Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana Read online

  By the grace of Swayamprabha, they had reached the ends of the earth. Beyond was the sea stretching to the horizon, joining the sky at a distance. Somewhere out there was Lanka.

  ‘We can search the land but we can never search the sea. How will we ever find Lanka?’ wailed Angada. He was angry that they had left the gardens of Swayamprabha. ‘I cannot go back without news of Sita. My uncle is looking for an excuse to kill me. I would rather stay here and die.’

  Hanuman and Jambuvan sat next to the young prince silently empathizing with his frustration and fear. They stared at the sea and wondered what could be done.

  A vulture called Sampati overheard Angada speak thus and was very happy, for the dead monkeys would provide him nourishment for several days. He sauntered towards them, for he could not fly.

  ‘Look, a vulture comes and waits for us to die. At least in death we will make someone happy, we who made no one happy when we were alive,’ ranted Angada. Then he said, ‘What if Jatayu got it wrong? What if Sita was not taken in the southern direction?’

  Hearing Jatayu’s name, Sampati perked up, for Jatayu was his younger brother. Long ago, the two of them had decided to race towards the sun. Being older and stronger, Sampati soared higher till he realized that the glare of the sun was too strong to bear. So he spread his wings to shield Jatayu from the searing rays. Jatayu was saved but Sampati’s wings got singed. He would never be able to fly again. He made the southern shore his home. While all other vultures could fly in search for food, he had to learn patience and wait for food to come to him.

  ‘Are you friends of Jatayu? I am his brother. Tell me all that you know of him,’ Sampati said. So the monkeys told the old vulture the story of Ram, and how Ravana abducted Sita and how Jatayu lost his wing, and his life, trying to stop him, and how Ram helped Sugriva and how Sugriva, in return, was trying to help Ram find, and rescue, his beloved wife.

  Sampati wept for his dear brother. ‘His death shall not be in vain. I will help you find the man who killed my brother. I may not fly but I have keen eyesight. I can see even beyond the horizon and beyond the sea mists. I will locate Lanka for you.’

  Sampati stood on a rock that overlooked the sea and stared south for a long time. Then he said, ‘I see an island. I see a city on that island. And in that city, I see a woman. She is the only woman in this city who looks unhappy. All the others have a smile on their faces, like beloveds satisfied by lovers. She is the only woman who wears no gold in that city of gold. That lovelorn woman under the Ashoka tree must be Ram’s Sita.’

  ‘Is that how he described me?’ asked Sita.

  ‘Yes,’ said Hanuman.

  Jambuvan, the wise bear, is part of the monkey search party. His role is not critical but he embodies the wisdom and patience that is associated with age.

  Bears (bhalukas) are seen by some modern commentators as tribes whose totem (favoured or emblematic object) was the bear.

  In the Puranas, Jambuvan is described as being so old that he had witnessed Vishnu overpowering the asura-king Bali in the form of Vamana. When Vamana the dwarf turned into Trivikrama the giant who traced the three worlds in two steps, Jambuvan went around him. He was very strong but Trivikrama accidentally bumped into him and the resulting injury made him weak. Hence, he cannot do what Hanuman can do.

  The inclusion of bears and monkeys in the narrative has been attributed to the use of hands by these animals. Both can grab and hug, making them closer to humans than birds and four-legged animals with claws and hooves. This is often seen as an early understanding of the theory of evolution. Some even propose the theory that vanaras and bhalukas are the missing link.

  The story of Ravana wanting to urinate is found in the Kashmiri Ramayana. Here, Narada ensures the Shiva-linga does not reach Lanka.

  Swayamprabha, like Sulabha and Gargi, is a female mendicant.

  South-East Asian versions of the Ramayana depict Swayamprabha as one of the many women who are smitten by Hanuman.

  In the Valmiki Ramayana, no one who enters the cave can escape. The vanaras are trapped but Hanuman convinces Swayamprabha to use her magical powers and let them go. A temple of Hanuman in Krishnapuram, which stands in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district, marks the cave of Swayamprabha. On the way back to Ayodhya, after killing Ravana, Ram greets her and thanks her for her support.

  Sampati plays a key role in pointing to the exact direction of Lanka; otherwise the vanaras would be all at sea. Jatayu and Sampati are the ones who point to Ram, and later to Hanuman, the direction where Ravana had taken Sita. Birds are seen as the perfect scouts as they can travel fast over vast distances across land and water.

  The story of Sampati’s wings getting singed because he flies too close to the sun echoes the Greek story of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun with wings made of wax.

  After losing his wings, Sampati could not fly and hunt for fresh meat. And so, according to folklore, impressed by Sampati’s sacrifice the gods blessed him with the ability to digest rotting flesh. Thus vultures became scavengers of the dead yet were never considered inauspicious.

  Both Sampati and Jatayu are described in various versions of the Ramayana as friends of Ram’s father, Dashratha.

  Greeks venerated the vulture as the only creature that does not harm the living for its survival. The Zoroastrians venerate the vulture and invite it to eat the bodies of their dead in specially built towers of silence.

  In the Gosani festival of the Goddess in the temple city of Puri, Odisha, images of Sampati carrying monkeys on his wide wings are shown. It seems strange, as Sampati is not associated with wings. But according to folklore, Sampati gets his wings back for helping the monkeys and takes them back to Kishkindha on his wings. Perhaps in some earlier lost version the monkeys travelled to Lanka on the wings of birds. But this is pure speculation.

  Hanuman’s Story

  ‘The fastest way to reach Lanka was to leap across the sea. Every monkey can leap: from one tree to another, across rivers, over chasms and gorges, but none had ever tried to leap across the sea. Jambuvan, the old bear, was sure I would be able to make the leap, but I was not sure,’ said Hanuman to Sita.

  ‘Leap across the sea? Did you really do that? How?’ asked Sita.

  ‘It happened after Jambuvan told me the story of my birth, which I had long forgotten.’

  The gods wanted Shiva, the supreme tapasvi, to create a warrior who would support Ram and stand up to Ravana. So Vishnu took the form of the damsel Mohini and enchanted Shiva, until Shiva let his seed slip out of his body. Vayu, the wind-god, took this seed and slipped it into the ear of Anjana. From this seed was born Hanuman who came to be known as Maruti because his birth was mediated by Vayu, also known as Marutta, god of storms.

  ‘I was a strong child, so strong that I did not know my strength. Once, I leapt up into the sky to eat the rising sun, assuming it to be a fruit. I began tossing the planets around like stars. To stop me, Indra struck me with a thunderbolt, the Vajra. This made Vayu so angry that he withdrew air from all the worlds. To appease him, Indra said that I would get a body that would be as swift as lightning and as strong as thunder. That is why I am also called Vajranga, or Bajrang,’ said Hanuman to Sita.

  ‘Another time, I kept hurling boulders and mountains and creating such a racket that the rishis cursed me that I would forget my strength until someone reminded me of the same at the right time. That time came when I stood at the edge of the sea and Jambuvan said only I could leap across the sea. He praised my strength, reminded me of my capabilities and motivated me to rise up to the sky and make my way to Lanka.’

  In the Valmiki Ramayana and early retellings, Hanuman is just a mighty monkey, and a son of the wind-god. Since medieval times, Hanuman has been identified as both Shiva’s son and as Shiva’s avatar. In Balaram Das’s Odia Dandi Ramayana, Hanuman is clearly identified as a form of Shiva.

  In Eknath’s Marathi Bhavarth Ramayana, Hanuman is born wearing a loincloth that is indicative of his celibacy.