Week 6 Story: The Freezing of Lanka

Hey guys! There's an updated version of this story, here!

Entering into lab that day, Ravana was very angry getting news from his guards that Sita had escaped their arms, and that Hanuman had found his way to Lanka. He knew that Hanuman had come his city to save Sita. He had to think quickly and figure out a way to stop Hanuman. Ravana had been working in lab on trying to find a solution that could instantly freeze. Ravana however wasn’t fully successful. He was able to make a solution that would instantly freeze any substance that was injected, or introduced to the solution, but after a minute or two it was unfreeze. One of his guards told him he knew a man that used to put some type of herb into his iced drinks that would stop the ice from melting and keep his drinks cold. Ravana immediately ordered his guard to bring this substance to him at once.

The herb had finally arrived and Ravana instantly crushed it into his solution. After the herbs had dissolved Ravana stated to the same guard that brought him the herb, “you should have told be about this earlier”.

The guard instant froze and after a good five minutes remained in that state. Ravana was pleasantly pleased. Now all Ravana had to do was capture Hanuman and inject him with his solution. Hanuman was in town disguised as a spy. One of the guard that were on the hunt for him caught him and brought him to Ravana.

Ravana injected Hanuman with the solution without giving him any last words. However, when Hanuman was injected he didn't turn into ice. Nothing seemed to happen. Ravana was so confident that his solution would work, that he sent out all his guards to go find Sita.

Hanuman had no idea what Ravana had given him but he knew he had to escape Ravana somehow. Hanuman tried to run and escape the lab, but as soon as he touched the door handle it froze. Confused Hanuman tried to turn the knob but it broke off. He quickly kicked the door down as it began to freeze and ran out the lab. Still in confusion, Hanuman set out to find Sita. He ran all over town but noticed that has he was searching through shops, store, and buildings everything was turning into ice; including some people he accidently bumped into.

He finally found Sita in the park sitting alone. Sita was so happy to see Hanuman and went to go give him a hug. Hanuman dogged Sita and she hit the ground. Confused, Sita asked Hanuman what he was doing. Hanuman told Sita that anything he touched would turn to ice and he already turned half the city into ice. Knowing that Ravana was still hunting for Sita, Hanuman told Sita they had to escape quickly. Hanuman quickly tore off a piece of his pants and told Sita to hold it in-between their hands and he would fly them out of Lanka.

Sita was in disappointment that Rama had not come to save her. Sita reached to grab Hanuman’s hand and while doing so told him that Rama will find a way to fix everything. Before Hanuman could ask her what she was talking about she had turned into ice.

As Sita was reaching out to grab Hanuman’s hand, Hanuman didn't see her pull the cloth from his hand and she touched him.

Ravana's lab frozen after Hanuman escaped.
(Source: Daily Mail)

Author’s Note: From the story of The Burning of Lanka, Hanuman was never injected with a solution that would turn everything he touched into ice. In the story, Ravana actually had ordered for his tail to be set on fire after he found out he came for Sita. Then somehow Sita knew of this plan and prayed to the Fire that he would not feel the heat. Hanuman only felt a cooling sensation when his tail was set on fire. This story was twisted to have Hanuman basically do the opposite of the actual story. Sita was also not necessarily in hiding and Hanuman didn't find her in a park. He did however find her eventually as he did in the original story and tried to convince her to flea with him. However in both stories, Sita only wanted to be saved by Rama. The ending in this story was left in suspicion of Sita being frozen and Hanuman not having a way to take her with him. I decided to keep the basic story line the same of Hanuman trying to save Sita, but her not wanting to leave with him. I did however change the setting to a modern day setting, some of the locations of the events, and the biggest thing of all, Hanuman being able to freeze everything instead of setting it on fire.

Bibliography: PDE Ramayana - The Burning of Lanka