Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana Read online

  The narrative repeatedly stresses how Lakshman never saw Sita’s face and how Sita never saw Ravana’s face and how Ram never saw Tadaka’s face. Thus looking upon the face has an intimacy that is traditionally associated with eroticism. In the animal kingdom, to look into another animal’s eye evokes a threat response; lowering the eyes or looking away is an indicator of submission.

  Gold is an auspicious metal in India. Ram adorns his Sita with gold jewellery. Ravana lives in a city of gold. For Ram, gold must be placed on the body, while Ravana has gold at his feet. It is a golden deer that enchants Sita. The Ramayana thus reveals the dark side of gold, its ability to lure and entrap. Sita gives up her gold jewellery for what really matters in life.

  Unlike the brothers of the Raghu clan, the vanara brothers have to share their throne but a misunderstanding separates them. No one gives the other the benefit of the doubt.

  In Kerala’s Theyyam tradition, Vali is visualized and worshipped as a deity and is often called the ‘long-tailed’, an indicator of both his physical and sexual prowess.

  In the monkey world, the alpha is the strongest monkey who claims all the females and foraging lands for himself and who keeps bachelor monkeys away from his harem and kills all rivals. Probably Vali and Sugriva followed monkey-like practices and so Valmiki identified them as monkeys. That they were sharing the kingdom shows that they are a step away from animal nature. But the animal nature returns when Vali kicks Sugriva out and claims his wife, Ruma.

  Lessons from the Sun

  ‘Why did you not help Sugriva yourself?’ asked Sita. ‘You are so strong and smart. Surely you could defeat Vali.’

  Hanuman then explained to Sita his relationship with the sun and the son of the sun.

  Hanuman wanted to study everything that there was to study. So he approached the sun who saw everything that there is to see on earth. But Surya was reluctant to teach him as he was busy all day riding across the sky and too tired to do anything at night. A persistent Hanuman had flown in front of Surya’s chariot as the sun moved east to west, facing the sun-god, withstanding his glare, determined to learn one way or another. Pleased with this display of determination, Surya taught Hanuman the Vedas, the Vedangas, the Upavedas, the Tantras and the Shastras. Surya’s teachings helped Hanuman master every siddha and transform into a tapasvi. That is why Hanuman could, at will, expand his body, contract his body, change shape, fly like a bird, become heavy or weightless, attract and dominate. In exchange for this knowledge, Surya had only one request, ‘Take care of my son, Sugriva, who is not as strong as Indra’s son, Vali. Be his friend always.’

  ‘And so I am always by Sugriva’s side, protecting him. But that does not mean I have to oppose Vali, son of Indra. I see Sugriva’s point of view and I see Vali’s point of view. For Sugriva, Vali is being unreasonable. For Vali, Sugriva has done something that is unpardonable. Both are right from their point of view,’ said Hanuman to Sita.

  ‘That is so true,’ said Sita.

  Lakshman, however, did not think so. When he had heard the same story, he had said, ‘You are like Shiva, who supports the rakshasas and the yakshas, the devas and the asuras. Don’t you think you have to take sides, like Vishnu? You must side with the right and fight for the powerless.’

  Hanuman had replied, ‘But who decides who is right? Both Sugriva and Vali are convinced they are right. And who decides who is powerless? Is Ram powerless because he is in exile? Is Sita powerless because Ravana has abducted her? Does power come from within or is it granted from outside?’

  Hanuman then told Lakshman a story he had heard from Surya.

  Once Indra’s Swarga was threatened by an asura who attacked them in the form of a buffalo. So the devas went to Shiva for help. He told the gods to release their inner strengths and merge it into one entity. From within came their Shaktis. The many Shaktis of the devas merged into a blinding light to become Durga. Durga, a goddess with many arms, entered the battlefield riding a lion, attacked the buffalo-demon Mahisha-asura and impaled him with her trident. Hanuman asked Lakshman, ‘Tell me, brother of Ram, who would you protect: the devas from the buffalo or the buffalo from the armed, lion-riding goddess?’

  ‘The devas are the victims and Durga is their saviour,’ Lakshman said.

  Hanuman then told Lakshman another story that Surya had told him.

  ‘Long ago, the devas and the asuras churned the ocean of milk and out came many treasures. Amongst them the wish-fulfilling tree Kalpataru, the wish-fulfilling cow Kamadhenu, the wish-fulfilling gem Chintamani and Amrita, the nectar of immortality. Vishnu took the form of Mohini, enchanted everyone and promised to distribute these treasures freely but gave Amrita only to the devas. This made the devas so powerful that they claimed all the treasures for themselves and turned their abode Amravati into Swarga, paradise of pleasures. The asuras thus cheated never forgave the devas, attacking them repeatedly in various forms, like the buffalo-demon. So who are the real victims? Devas or asuras?’

  This is when Ram spoke up. ‘Why do you assume that Vishnu sides with the devas? Is it because he grants them the nectar of immortality? Yes, after drinking Amrita no longer do the devas fear death. Why then are they still so insecure? What are they afraid of losing? Why do they cling to their treasures? Yes, Vishnu gave the devas prosperity, but did he give them peace, for they still grant themselves an identity through things? And yes, Shiva gives everything to the asuras and to the rakshasas and the yakshas, everything they ask him for. But what do they ask him for? They ask him for wealth and power – things once again. They never ask him to help them outgrow their hunger. They never ask him to expand their mind with thoughts. And so hunger gnaws at their being as fear gnaws at the being of the devas. The fight continues endlessly, with victory following defeat with unfailing regularity, led by those who believe they are right and those who believe they are powerless.’

  Every vanara had then looked at Ram as students gaze upon a teacher. Ram said, ‘Know this: Durga is strength that we get from the outside. Shakti is strength that is inside. Nature gives us Shakti. Human society is designed to grant Durga through tools, rules and property. But having lived in the forest this long, for over thirteen years, both Sita and I have learned to value Shakti, not Durga. For strength from within is always there; strength from without may or may not be there. Ravana, however, seeks strength from outside. He seeks to punish the man whose brother mutilated his sister. He sees my wife as my property; by stealing her he wants me to feel deprived. He does not see Sita as a person, who did him no harm. I do not blame him. I am not angry with him. I see his point of view. I do think he is wrong. I do not begrudge him his power. I just seek to rescue my Sita, restore her freedom to her.’

  ‘You do not judge Ravana?’ Sugriva asked.

  ‘No, I understand where he is coming from, just as I understood where Kaikeyi came from,’ Ram replied. ‘Ravana is capable of so much more. But he refuses to be what he can be. So he imagines me as his enemy, and refuses to see me for who I am. Like Kaikeyi, he is consumed by his own notion of what is reality.’

  ‘Hearing Ram speak thus,’ said Hanuman to Sita, ‘I realized Ram was a true brahmin, he who expands his mind and of those around him, a householder with the mind of a hermit. He does not need a kingdom to be king.’

  ‘He does not need control over a wife to be a husband,’ said Sita.

  Indra and Surya are major deities in Vedic hymns. In Puranic stories, they take a subordinate position to Vishnu. When Vishnu descends as Ram, the old gods join him as vanaras: Indra through Vali and Surya through Sugriva.

  In the Upanishads, Yagnavalkya gets wisdom from the sun. In the Puranas, Hanuman gets wisdom from the sun. The sun is the source of all light and energy and hence the symbol of divinity. The famous Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda is an invocation to this sun that dispels the darkness of ignorance.

  In temple art, the sun is often visualized seated on a chariot pulled by seven horses.

  Hanuman is at once