Chapter 18 - History of Rama (continued, 3)

Hanumana landed at Lanka in the evening, and commenced his search forthwith. He wandered all over the place for seven consecutive nights, but could not get any clue of Sita, although he discovered many important secrets during that period. At last, when he had nearly given up all hopes of success, he happened to pass by an Asoka grove in which he saw a most beautiful lady surrounded by demonesses, and guessed her to be the object of his search. He took his seat upon a tree and was debating in his mind whether he had come across the right person or not, when Ravana came to the spot and began to tempt her, but was repulsed.

This occurrence dispelled all doubts from his mind, and when Ravana was gone he came down from the tree, and prostrating himself before Sita, said “I am Rama’s servant.”

Sita seeing a strange creature standing before her, and hearing him pronounce her husband’s sweet name, began to question him with a view to testing his veracity. Hanumana answered her questions satisfactorily and gave her Rama’s ring to prove his trustworthiness. Sita placed the ring on her breast and wept for a long time.

Collecting herself after a while, she said,

“May you live long and be happy, my son, for bringing me the news of my beloved lord”.

Hanumana, after holding a long conversation with Sita, took leave of her, and went away, at dead of night, to explore the town of Lanka further. He entered a forest of tamarind trees in the midst of which he saw an Asoka tree in full blossom, standing on a golden platform. Under this tree there was a magnificient temple bedecked with rare and costly gems, the doors of which stood open. Inside the temple he saw the four-armed and three-eyed goddess, Syama, in all her youthful but sombre beauty. She was adorned with a necklace of human heads, and was surrounded by eight Yoginis of equal beauty, but of eight different colours.

Hanumana found her, dancing and singing the glories of Ravana, upon which he felt enraged and asked her in a stentorian voice who she was and why she was solicitous for the welfare of Ravana.

“Know”, he said “that my name is Hanumana. I am the brave and mighty son of Ravana Deva and the devoted servant of Rama. I have come here to seek his wife, Sita. lean devour the whole earth with its forests, mountains and oceans.”

The goddess said,

“I am the daughter of Himalaya, and my name is Chandika. I am known by various other names also, such as Kali, Parvati and others. The mighty Ravana worships me constantly, and as he has unswerving faith in me, I watch his interests keenly. Now, O monkey, if you are really what you represent yourself to be, show me your real form”.

Thereupon Hanumana at once assumed a tremendous form which was too terrible to look at. His eyes were, as it were protruding out of their sockets, his mouth became exceedingly large and within it the goddess saw millions of demons half crushed by his teeth and sticking to them. There were many others similarly sticking to his nails. Every hair of his body represented a monkey as big and powerful as himself. She saw Kama seated on his head discharging arrows on Ravana, and holding Kumbhakarana in his left hand. The great Lakshmana shone on Hanumana’s forehead, and Sita sat above Lakshmana’s crest gazing intently and reverently at the feet of Rama. The great city of Lanka, with all its demon inhabitants, was situated between his eyebrows and was on fire, while the pious and mighty Vibhishana occupied the regions of his heart, and looked like the crowned king of Lanka.

The goddess, seeing all this, respectfully said,

“O Hanumana, I know you are Rudra^[1] himself incarnated as a monkey in order to help Rama in wiping away the demons with their lord. Assume your mild form again and advise me what to do”.

Hanumana said,

“O Devi, I beseech you to leave Lanka and go somewhere else. It ill becomes you to protect Ravana who has stolen away my lord’s wife You know that as long as you are here Ravana cannot be killed by Rama, and even my strength and power, of which I have just given you an idea, will be frittered away in your presence. You are also aware that the protection of Ravana means the destruction of the world”.

The goddess said,

“Sita’s cause is my cause, and I was myself thinking of leaving Lanka when I met you. As you also advise me to leave it, I shall certainly do so”.

Hanumana acknowledged her kind determination in suitable terms and requested her to bless Rama so that he might be able to conquer Ravana. This the Devi readily did, and promised to help Rama in his enterprise. He also besought her to leave Lanka while he was there, and she did so.

When Chandi^[2] left Lanka the night was nearly over, and Hanumana effecting an entrance into the impervious Pramodakanana,^[3] began to destroy it. Ravana, on hearing this, sent a large number of demons to capture the intruder, but Hanumana made short work of them, and with their blood, and the rare flowers of the garden, worshipped the goddess.

At night he had a fight with Indrajit, the son of Ravana, in which he allowed himself to be captured and bound. In the morning he was brought before Ravana who ordered that his long tail should be swathed in a large quantity of cloth and burnt. No sooner was this done than Hanumana leapt from place to place, and set the whole town on fire. He thereafter went to see Sita who asked him to beseech her lord to deliver her from the hands of the demon as soon as possible, adding that if she was not delivered in the course of the next two months she would commit suicide.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The God Siva. See page 48 where Siva promised to be born as a powerful monkey to help Rama.

[2]:

The goddess Kali.

[3]:

Literally—garden of delight. Name of a garden in Lanka.