Satataharitam - Short Stories On Narayana

Rama-Lakshmana

The entire battlefield, barring Rama and Ravana and their charioteers, had come to a standstill, to watch the duel that would decide the war.

Of everybody that was watching, Lakshmana was the one with the most conflicting emotions in his mind. There was nobody who was more convinced that Rama would win than him. But there was also nobody that worried more for his brother as he stood against Ravana.

Lakshmana had all the confidence in the world about his brother's victory. He had seen all of his feats right from their first ones as young boys to the last most impressive one, killing off Khara-Dushana and their fourteen-thousand strong army, singlehandedly, in a matter of minutes. He believed more strongly than anyone else that Rama would triumph.

But he was worried about his brother after seeing him getting shot by many of the arrows that were shot at him. Rama had his eyes focussed on his enemy. A lot of arrows and spears had hurt him while he remained focused on attacking his enemy.

Lakshmana's heart had stopped beating for a moment at the sight of his brother getting injured. One arrow had hit him right in the chest and had fallen immediately too, causing a steady flow of blood from the wound. Rama hadn't been impacted even slightly, but Lakshmana had nearly stopped breathing.

His mind had gone back straight to the day they had both been injured together, by the deadly Nagastra. Rama had been the first to lose consciousness and fall, and Lakshmana had been able to do nothing. He remembered nothing from that incident apart from the fact that his brother had been injured and he hadn't been able to protect him. Everything had faded away because the same weapon had had the same effect on him too.

Lakshmana shook his head, eyes still stuck to his brother, and tried to tell himself to stop worrying so much. But all he really wanted to do was to go and become the shield to his brother while he attacked and killed Ravana. Why did his brother have to get injured for them to win?

With every passing moment, Rama received more blows, none of which impacted his concentration or capability to fight. But it sure did take away some of Lakshmana's capability to stay calm, little by little.

He nearly took a step towards the duel until Hanuman held him by his arm and just shook his head wordlessly, though his eyes spoke of immense understanding. Hanuman knew the restlessness Lakshmana was feeling, and understood. But the innate calmness in him kept him quiet. The innate need to protect was what was making Lakshmana so worried.

"He's hurt." Lakshmana hissed, seething. "Ravana needs to be shown his place!"

Hanuman hadn't let go of him. "That's exactly what Prabhu is doing. Calm down."

Lakshmana just turned to Hanuman with an incredulous look on his face. How was he supposed to calm down?
Hanuman threw an arm around him and turned to watch the duel again, forcing Lakshmana to angrily turn towards his brother too.

×××

After a long evening full of celebrating Rama's victory over Ravana, the Vanaras had fallen asleep, exhausted. Hanuman wasn't one of them, though, and he was preparing for Vibhishana's coronation as well, and was waiting to get instructed by his Prabhu to go and meet Sita Mata and tell her of this triumph.

Rama was in his tent, in a half-sitting, half-lying-down position. He looked up at the plain, soiled cloth of the top of the tent like he was looking at the star-studded sky through it. His eyes glistened with tears that he didn't notice himself.

Lakshmana walked in and sat down next to his brother, astonished that his presence hadn't been noticed. He placed a gentle hand on a part of his brother's shoulder that wasn't injured.