Amala and Trijata
This is the fictional story of Amala, a young woman living in India sometime after 500 B.C.
One morning Amala’s mother had a headache. When thirteen-year-old Amala asked her mother what was wrong, her mother said she was worried that the monsoon rains were not going to come, and that all the valley’s crops would dry up and blow away.
Amala did not know what to tell her mother. They sat together in front of their hut, and then Amala’s mother asked her to get some river water so she could cool her forehead.
On her way down the hill to the river, Amala walked by the drooping wheat shoots. The plants looked thirsty. The sun beat down on the hard, dry soil. Amala scooped up a handful of dusty dirt. Perhaps her mother was right—perhaps the rains would not come. What would they do then?
Amala daydreams beneath a tree.
Ravana kidnaps Sita and carries her away in his chariot.
At the edge of the Ganges River, Amala looked up at the foothills of the Himalayas to the north. She remembered her father explaining that the river began in those mountains where the god Brahma washed the feet of the god Vishnu. She also remembered her mother telling her that Amala meant “clean and pure,” a tribute to the holy Ganges.
Amala looked at her reflection in the Ganges. She was wearing the cotton sari her mother had woven. She stirred the water with her hand. Her reflection blurred in the rippling water and her face became another face—the face of Trijata.
Trijata was Amala’s favorite character in the Ramayana, the long story her grandfather told while they sat under the stars beside the yagna, the community fireplace. The story was about Rama, a human form of Vishnu. Like the river, Rama was calm but very strong. However, Rama had a dreadful enemy.
Rama’s enemy was Ravana. Ravana had several heads and arms. He commanded an army of rakshasas, or demons. One day, Ravana kidnapped Rama’s beautiful wife Sita. Poor Sita! She was trapped in Ravana’s kingdom for so long that she began to lose hope that Rama would ever save her.
Ravana had a niece, Trijata. She was a rakshasa, but she was not like the other rakshasas. They were cruel and bloodthirsty, but Trijata was kindhearted and compassionate. Amala loved the part in the Ramayana when Trijata dreams that Rama destroys Ravana and his rakshasa army, demolishes Ravana’s kingdom, and saves Sita. When Trijata wakes from her dream, she runs to the courtyard where several rakshasas are terrorizing Sita, threatening to tear her flesh from her bones and eat her piece-by-piece. “Stop!” Trijata demands. “If you do not treat Sita with respect, Rama will destroy you! I have seen this come true in my dream!” Then the other rakshasas back away from Sita, and good-hearted, compassionate Trijata reassures Sita that Rama will indeed come for her.
After facing many challenges, Rama fights Ravana. After two days of battle, Rama calls on God for help. As a result of his prayer, his arrow becomes the missile of Brahma. Rama shoots this weapon, and it flies into Ravana’s heart and kills him. Finally, Rama rescues Sita.
Amala watched the river’s surface become smooth. Her own face was again sharp in the water. Suddenly, she knew what to tell her mother. She
Trijata warns the other rakshasas to stay away from Sita.
Rama kills Ravana by shooting a mighty arrow into his heart.
would echo the message of Trijata. She would tell her mother that she must not lose hope. She would sprinkle the clean, pure water of the holy Ganges on her mother’s forehead, and she would say, “The rain will come, mother. Like Rama to Sita, the rain will come.”
In this story, you read about Amala, a fictional character set in the world of early India. Based on this story, how important do you think geography, including climate, was to the people of early India?
Text Dependent Questions:
- What crops are grown along the Ganges River?
- Why are monsoons important to India?
- How is Trijata different from the other rakshasas?
- What was Trijata’s dream?
- Why do you suppose that Amala felt a deeper connection to Trijata than to Sita?