Week 3 Story : Thataka's Origin
Long long age there was a yaksha, a demi-god, named Suketha.
Suketha had a daughter named Thataka. Beautiful, elegant, and graceful yaksha.
Her beauty caught the eye of a asura chieftain named Sunda.
He was a asura with great power and renown. Many gods feared him as he possessed great powers. Sunda went to Suketha to ask for Thataka. Suketha was happy to give Thataka to Sunda since Sunda ruled the lands of the mortals. The wedding ceremony was marvelous with high ranking asuras and yakshas attending as guests, foods were prepared by the best chiefs, and musics were played by the most renowned musicians in the lands.
After the wedding Sunda and Thataka was enjoying their days as newly weds. Eventually, Thataka bore two sons named Mareecha and Subahu. Just like their father, Mareecha and Subahu was gifted with great strengths and powers. As they were immature, they started to demolish and ravaged the lands around them. Instead of teaching the kids, Sunda joined them and started to demolish and kill anyone or anything that was in his way. Sunda eventually began to lay destruction in the forrest that sage Agasthya was meditating. Agasthya was very powerful and was even feared by demi-gods and asuras alike. Agasthya warned Sunda to leave the forrest alone so he could meditate in peace. Sunda and his kids ignored the sages warning and continued to laid waste in the forrest. Angered, Agasthya cursed Sunda and that instance, Sunda was struck by a strong lightening and died on the spot. Mareecha and Subahu ran home crying to Thataka. Thataka swore revenge and went to the forrest with her kids ready to struck down the sage. Thataka and her kids found the sage and started attacking him. After a fierce fight, they realized that they couldn't beat the sage. Sage spared them but layed curse on them to turn them into a demon, asura. Thataka, now a demon, withdrew to promise to hunt and curses hermits and lay waste to anywhere she goes.
Authors Note
Thataka's story is very similar to the version I wrote since I did a retelling with little extra details. The books does not have a wedding scene or doesn't even show how Sunda died. Overall story and ending is same as the Ramamyana but I added icing on the cake.
Bibliography: R.K Narayan, The Ramayana
Suketha had a daughter named Thataka. Beautiful, elegant, and graceful yaksha.
Her beauty caught the eye of a asura chieftain named Sunda.
He was a asura with great power and renown. Many gods feared him as he possessed great powers. Sunda went to Suketha to ask for Thataka. Suketha was happy to give Thataka to Sunda since Sunda ruled the lands of the mortals. The wedding ceremony was marvelous with high ranking asuras and yakshas attending as guests, foods were prepared by the best chiefs, and musics were played by the most renowned musicians in the lands.
After the wedding Sunda and Thataka was enjoying their days as newly weds. Eventually, Thataka bore two sons named Mareecha and Subahu. Just like their father, Mareecha and Subahu was gifted with great strengths and powers. As they were immature, they started to demolish and ravaged the lands around them. Instead of teaching the kids, Sunda joined them and started to demolish and kill anyone or anything that was in his way. Sunda eventually began to lay destruction in the forrest that sage Agasthya was meditating. Agasthya was very powerful and was even feared by demi-gods and asuras alike. Agasthya warned Sunda to leave the forrest alone so he could meditate in peace. Sunda and his kids ignored the sages warning and continued to laid waste in the forrest. Angered, Agasthya cursed Sunda and that instance, Sunda was struck by a strong lightening and died on the spot. Mareecha and Subahu ran home crying to Thataka. Thataka swore revenge and went to the forrest with her kids ready to struck down the sage. Thataka and her kids found the sage and started attacking him. After a fierce fight, they realized that they couldn't beat the sage. Sage spared them but layed curse on them to turn them into a demon, asura. Thataka, now a demon, withdrew to promise to hunt and curses hermits and lay waste to anywhere she goes.
Thataka's story is very similar to the version I wrote since I did a retelling with little extra details. The books does not have a wedding scene or doesn't even show how Sunda died. Overall story and ending is same as the Ramamyana but I added icing on the cake.
Bibliography: R.K Narayan, The Ramayana
Tim, I thought this was a good retelling of the Thataka story, managing to both keep true to the original story while expanding in areas the original is lacking. I like the fact you talked about Sunda's death, bringing closure in this area to the story. In a future story I would love to see a little more about the character's motivations, you have so much to say about their actions it would be awesome to see a bit more of what was driving it. Overall a great read and I look forward to seeing next week's story.
ReplyDeleteTim, I really enjoyed how you elaborated on this chapter of the Ramayana. I also like to write similar to the stories but add in my own embellishments. One thing I really enjoyed that you did was elaborate on Sunda's death. It bothers me how the epics often just say "they departed" but never explain the death. In the future, I think you could use even more descriptive knowledge to get your point across! Great job!
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