Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana Read online

  It is said that under the sea is a fire-breathing mare whose heat turns seawater into mist and prevents the sea from overflowing into land. This fire-breathing mare will be the mount of Kalki, the tenth incarnation of Vishnu.

  In Vedic times, Varuna was the god associated with ethics and morality. In Puranic times, he was the god of the sea and father of Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, associated with generosity. In art, he is visualized riding a fish or a whale or a dolphin, holding a noose or a net in his hand.

  Since Ram mounts his bow with an arrow, he is bound to release it somewhere. He releases it to the north and the land struck by it turns into the Thar desert of Rajasthan.

  In the 1990s, poster art showing Ram raising his bow against the sea became very popular. Such posters were used to transform Ram into a political icon who would rescue Sita (India) from rakshasas (anti-Hindu forces). The imagery showed Ram as being aggressive and muscular, like Greek heroes, in contrast to traditional imagery where Ram is poised, delicate and calm. Ram’s serenity was interpreted by Western art historians as sensuality and effeminacy, offending many Indians, who then reimagined Ram in this Western template.

  In folklore, the sea-god is so angry with Ram for raising a bow at him that the sea eventually consumes Dwarka, the city of Krishna, who is Ram reborn.

  The Valmiki Ramayana refers only to Nala, who is considered a form of Vishwakarma. Tulsidas’s Ramayana refers to Nala and Nila, the sons of Agni.

  Every major vanara is linked to a deva: Vali to Indra, Sugriva to Surya, Hanuman to Vayu, Nala to Vishwakarma, Nila to Agni.

  In Giridhar’s Gujarati Ramayana, written in the nineteenth century, a monkey called Nala keeps throwing into the sea the stone on which a sage washes his clothes. The sage has to pull it out every day. Fed up one day, he curses Nala that stones touched by him will always float in the sea, never sink. That is why the vanaras get Nala to touch the stones they hurl into the sea.

  Giridhar’s Ramayana rejects the idea that Ram’s name was written on the stones cast in the sea because then walking on those rocks would be like walking on Ram’s name, which would be rather disrespectful.

  In Krittivasa’s Ramayana, Hanuman gets angry with Nala because Nala uses his left hand to receive rocks from the monkeys. Ram pacifies Hanuman by informing him that that is what workers do: they take the rock with the left hand and place the rock using the right hand.

  The land from where the stones are taken is traditionally identified as parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh known for their large rocks.

  That Hanuman carves the name of Ram on the stones makes him literate and so further raises his esteem in the eyes of the unlettered masses. Though a monkey, he speaks Sanskrit. Though a monkey, he can write. Though a monkey, he can help God.

  What script did Hanuman use to write the name Ram? Writing was probably not known in Valmiki’s time. His narration was in all probability oral. Kharoshti and Brahmi scripts came much later. Later the Sharada script, once popular in Kashmir, and Siddham script, still used in Tibet, became popular. From the twelfth century onwards, the use of the Devanagari script became widespread. Popular calendar art shows Hanuman writing in the Devanagari script.

  The Ram Setu is a stretch of limestone shoals connecting the island of Rameswaram to the island of Mannar in Sri Lanka. Hindus believe this to be the bridge built by the monkeys. Sri Lankan historians do not accept this claim. Today many seek to break this natural barrier to facilitate maritime activity. The plan has as many proponents as it has opponents: while some see it as a historical monument, others see it as a natural, ecologically sensitive site and still others as a sacred structure that must be protected at all costs.

  European cartographers named Ram Setu Adam’s Bridge.

  The Squirrel’s Contribution

  Many helped Ram build his bridge, monkeys mostly, but also elephants and deer and crows. One of those who helped was a squirrel. He would jump into the water and then roll on the sand so that the grains stuck to his fur. He would then run up the bridge and shake off the sand grains, thus contributing to the bridge-building effort.

  The monkeys found the squirrel’s enthusiasm rather annoying. He kept coming in their way, so they shoved him aside. Ram, however, picked him up and comforted him. As a sign of encouragement and appreciation, Ram ran his fingers on the squirrel’s back, thus creating its stripes.

  ‘You give the little pest too much value,’ chuckled Sugriva.

  ‘From your point of view, his contribution may not be much. But from his point of view, his contribution is immense. In your grand scheme of things, he may not matter. But in his grand scheme of things, he surely does. He is also Brahma, creator of his own brahmanda, like you and me. I see the world from his point of view and see how unconditional his love for me is. Unless we do this, how can our mind expand?’

  Sugriva realized then what it takes to be a Ram.

  The story of the squirrel’s stripes occurs in the Telugu Ranganatha Ramayana and the Odia Dandi Ramayana.

  Balaram Das wrote the Jagamohan [world-delighting] Ramayana, which also came to be known as the Dandi Ramayana because the song was sung on dandas (streets) – to the horror of priests who preferred Sanskrit but to the delight of the common man. Dandi is also the meter in which the Valmiki Ramayana was composed.

  The Head of Ram and the Body of Sita

  Ravana stormed into the Ashoka garden with two heads in his hand. He threw them in Sita’s direction. ‘There, I have killed your husband and brother-in-law,’ he said. ‘No one will save you now.’

  Sita wanted to cry, but tears would not flow from her eyes. She wanted to scream but no sound escaped her mouth. She did not feel the pain she knew she would feel if ever Ram left her. Instead, she felt his reassuring presence in her heart. No, Ram was not dead. Lakshman was not dead. This was a sorcerer’s trick. ‘You do not fool me with your magic, Ravana,’ she said.

  Sita did not smile, nor was her tone mocking. Nevertheless, Ravana felt like a fool.

  ‘He tried doing this to Ram too, you know, to demotivate him,’ said Trijata, when Ravana left. She then told Sita how the sorceress Benjkaya was dispatched to make Ram give up his search for Sita.

  As they were working on the bridge, the monkeys saw something floating in the waters, drifting from Lanka towards Jambudvipa. It was a body and they fished it out. It was a beautiful woman with no jewels on her body. Lakshman saw the feet and said in alarmed voice, ‘It is Sita. The rakshasa-king has killed her and dumped her body into the sea.’

  When news of this reached Ram, he could not believe it. Was Sita really dead? Had he failed to protect the daughter of Janaka? He felt a deep laceration in the innermost recesses of his being. He rushed to the beach to see the body and found Hanuman already preparing to cremate it. The corpse had been placed on logs of wood and he was about to light the flame. ‘No, she deserves all the rituals due to a royal princess and a royal wife,’ said Ram.

  Ignoring Ram, Hanuman set alight the pyre. A furious Ram ran to stop the flames from consuming his beloved, when suddenly he heard a blood-curdling scream and the ‘corpse’ suddenly came to life and leapt out of the pyre. It was Benjkaya, the sorceress.

  Ravana had underestimated the sharp gaze of Hanuman.

  The story of Benjkaya, sometimes identified as Vibhishana’s daughter, comes from the Thai Ramayana. An image of her jumping off the pyre which Hanuman lit is found on Bangkok’s Wat Po temple wall. This story is unique to South-East Asia.

  That Ravana uses sorcery to dishearten Ram and Sita is a repeated motif in the various retellings of the Ramayana.

  Stories related to sorcery and black magic increasingly appear in regional Ramayana s, especially those from Bengal, Assam and Odisha, and from South-East Asia. It indicates the rise of Tantric practices. Hanuman is seen as an antidote to these practices.

  The Arrival of Vibhishana

  To the great wonder of all the vanaras, a rakshasa came flying from the south. The monkeys growled and s