about her husband.
  

I'd twist this one as well - make the rishis go to Ayodhya and doubt the chastity of those who cast aspersions on Sita. So obviously, knowing how Rama respects rishis, they decide to approach them and ask them how to convince them otherwise, and the rishis ask them to do a test in which if they are chaste, their husbands will become impotent, but they will become virgins again, and re-ready for marriage. This happens only to those women who didn't doubt Sita - those who did would be instantly widowed.

Originally posted by: Kal El

• The story of Hanuman composing a Ramayan. There are many variants but the gist is this: Ram becomes very withdrawn after Sita's banishment and keeps to himself, always depressed. Hanuman finds Ayodhya too empty and depressing in such a situation and he begins spending a lot of time on a particular mountain where there are many crystalline stone slabs. Hanuman starts to inscribe Ram's story in Sanskrit on these slabs with his fingernails. Many years go by and Hanuman becomes oblivious to the pasage of time. Meanwhile, Valmiki has completed his own version of the epic and one day he is informed about Hanuman's version. Out of curiosity, he asks Hanuman to show it to him. Hanuman carries Valmiki to the top of the mountain and shows him the stone slabs spanning the cliffs with the Ramayan written all over them. Valmiki goes all over the mountain, reading the epic and getting overwhelmed with emotion. Finally he reaches the end and goes silent and a bit sad. Hanuman asks him why he is sad and whether there are any faults in his poetry. Valmiki says that Hanuman's Ramayan is glorious and unequaled. Then he adds that , once people hear this Ramayan they will never want to listen to his one. Hanuman is momentarily shocked and then he smiles. He says it is a small issue and Valmiki shouldn't be bothered by it. Then he puts all of the stone slabs on one his shoulders and carries Valmiki on the other. He flies over the ocean and drops the slabs into the water, offering them to Ram. Hanuman's Ramayan is lost forever. Valmiki is ashamed and feels guilty. He thinks that it would have been better if Hanuman had thrown him into the ocean instead of destroying such a wonderful piece of work. But Hanuman has no regrets and tells him that he just wrote the story to pass the time and there is nothing more to it. Valmiki blesses him and then tells him that, some day he will be born again and devote himself to Hanuman, teach others about him and retell the story that Hanuman had composed.
  

And gets reborn as Ananda Sagar🤣

Originally posted by: Kal El

I'll add more later. Please don't take this the wrong way. It's just a fun way of looking at variations in the epic for general knowledge and a little bit of poking fun at the way Sagars tend to drag serials on and on. 😆

Yep, it's a fantabulous idea. You can see what I alone could do w/ it - imagine what the whole lot of us could pull off from this🤣

Originally posted by: _LalithaJanaki_

The last info you gave: is this the story of how Ramcharitmanas came about?

I doubt it, because it contradicts Tulsidas' own account of how the Ramayan came about in his Uttarkand, which is the story of Kaagbhushandi & Garuda. So to believe that Tulsidas was in fact Valmiki reborn, one would have to disbelieve Tulsidas' own account of what happened. Go figure🤔

Kal El - You are not serious about asking Sagars to extend, are you? 😉

OMG: If only Sagars saw this thread, they would definitely be in a dillema, as to whether go by their decision of ending the serial or not. 😆 Too many avenues for them really. And by what we know the Sagars to be, there are all chances all these will be incorporated.

Guys I added some more stories, this time mostly from the Malaysian verions. 😊

About the story of Hanuman writing his own Ramayan: This story has many variants. In some, Valmiki hadn't composed his Ramayan yet and he uses some remnants of Hanuman's version to compose his one. Kalidas is said to have found one of the tablets. In at least five versions, it is stated explicitly that Valmiki was reborn as Tulsidas to fulfill his promise to Hanuman and retell his Ramayan in the language of the ordinary people. Yes there are contradictions but that is the nature of these folktales. And it is quite a popular notion that Tulsidas was indeed Valmiki reborn.

Hey we can settle this with that ring story where Hanuman is told by the Nagas that there is always a Ram incarnation every time the wheel of time comes around to the Treta Yug. I suggested that this can be used to show us stuff from other verisons of the Ramayan: perhaps the overall events do repeat themselves whenever the wheel of time comes to the Treta Yug but there are small differences. Likewise, in one cycle Tulsidas recalled the story from his previous life and in another we have the Kakabhusundi-Garuda dialogue. 😉

Seriously though, these are regional legends and folktales. So contradictions are normal. 😉

By the way, Tyagaraja, the famous 18th century musician, is also regarded as a reincarnation of Valmiki. The majority of his compositions were about Ram. In fact, he composed 24,000 kritis in praise of Ram. 😊

Originally posted by: Chandraketu

Can you change the title to 'Playing Rakshasha's Advocate: How to extend the serial', since we are talking the Ramayan here????😆[/quote]

Done. Nice suggestion. 😆

You know, I just realized something. Vibhishan is going to have a very very difficult life in our special extended version of Ramayan. He keeps getting attacked, driven out, defeated and even killed. Poor guy. 😆