Week 2 Storytelling: Murder At The Office

It was late spring at the law firm of Ravana, Jatayu and Rama. These three had been working separately for the past twenty years, but had recently combined their talents into a shared law firm and had built quite the reputation in their competitive city. The firm started out with just Rama and Ravana, with the newest partner being Jatayu. Rama, a very skilled lawyer, is renowned for his likability among juries and has astonishingly never lost a case. Rama’s reputation started to make Ravana, the oldest of the three outstanding lawyers, stew with jealousy. Ravana had graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard and built the frame work for what the law firm had now become. Ravana was getting tired of his prospective clients always asking for Rama to represent them and simply ignoring his abilities as a lawyer. Needless to say, Ravana has an unhealthy grudge on Rama. Jatayu is the newest partner to the law firm and is a quiet and deliberate man. He has a hooked nose, almost like a beak, and very dark eyes that make him seem intimidating to some, but he is actually a very kind and thoughtful man. Jatayu and Rama quickly developed a friendship even though they had only briefly known each other.

Late in the day, Ravana came to Jatayu and Rama explaining that he had given his younger sister, Shurpanakha, a job as his secretary and that she should be welcomed with open arms. The two agreed and went on with their days. After many weeks Sharpanakha turned out to be very rude with all of the other employees at the firm, but would magically put on a sweet appearance whenever her brother was around. Many complaints about Sharpanakha were brought up to Ravana, but he always ignored them because he never saw his sister act any way but nice. One day, Rama and Jatayu observed Sharpanakha belittling an intern and decided to intervene. When confronted by the two lawyers, Sharpanakha began to run away, but tripped. As she was falling, the hateful girl knocked over a freshly brewed pot of coffee that spilled onto her head. Sharpanakha screamed in agony as the hot coffee scalded her face. Ravana heard the screams from his sister and rushed from his office to see what was going on. Once on the scene, Sharpanakha told her brother that Rama had pushed her down, causing her to be burned and disfigured by the burning hot coffee. Rama and Jatayu were in disbelief of these wild accusations and quickly tried to disprove these statements by Sharpanakha, but Ravana was unmoved by what Rama and Jatayu, or anyone else in the office for that matter, had to say in retort. He was sure that the disfigurement of his sister happened exactly how she had explained it. Ravana, engulfed by the flames of rage, lunged at Rama to avenge his sister, but Jatayu stepped in and tried to mediate the situation. Ravana’s rage then switched to Jatayu for having the gall to keep him from vengeance. A fight broke out between Ravana and Jatayu with Rama standing by in shock. Ravana grabbed Jatayu’s throat and started landing blow after blow to Jatayu’s body and head. Jatayu fought back with a flurry of fists of his own but was no match for Ravana’s superior size and strength. Eventually Ravana landed a thunderous blow to the temple of Jatayu that caused him to fall into a heap on the ground. Rama rushed to Jatayu’s aid, but as he checked for a pulse, he could not find one. Ravana had killed Jatayu in cold blood right before him. Ravana then quickly raced out of the office, barely escaping the grasp of Rama. Rama could not believe what had just happened, nor could he believe that he Jatayu had defended his honor like he did. Rama, stricken with grief, vowed to track down Ravana to make him pay for his evil deed. He then took off out of the office as quickly as he could in search for the evil that had taken his friends life.

Rama Scolds Sharpanakha 

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Authors Note:

My story makes use of a collection of stories from three sources from the PDE of the Ramayana that are listed in the Bibliography below.

In the original story, Sharpanakha goes to Ravana after Rama's brother cuts off her nose and ears because she was trying to trick Rama. Ravana then abducts Rama's wife, Sita, but Jatayu, the bird/vulture king, intervenes and a battle ensues. Jatayu is killed in the battle and Rama is in hot pursuit to take back is wife and avenge Jatayu. I kept the names the same and the plot mostly the same as the three sources, but I chose to make the story take place in a more realistic setting (a law firm). My main goal was to make the story as realistic a situation as possible, but that proved to be quite difficult for me with keeping the plot intact. 

Bibliography

1) Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)

2) The Iliad of the East: The Ramayana, by Frederika Richardson Macdonald (1886)

3) Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)