(A banyan tree in Honolulu, Hawaii, upload to Pixabay by user DebraJean)
The style I would like to approach with this story is one that I dub "After Happily Ever After," for lack of a dictionary term. This means that this story occurs after the dust has settled from the previous one and explores the lives of characters afterwards. In this case there are two principal characters: Rama and Vibhishana.
The two characters sit under a banyan tree one day, possibly in one of the jungles from the story) to discuss the state of the kingdoms of Kosala and Lanka, and eventually the conversation reaches the subjects like whether they are fit to lead their kingdoms, whether the lives involved in the war against Ravana were necessary, and the natures of humans and the Rakshasas. Both find some answers in each other, and come to terms so that they can move on.
Rama would display mild grief from Sita's departure from the world and himself feeling unfaithful, and guilt from involving his family in the war. However, he would still have confidence and wisdom to assuage Vibhishana's worries about changing the Rakshasas' image and coming to terms with the treason he had to commit.
Vibhishana could possess a strong sense of virtue and speak from contrasting his own family's faults to assure Rama that the involvement of his family was not a selfish act, and that he can move on and come to terms with Sita's departure. He could also display a sense of pressure due to new responsibilities as king and trying to civilize his culture.
The setting of the banyan tree comes from research of Akshayavat, a sacred fig tree that Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita are said to have rested under once.
The title (possibly working) comes from the Hinduism thought process of the four core goals of human life: Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha (see bibliography for details).
Bibliography
Ramayana, inspiration taken from Donald A. Mackenzie's Indian Myth and Legend (1913)
Wikipedia research on Akshayavat (and by extension, banyan), and Hinduism
When I started to read this post, I was unsure of what a purushartas was. But overall, I think the planning you did for this week was great. You had a lot of great details, and it's probably more than I ever put into a story. So kudos to you. I hope this story went well for you the following week.
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