Week 15 Story: Virupa's Transformation

She stared at the mirror in shock. The face that looked back at her looked nothing like the one she had seen her whole life. She ran her fingers through her beautiful hair and felt a tear run down her flawless cheeks. Throughout all her life, she was ridiculed for her appearance. All the riches that had surrounded her weren’t enough to shield her from the sting of the words spat at her.

On this night, she had hoped to end the pain once in for all. She looked down at the rope she had thought would bring her peace. In a way it did, but not how she thought it would. The man had left as quickly as he arrived. He said nothing but left her with a sense of awe as he sent forth divine magic into her body. The wounds along her neck were healed and the fire in her heart was reignited.

Virupa looked around at the room she had been forced to stay in for so long. She thought on all the hateful words her husband said to her during their marriage. The look on his face when he saw her for the first time was burned into her memory. She closed her eyes and saw that face now. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she finally opened her eyes.

She looked back at the face that was reflected in the mirror. Virupa stood tall and proud and stormed to her room. She packed her things and left her home. She decided then and there that she would never let another man control her feelings the way they had for so long. She would tell her father, the King, how the man he gave her away to treated her and would go off in the world to find her own way.

Buddha Blessing: Source

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Author’s Note - Source

In this story, I followed the narrative of Virupa in The Life Of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold. In the original story, Virupa was the daughter of the King and was exceedingly ugly. She was given to a man who treated her very poorly and didn’t let her leave their house. She ended up getting so depressed that she attempted to hang herself. The Buddha appeared and saved her as well as transformed her into the most beautiful woman in the world. Her husband came back and they lived happily ever after.

That last part is what I hated about that story. The stories before this one in that book were also pretty damn misogynistic, but that ending was the nail in the coffin for me. I will admit that I probably didn’t write out a particularly well-written story in this one. Those emotions that I was trying to capture were difficult for me to articulate in this story. I wanted to change the ending so that Virupa can go live her life how she wants. Ganga, her husband, does not deserve her.

Bibliography
Virupa by Andre Ferdinand Herold