Sundara Kandam 2

Entering on His left foot, He walked through the city and took in the sights and sounds of Lanka. He waited till late night and then started looking for Sita Devi.

He had looked everywhere, but since He was not able to see Sita Devi, He was gripped with fear, wondering if Sita Devi was alive. However, He had Sri Rama’s blessing and continued His search when He spotted the Ashoka Van. In the Ashoka Van, He saw Sita Devi beneath a big Simshupa tree. Continuous fasting had made Her weak. Her clothes were worn out and tear stained. Surrounded by ugly and horrid ogresses, she was calling out to Sri Rama.

As He watched Her, Ravana entered and tried to coerce Sita Devi to marry him. Sita Devi treated him with contempt as though he was not equal to even a blade of grass. He was angered and he gave her an ultimatum of two months and left. She was then coerced and persecuted by the ogresses. However an elderly woman Trijata, intervened and warned them saying that she had a dream that Sri Rama would come and destroy them.

Hanuman who had watched enough, started singing softly about Sri Rama. Cleverly, Hanuman had aroused Her curiosity without alarming Her. He then met Her and narrated all the events and how Sri Rama spent every waking and sleeping minute in Her thought. He also gave Her the signet ring from Sri Rama. She was overjoyed and thrilled to hear about Sri Rama and wanted Hanuman to repeat the stories over and over again.

Hanuman was so joyous on seeing Her that He immediately offered to save Her and take Her away. When He told this to Sita Devi, she smiled and wondered how a little monkey could achieve this. Hanuman then revealed His huge form and Sita Devi was convinced of His power. She however told Him that she would want Her Lord to come and save Her and only that would be creditable to His bravery. Hanuman was overawed and humbled by Her chastity and devotion to Lord Rama. She then gave Hanuman Her crest jewel, which was Her wedding present, as a token of remembrance and to authenticate Hanuman’s meeting. She also narrated some incidents which only she and Sri Rama knew about.

Once, when Sita Devi and Sri Rama were resting together, Indra’s son came as a crow and pecked and hurt Her. Sri Rama was so incensed that he invoked the powerful Brahmastra. The crow was followed by a ball of fire, wherever he went and finally, he fell at Sri Rama’s feet and begged for mercy. Sri Rama spared him, but since the Brahmastra cannot go waste, He took his eye. Sita Devi wanted to remind Sri Rama that when a mere crow had angered Him so much, how much more punishment Ravana deserved for having imprisoned and persecuted Her! Hanuman then left with tears in His eyes and determination in His heart.

Hanuman’s mission was to find Sita Devi and this was accomplished. Nevertheless, He had the foresight not to stop with this. He wanted to survey the real strength of the enemy so that He could inform Sri Rama accordingly. In order to draw attention, He started destroying Ravana’s prided Ashoka Van. Sri Hanuman let His monkey qualities take over and wrecked the place, enjoying every moment of it sparing only the Simshupa tree under which Sita Devi was seated.

Ravana sent troops, sons of ministers, his army chiefs and even his favorite son Akshakumara. When all of them failed, Ravana was puzzled and grieved. Indrajit, Ravana’s son who had defeated Indra himself, then set forth to fight Sri Hanuman. Indrajit used the Brahmastra. Hanuman had Brahma’s boon and so, was unaffected. In order to meet Ravana, Hanuman pretended to be bound by the missile and fell on the ground and remained motionless. The demons in their haste tied Him with ropes. Indrajit regretted their hasty move since he knew that the Brahmaastra would become useless.

Ravana was astonished when Sri Hanuman was brought before him. How was a mere monkey able to gain entrance to his capital city, guarded as it was by demons armed with powerful weapons? In Ravana’s court, Ravana treated Sri Hanuman rudely. Ravana did not even offer Him a seat but He made a seat with his tail, which was so high that Ravana was forced to look up to Him! Sri Hanuman warned Ravana that he should return Sita Devi or be prepared to face destruction of the entire tribe. Sri Hanuman warned Ravana that his boon of invincibility at the hands of all beings excluded men and monkeys. Ravana was so upset that he ordered the execution of Sri Hanuman. Killing the messenger instead of the originator of the message is an unpardonable crime and Vibhishana reasoned with Ravana and pacified him. Instead, Ravana ordered setting fire to Sri Hanuman’s tail.