Myth of Prince Arjuna and Princess Sita

“Great is your happiness Edrahil, king of Varagana, because from your lineage, through your son, dozens of towns will emerge. Your son will be like the sun, he will join the moon and illuminate these lands covered by the thick forest.”
“But, oh Goddess, who will that Moon be? Because I have had to look far for my queen” answered the king “Your son will travel farther, towards the lands of the West, where some of your ancestors achieved their feats” - the goddess sweetly answered, putting her hand on his shoulder, there where I found my beloved”.
“But, oh Divine Mother, that is very far, the trip would be very dangerous, and I, as a father, do not want anything to happen to my son and heir” answered the king worried.
“One day you will have to let him go, like when a jockey in a race stops pulling the horse so that it stands still when the signal is given to start.”

— Conversation between the goddess Tyr and King Edrahil, Arjuna's father.

The Myth of Prince Arjuna and Princess Sita, also known as the Romance of Arjuna and Sita is one of the most famous and cherised mythical stories of the elves (and not only for them but also the various human nations that have contact with them and have been somehow influenced by them, such as the Davidovian peoples, the Wesdalandians or the Nari. It symbolizes the struggle of good and evil, love against hate and it is the source of many mythological creatures and royal dynasties. Many love stories across the centuries in both the human and elven world have been shaped or influenced by this myth and this beautiful love story has also been widely represented in art.

Main plot

The story begins with the birth of Prince Arjuna from King Edrahil of Varagana and Queen Vapura. The same night the young prince was born The king had a dream in which the Goddess of the Earth appeared before him in his garden, sitting in a fountain, playing with the water. Recognizing her, the king prostrated himself before her in a sign of respect. The Divine Mother asked him to get up and sit with her at the edge of the fountain. There the king saw the face of his son both as a baby and as a young man. Then the goddess prophesied the love and marriage between the young prince and a princess:

Your son will be like the sun, he will join with the moon and illuminate these lands covered by the thickness of the forest.

100 years passed and Arjuna became a handsome young prince, a great horseman, archer, warrior and wise man, instructed in all the arts and knowledge of the elves. During this period of time the king also had three beautiful daughters: Melah, Kanfinme, Rusyanri, who were as good with the bow as they were dancing around the fire.
One day the prince wanted to go hunting with his sisters and after walking for several hours through the forest Arjuna decided to collect water in a pond with a small waterfall that was nearby. Once he got there and collected water, he began to wash his face and wipe the sweat from his forehead, when suddenly he saw that, reflected in the water was the face of a very beautiful young woman and he instantly fell in love with her. For a moment the waters of the waterfall froze, as if it were a mirror, and both young people could see themselves on the other side of the mirror. They fell in love so much that they swore to find each other.
When the prince returned to the palace he told his father about this, who, amazed, finally understood the oracle of the Goddess, and sadly told his son that the time had come, since it had been done by the Goddess of the Earth. And the next day after a great banquet in their respective kingdoms, the two lovers set out in search of each other.
Both lovers faced many perils across the journey, which extended across the entire plains of Southern Yeia, including tricks and attacks from evil spirits and gods that try to avoid them to finally meet each other. And, when everything seem lost, since Arjuna was blinded by an spell from Famyr, one of the evil spirits and main antagonists , Sita's love and faith in the mission set by the gods worked a miracle, she defeated the dark witch and with her tears, which fell on her lover's eyes, the spell was broken and they were able to see each other for the first time since they saw each other through the reflection in the water.

Main characters

Heroes

by Callyxtus

Arjuna: One of the two protagonists of this myth. His name means "heroic heart", He is the prince and heir of the Kingdom of Varanaga, kind, intelligent, cultivate and skillful swordsman, He is the perfect example of how an elven prince should be and act. His main goal is to find is to find his beloved and thus fulfill the prophecy.

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by Callyxtus

Sita: The other main protagonist. A brave princess, skillful with the bow as well as friendly and tenacious, she is also known in the myth as "the one with the sweet voice". She is the youngest daughter of King Auryn of Purapa. His main goal is to find the young prince she fell in love with by seeing his reflection in the crystal-clear waters of the fountain.

Hirapa: Hirapa is one of the main companions of Arjuna during his quest to find Sita. He is a famous the archetype of a dwarf in the eyes of the elves, a renown blacksmith, former miner and also herbalist (this is related to the old idea of the "Wisdom of the Dwarves", an old idea that the dwarves have a wide knowledge about many topics", He helps our male hero defeating many monsters and he is the creator of a iron shield resistant to arrows (mind you that this was still the bronze age for many of the cultures in Yeia, so that's quite an impressive invention).

Athiphyn: Athiphyn is, or better said, was Arjuna's cousin. He was a brave warrior, and an accomplished poet, in Arjuna's words: "He was one of the kindest and most honorable of the elves". He died during the The Siege of Dorstulon, the city of the Ten Walls due to Mana's tricks, but thanks to his intercession before the gods, he returns for a few moments in the form of a spirit to the realm of mortals where he warned Arjuna about Mana's disguise as Princess Sita, the goddess is said to have flown in fear watching the spirit of this brave deceased warrior.

The Wondering sage: He is a misterious character in the story. He appears near the Big Bamboo forest near the city of Apura (perhaps modern Bazira). Arjuna found him on top of a rock meditating, He offered food to the hungry young prince and tought them some spells that would prove useful during the rest of his journey. He accompanied Arjuna to Vapi Bridge where before crossing he dissapeared . Some people say the sage was in reality Abbon Shabai, the god of wisdom in disguised.

Zerah, goddess of Storm and Thunder: In the epic tale it is also mentioned that the goddess of Thunder helped princess Sita in more than one occasion. The first instance was when in the forests near the delta of the Parana Riverthe Storm goddess appeared to Sita in a dream warning about the incomming danger (his cousin, King Lorël of Atrapa wanted to marry her and wasn't going to accept his rival, prince Arjuna to have that honour, so he send his best horsemen to kidnapp Sita) and advicing her to take refuge in a nearby cave on a mountain, then, a terrible storm happened and rain poured from the skies like never before, and when the horsemen were crossing the nearby river, they were drawned by the might of the river .
The second instance was when Sita was crossing the Western Plains where he was surprised by harpies send my Mana as well as nearby hobgobling tribemen who began shooting at her from the nearby hills, Zerah then appeared and cut each arrow with lightning and her and sita climbed onto a magical cloud and began to shoot with their bows to the harpies and the hobgoblings who were force to flee or hide.

Villains

by Callyxtus

Mana: She is one of the main villains of the story, as this tale takes place a thousand years or more before her redemption. She is sent by the God of Evil and Death in order to prevent the two lovers from meeting each other so that they won't be able to produce a race that would fight darkness. She tried twice to seduce the young prince and to either kill or to misguide the princess, all of these attempts ended up in failure.

Khair: The God of evil and death, and the main villain of the story. He sees the union of Arjuna and Sita as a very annoying obstacle to his new plan to overthrow the gods after having lost the war millennia ago. He fears that if the elves take the side of the gods of light then he will not be able to defeat them with the forces at his disposal.

Famyr: Also known as the Shadow Witch or "The Spider", is one of the henchmen sent by Khair to end the lovers' lives. She is very skillful with dark magic creating shadow ghosts that can track and attack a person, it is said in the story that she is capable of teleporting herself to wherever her mind wants and also that her footsteps cannot be heard, which he uses to his advantage to kill some secondary characters who try to protect the two young heirs.

Mythological creatures mentioned

The story is also famous for the many creatures both protagonists face across their mutual journey. There are so many that entire books were written only to classify them , for example this was done in the Seris Empire, under the influence of the elven culture, and this work is known as the "Book of Monsters". Some of the most curious monsters are the Aruuni, tanuki like monsters who can stop and turn back time; or the Sekavi , a curious yet terrifying type of monster who had crab horns on thei heads, the face of a human and the body of a great ape surrounded by an aura of fire.
Other mythological creatures (not evil and certainly not monstruous) that appear in the story are the Tyrin, the messenger of the gods who play an important role not only informing the gods about the progress of the lovers but in some chapters of the story they actually take on their humanoid form and help the protagonists fight some monsters or giving them an advice or amulets for the journey. These creatures have dragon like faces, with red or golden eyes, goat horns, cow tails, a dog like body and reptilian paws, but, so as not to frighten mortals, they generally take the form of very beautiful young boys or girls with golden or red eyes and with horns on their heads, and because of that they're are often confused with Tieflings of Light if you don't pay attention to their human like ears (in comparison with the pointy, elf-like ears of the Tieflings).

Later influence

The myth of Arjuna and Sita inspired other tales and are, in fact, the inspiration for some of them. An example of this is Rusyanri's saga. In this tale, Arjuna's sister also fells in love with a princess from another kingdom and against his evil father's will Arjuna's sister helps her lover scape the palace, the rest of the story is just both of them trying to defeat the heroes and pretenders that the evil king sends to intercept them.

Papyrus from the Sun Elf 3rd Dynasty showing the Gods of the Earth and the Sun, the Lovers Star and Prince Arjuna by Callyxtus

This myth is also one of the most beloved stories even outside the elven world. The story is a common topic for example in Seris and Blatian art. For example the marriage between Theophilus I and Empress Lucille, was compared with the Tale of Arjuna and Sita, because of the unfortunate dangers and perils that the Empress had to suffer trying to reach the Blatian Empire , and also because of the love and affection shown by this couple. Seris paintings have also depicting for example the encounter between the Wondering Sage and Arjuna or the lover's final encounter.
In the Nari novel of the 5th century, The Pious Travel across the Hills one of the characters that help the priests and the merchant caravan is Arjuna himself, descended from the heavens with the task of helping these faithful pilgrims on their journey.
The myth is also very important in terms of genealogy since many elven kings claim (truly or falsely) descent from these mythical couple. Especially the elven rulers of Southern Teria and the South-West Teria as well as the Sun Elf Kings via their Anthynerynn ancestry. In fact, the founder of the Lotus Empire, Aterion Yn Amr El-Audin claimed descent from the legendary couple.

Date of First Recording

Around 2900 BP

Date of Setting

Probably around 4500 BP

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