Bits of life

J-16 Words-1800

moderate nature possessing qualities like sympathy and kindness unlike the others of her kind. She said,
“Hail sisters, listen to me carefully. Let us not pester Sita anymore. I had a dream in the early hours of today. I dreamt of frightening things. Let me share them with you. I saw Rama and Lakshmana wearing white and sitting on a white elephant were air bound. Sita was sitting on the lap of Rama. She was stretching her hand and brushed her palm against the moon and the stars. All the three were happy and were smiling. Rama had just won the war with Ravana. The three worlds sang the praises of Rama while the world of demons cried with desperation and death. Their evil world was destroyed by Rama and his army of ape men. I saw Ravana being dragged on the earth southward by an ugly woman. He was rolling in dirt and unspeakable desecration.”

“O my sisters! Beware of Sita, Rama’s wife and a powerful woman due to her righteous and chaste behavior. Let us not invite our ends by making her suffer with barbed words. Let us pray and appeal to her to be kind to us at the end of our kingdom. She will at least be kind enough to spare our lives.”

All the rest of the demonesses fell silent in shock. As a result of Trijata’s narration of her dream now they were afraid to say a single word of rebuke to Sita. They kept themselves at a distance from her. As Hanuman observed closely from atop the Asoka tree, Trijata was seen consoling Sita and telling her not to cry and not to wish for death in that hour adversity. Sita replied that in the lap of death there might be consolation for her. Trijata once again tried her best to awaken the lamp of hope in the desperate mind of Sita. She said that her fate might change any time from darkness to joy. Her hopes might materialize and Rama might be trying to send a messenger to Lanka to inquire after Sita. So saying Trijata asked Sita to rest a little as all the ogresses had gone away out of fear. Trijata too left leaving Sita all by herself. Sita lost her hopes completely and now she wanted to take her life with her hands. She got up and tried to knot her long hair around her and die by hanging herself from the tree branch.

Looking at her state of absolute hopelessness, Hanuman started singing of Rama’s story and the way he left Ayodhya with Sita and Lakshmana after Kaikeyi asked him to go on exile for fourteen years. Sita looked up and saw a small monkey hidden among the leaves. She wondered who sang Rama’s praises in such a melodious way. Then Hanuman came down from the tree and addressed her thus.

“O mother Sita! I am Hanuman, son of wind. Sree Rama sent me as a messenger to you. He had sent his signet ring for you to recognize and understand that I am truly a messenger of Rama.”
But Sita was in doubt if this ape man was another of the magic acts of the demons. So she appealed to him asking him to leave her alone.

It was Hanuman’s turn to convince her of his genuine mission. He narrated the story of how Rama and Sugriva had met and made a bond of friendship with fire as their witness. He told her how Rama was suffering the separation from her. He said that at least she could speak of her sorrow to a demoness. But Rama never revealed his sorrow or hurt to anyone.

When Sita was wondering how mere ape men could win over the power of demons, Hanuman tried to convince her that some of the ape men were stronger than him and then he proceeded to show her his giant form. Still Sita was under the opinion that Ravana was a mighty demon. And that it was not easy to conquer a demon like that for Rama and his ape soldiers. Finally, she got a little redress by the word of Hanuman. Then Hanuman wanted to be captured by Ravana’s men and that he thought would give him a chance to meet the ten headed demon king of Lanka. He started to pull the trees off the ground and attracted the attention of the guardsmen. They tried to capture him and Hanuman wanted to test the skill and strength of the enemy. So he fought with them and drove them away.

The guardsmen ran away to report the matter to Ravana. He was in a meeting with his son Aksha Kumar. When the messengers reported the way the Asoka grove was ruined and about the power of the strange ape, Aksha Kumar made fun of them. He said that they should be ridiculed for losing against a mere ape. The guards insisted that it was not a mere ape. It was stronger and more cunning. Aksha Kumar was angry that a small matter like this should have been dealt with at a lower level instead of being reported to the king. He felt his father, the emperor of Lanka should not have been disturbed.

After that Aksha Kumar took a small army and went to confront Hanuman who was still on the job of ruining the Asoka grove. Hanuman and Aksha Kumar eyed each other trying to understand each other’s move. Then Hanuman hit the chariot of Aksha Kumar and broke it to pieces. Aksha Kumar with the help of his demonic magical power disappeared from the ground on which he was standing and hit Hanuman with his arrow on the head. Then he stood in mid air and laughed at Hanuman. The son of wind too had the power to stand equally poised in mid air and they fought with each other. Aksha Kumar fought with a sword and Hanuman with his mace. Hanuman held the legs of Aksha Kumar and turned him round and round and threw him to the ground. The impact separated Aksha Kumar’s legs from the rest of his body. He died instantly.

When the news of Aksha Kumar’s death was reported to Ravana, he became crazy with sorrow. He grieved the death of his warrior son and vowed revenge. He wanted to go to war with the ape man himself. But his eldest son Indrajit stopped him saying that as the eldest son of the emperor of Lanka it was his duty to avenge the death of his younger brother. Besides, he knew how to fight with a magical power like that of Hanuman. He assured his father of a definite victory and left for the Asoka grove where the ape man still waited for more fighting.

Indrajit went into the orchard and saw the havoc wreaked by a mere monkey. So he called Hanuman a thief for stealing fruit from the grove. Hanuman gave a fitting reply by saying that if there was thief here it was his father. He was the biggest thief that needed to be punished for abducting Sita in her husband’s absence. Indrajit lost his temper and started aiming powerful arrows at Hanuman. They lost their power against the power of Hanuman’s mace. Stunned by Hanuman’s ability, Indrajit used the most powerful weapon named the Brahmastra (the weapon of Brahma) on Hanuman. Out of respect for Brahma, Hanuman surrendered to it. Hanuman let himself be bound without protest. Indrajit ordered his men to take the monkey to the emperor’s court.
In the Asoka grove, the demon women started pestering Sita who she was talking to in the early hours of the day. Then they also told her that the ape man was captured by Indrajit and was being taken to the king’s court where he would get his award of punishment from the king. Sita was worried and sad at the news of Hanuman being held captive by the demon king’s eldest son, Indrajit.

Hanuman was tied up with long ropes and chains and was pulled through the streets of Lanka. The people of Lanka were entertained by the soldiers who pulled and pushed Hanuman. His long tail became a butt of fun for all. Through all this disgrace, Hanuman kept silent and went on bearing with the insult and injury heaped on him by Ravana’s henchmen. He was made to stand before Ravana and Indrajit presented him as the captive of the king. Ravana congratulated the successful effort made his son and looked at the captive Hanuman. They both observed each other and tried to guess each other’s strength. Hanuman was duly impressed by the demon king’s wealth and opulence. He looked at the courtiers consisting of ministers and generals of his army. He also saw that the rulers of all the elements of nature were also the captives of Ravana.
Ravana questioned Hanuman if he had heard of his name and fame.

Hanuman replied:
“Yes, O king, I have heard of your famous misdeeds. I knew that you were defeated by a famous king named Sahasrabahu and you were kept under the strong feet of Vaali for six months for challenging him to battle with you. I also heard that you have abducted a lady from her dwelling when her husband was away. ”
Ravana became absolutely wrathful at the insulting and sarcastic answer of Hanuman. He ordered his general to sever the tongue of the monkey at once. But one of his ministers named Prahastya stood up and objected to this punishment.

On being questioned as to why he was raising an objection to the killing of Hanuman, Prahastya replied,
“Sire, we should know who this uncommon ape ma is and who had sent him to Lanka and what on what job did he come to our country? How did he come? If his tongue is cut then how can he answer our questions? It is important for us to know his details before doing anything to him.”

Ravana praised the presence of mind of Prahastya and asked his general to start asking him the information they needed. The general asked him why he despoiled the King’s orchard.

Hanuman replied without perturbation thus;
“Sir when I came to the orchard sun had set and night covered the whole world. They say that at night the trees go to sleep. So I had to shake them to make them come awake. Some of the roots came off the ground because I shook them a little more strongly. I could get some fruit and was trying to quench my hunger when your soldiers attacked me. They should not have disturbed me while eating. So I had to give them a fitting