Story: The God of Fire

I'm not sure how it happened. It is kind of a whirlwind of events and all of a sudden I find myself here with Vayu, the god of wind, and Yama, the god of death. All day long I light candles and burn incense. I am the God of Fire! I should be out hearing the prayers of my followers and answering their sacrifices. Instead, I am here in Lanka serving under the dreadful Ravana.

You see, it was not always like this. I was a God honored by many. Humans would perform ceremonies and sing hymns all in appreciation of the fire I created to make their weapons, cook their food and keep them warm. One day I was alone with my thoughts, situated somewhere between the Sun and the Earth, when I heard a large ruckus from somewhere to the East. This loud situation was very out of the ordinary for the space between the Sun and the Earth is very quiet which is why I went there to be with my thoughts.

By the time I reached the commotion I realized there was an army of hundreds of soldiers. The most decorated officer announced, "I have come to take those willing to serve Ravana in his kingdom of Lanka." Vayu, the god of wind, insisted to the officer, "You must have been sent to the wrong place for we are gods and do not serve a single human or god but serve the rich and poor, from high to low, East to West and North to South." The well trained army remained expressionless and motionless as the most decorated officer spoke, "This is no longer a request but an order from King Ravana. He must have comfort in knowing he has gods in his kingdom he can trust to do their job correctly." In this moment Vayu, the god of wind, sent a gushing wind toward the army in hopes of knocking them down and making a getaway but the wind gust had no effect on the army and they stood their ground.

A Watercolor Painting of Ravana from Wikimedia Commons

In the short moment after the gust of wind there was a small whistling sound and in a moment's notice the army jumped into action. Multiple events happened at once. First my hands were down at my sides unable to move, second, a tornado began to form in the near North and third, I began to move without moving my feet. As the tornado ripped through and blew away a few of the soldiers causing confusion I channeled my efforts but could not make fire. During this time is when I realized they had to be practicing some sort of black magic to curtail our powers until we were with King Ravana in Lanka where he reigned.  

After a day and a night's trip we reached Lanka where we were greeted with flowers, garlands and music. It is quite an unnatural feeling, as you can imagine, involuntarily being taken but accepted with open arms of cheer. Not until this moment when I looked back at the end of the procession did I notice Yama, the god of death. He is a quiet man that hopes to go unnoticed until the right time. I yelled out, "Yama! Old friend!" and tried to move closer but the army kept us far apart and after a sensation went through me I could no longer shout.

The procession seemed like it would never end but when it did we were standing in front of Ravana. "Old friends! How kind of you to come when I am in such a troubled situation. You see, the streets are full of unwanted garlands and flowers after I walk down them and need to be blown off. Our city is without light and needs to have candles lit throughout and someone to burn our incense. I am most troubled by not knowing what time it is and need to be notified of every hour that passes in the day." At this moment I realized he wanted us to do petty jobs for him because he did not want to share us but wanted all the praise us deities get for himself. With an army as big and strong as Ravana's protecting him, an escape was impossible, so here we are today: Vayu, Yama and I in the very place we do not want to be serving the King least loved from the Sun to the Earth.

          

Author's Note: In the Ramayana by R.K. Narayan, Soorpanka runs to her brother, Ravana, for help in the city of Lanka where he reigns supreme lord. Here in this city Ravana has enslaved several gods to do petty jobs such as sweep the halls, light the lamps and keep the time. This particular passage in the Ramayana about the gods being enslaved, though just a short paragraph, intrigued me. 

The first thought that came to mind while reading was, how did they get to Lanka? That is when I thought of writing a story about how gods could wind up under the control of the evil demon, Ravana.  In telling the story the way I did I really wanted to show the reader how heartless Ravana is. I wanted there to be no doubt that Ravana is the antagonist throughout my stories. 

In the original story of The Ramayana: Book 7, Uttara Kandam Ravana wages war on the gods. He takes them prisoners of war and places himself above all the deities. In the story I have written the gods possess magical powers to attempt to break free from Ravana's capture. I chose the story to be told from the point of view of Agni, the god of fire, to better understand the situation he, Vayu and Yama have gotten into.     

Bibliography: The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic. Written by R.K. Narayan in 1972.