Embrace the challenge. We struggle so often in this age of technology with doubt and distraction. Find work you enjoy and take pride in completing it. 

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Rama and Hanuman stared out over the gulf. Ravana’s trail ended here, and their army was tired. Cool blue water lapped along the shore, and dignified waves crested on the sand with slow, measured thoughtfulness. The natural coastline receded on both sides from the beach, leaving a wide but deeply submerged sandbar pointing the way to Lanka.

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Three daily sacrifices to Varuna, the Lord of the Ocean, proved fruitless. Rama’s impatience crested, and he resolved to set the ocean itself ablaze, reasoning that a threat would have greater success than supplication to attract the attentions of the deity. Varuna arrived on his makara later that day, moments before Rama released his weapon. They stared at one another, and Rama saw rage in Varuna’s eyes.

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"Rama, I will not help you. To assist in such a matter would be disrespectful to all under my rule, as the ocean exists for man, rakshasa, and creature alike. To dry up these waters to sand would be an unspeakable atrocity, and this I shall not do. But, there is hope yet. A gifted architect travels within your army of Vanaras, and therein lies your crossing. You have five days and no longer."

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Rama summoned the brothers Nala and Nila from the Vanara army to the shore, and Rama asked them if such a thing were possible. They grinned at each other and nodded.

 

Nila, the soldier, directed the work and organized the troops. Teams of the strongest Vanaras gathered rocks of every size and shape, while others searched for strong, tall trees to fell. They sorted raw materials on the beach by size and type. Stacks of basalt, granite, pumice and wood grew as the Vanaras labored.

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Nala, the architect, dug a series of deep pools in the sand, and constructed several miniature bridge models using various combinations of materials.  The waves were the most difficult part to mimic, and he recreated them by drafting several Vanaras to churn the pools at regular intervals. 

Much to his surprise, the lightweight, porous lava rocks of pumice were much more capable at withstanding the watery assault of the Vanara’s waves than the sturdy, weightier counterparts of basalt and granite. 

 

He sat under a banyan tree at sunset. He watched the army move as the tide receded, and he decided they resembled ants in a hive. The plan was good, he thought. His brother approached with dinner for both, and together they drew the bridge schematic on the wet sand: a base of boulders resting beneath a lattice of lumber and lava stone. After arguing briefly, they agreed on rough estimations for amounts of each type required, and the brothers retired to the camp.

 

A brown squirrel perched overhead watched the drawing grow in the sand, motionless and hidden. The wildlife mostly abandoned this piece of the beach with the arrival of Rama and his troops, but this one squirrel remained. When the two brothers departed, she fled into the jungle, and her tale is told elsewhere.

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The assembly line was finally at capacity, and the brothers remained busy. As the structure grew, each Vanara team carried their sections to the end. The cycle of boulder, lumber, and lava stone repeated from dawn to dusk, and the bridge grew with remarkable speed, passing the line of sight from the beach before the second day. Hanuman deterred Ravana's saboteurs, remaining along the bridge and guarding the stones from fish and mermaid thieves.

 

The storm came one day before they finished. As the sky grew darker both brothers eyed their handiwork nervously, and Rama himself approached their station at the end of the bridge. It will hold, Nala told himself. Mighty waves battered the bridge, which now seemed frail and insignificant. Smaller rock sections washed free of their moorings, and the lumber supports creaked beneath their feet. As the entire bridge began to sway beneath the waves, both brothers shared a resigned glance and braced themselves.

 

Suddenly, the wind stopped. A final wave crested, revealing Varuna astride his makara just meters from the bridge. He stared in silence before finally nodding to the brothers and addressing Rama.

 

"This is acceptable."

 

Then he was gone, and with him departed the gale.

 

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The setting sun cast a long shadow behind the brothers upon the bridge. Their burden, a large boulder, was the last of the stones for the bridge linking Lanka to the mainland. Rama and Hanuman watched from the shore, heading the assembled army. A great cheer rose up from the crowd as the brothers set the boulder in place, and the army of Rama proceeded onwards to Lanka, supported by the bridge of floating stones.  

 

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Author's note

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The brothers Nala and Nila are referenced in various versions of the Ramayana, and both are credited in several places with the construction and design of the bridge built to carry Rama's army to Lanka to rescue Sita from Ravana. I was taken with the idea that Rama essentially threatened to set the ocean on fire to attract Varuna's attention, and I chose to use Varuna as the antagonist in the form of a storm. I love stories of skill and determination, and I also wanted to highlight the teamwork aspect of Nila’s military organization set against the chaos of Nala’s creativity. They enjoyed a challenge, and that was my favorite part. Both brothers are also told to possess a magical skill of causing stones to float, which I tried to incorporate using actual stones that float rather than a mystical power. One aspect I deliberately kept out of this rendition is the inscription of Rama's name on every stone, told in some stories as a method of causing them to float in order. I may return and give Varuna some more backstory, as he has a fascinating reputation for responding only to violence and threats. I originally planned to write this set in the modern era, contrasting the two brothers as they grew up, and showcasing some fanciful technological marvel (probably space related) that they slaved on over a few years. I finally decided there wasn't enough space in our word count limitation for a story of this type, and went with the original setting. 

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Bibliography

"Nala"  "Nila"  "Varuna" - Wikipedia

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Image Information: Wikimedia Commons

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