Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana Read online

  In household conversations, Vibhishana is often looked down upon as the traitor who gave away family secrets, though he is also recognized as a much-adored devotee of Ram.

  Learning from Ravana

  Ravana lay on the ground, breathing heavily, waiting for death to come. ‘Quickly,’ said Ram to Lakshman, ‘go to him and seek out his knowledge. He knew a lot.’

  So Lakshman went to Ravana and towering over him said, ‘I am Lakshman, brother of Ram, who has punished you for the crime of abducting his wife. As victor, he has a right to all that you possess, your knowledge included. If you have any honour, pass it on to him before you die.’

  Ravana simply turned his face away, angering Lakshman, who reported the scene to Ram.

  Ram said, ‘Here is a man who grabbed his brother’s house and another man’s wife and you expected him to just give you what you so rudely and authoritatively demanded as your right. You clearly never saw Ravana.’

  Ram then discarded his weapons, walked up to Ravana, sat at his feet, joined his palms and spoke to Ravana in a gentle voice. ‘Noble one, son of Vishrava and Kaikesi, devotee of Shiva, brother of Surpanakha, Vibhishana and Kumbhakarna, father of Indrajit, uncle of Taranisen, friend of Mahiravana, husband of Mandodari, I salute you. I am Ram, who was responsible for mutilating your sister’s body, for which I have been duly punished. I am Ram, whose wife you abducted, for which you have been duly punished. We owe each other no debts. But I seek from you knowledge that you wish to leave behind as your legacy.’

  Like a dying lamp restored to life with a fresh offering of oil, Ravana’s eyes lit up. ‘I realize I never saw you, Ram. I just saw the man who my sister hated, my brothers respected, my queens admired and Sita loved. In seeking knowledge from me, you are hoping that I will finally expand my mind and discover the essence of the Vedas, which has eluded me, even though I know all the hymns and all the rituals. You are the ideal student whose curiosity makes the teacher wiser. I bow to you. Brahma tells us that to receive we have to give but most of us, like Indra, seek to receive without giving. Shiva seeks nothing, so he does not bother with the accounts of giving or receiving, but only Ram, who is Vishnu, receives by simply giving. That is why Sita follows him, not me.’

  Ravana then breathed his last.

  The story of Ram at Ravana’s feet is part of regional retellings such as Krittivasa’s Bengali Ramayana; it is not in the Valmiki Ramayana.

  Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata end not with victory of the heroes but knowledge transmission, a reminder that the war is less about things and more about thoughts.

  To look at a person is to do ‘darshan’. This does not mean simply gauging the objective and measurable, it also means getting an insight into the other’s character so deep that it reflects one’s own character. Ram, throughout the Ramayana, admonishes Lakshman for not seeing things as they are as he is too quick to judge and too fettered by his emotions.

  The war of the monkeys and the rakshasas lasts eight days traditionally, some say ten, marked by the festival of nine nights or Navaratri culminating in Vijaya-dashami, the victorious tenth day (Dussehra).

  Vibhishana Becomes King

  Vibhishana, despite all his righteous rage against his brother, felt a great loss when Ravana died. He wept on the battlefield while Mandodari burst into tears inside the palace. Hearing Mandodari cry, all the women of Lanka beat their chests and rolled on the ground, inconsolable in their grief. And the men, who had never shed a tear in their life, bawled like orphaned babies. Sita hugged Trijata and comforted her friend.

  ‘It is a happy day for you. You have finally been liberated,’ said Trijata.

  ‘Can joy really spring from such a sea of sorrow?’ was the question that came into the mind of Janaka’s daughter.

  The whole city gathered outside the citadel of Lanka to pay homage to their great king as the last rites were being performed. Ram had insisted that everyone who had been killed, vanara or rakshasa, be given a decent cremation. ‘The dead are no one’s enemies,’ he said. The bodies of Indrajit and Kumbhakarna, stored in oil, were placed beside Ravana’s, as well as the bodies of the other soldiers who had died in defence of Lanka. A great fire consumed Ravana and his entourage. The ashes were scattered in the sea and food was offered to crows, who cawed happily, informing all that Ravana had finally made his way across the river Vaitarni to the land of the dead.

  When the mourning ended, the men took a bath and washed off the blood that covered their bodies; the women wiped their tears, washed their faces, tied their hair up with flowers, wore fresh clothes and anointed their bodies with perfumes and bedecked themselves with gold. ‘The old king has gone. Time to welcome the new king. The troop must always have a leader.’

  Turmeric water was poured on Vibhishana. He was anointed with vermilion, offered a garland of lotus flowers, made to hold a bow. Mandodari replaced his silver anklets with the gold anklets of Ravana. With that act, the queen of Lanka accepted Vibhishana as the new king of Lanka. She sat beside him as Tara had sat beside Sugriva after the death of Vali.

  ‘May you accept the wife of the previous king out of love, not as a trophy. May neither the kingdom nor its women be seen as your property. May you not derive your worth from your dominion. May you expand your mind with tapasya and yagna, and encourage others to do so. May you thus lead the rakshasas away from the ways of the jungle towards the way of dharma,’ said Ram.

  Ravana is killed on the ninth night of the Navaratri festivities and cremated on the tenth day.

  According to Assamese folklore, if one cups one’s hand over one’s ears the sound one hears is that of Ravana’s funeral pyre still burning.

  It can always be argued that Sugriva and Vibhishana helped Ram so that they could overthrow their respective brothers. But such ambition is not the underlying theme of the Ramayana; it is found in the Mahabharata.

  Later, Vibhishana attends the coronation of the Pandava Yudhisthira, but refuses to touch his feet saying he will only bow to Ram. Krishna then bows to Yudhisthira saying all kings are like Ram, until they act otherwise. Vibhishana follows suit.

  Vibhishana and Hanuman are chiranjivi, meaning ‘those who live forever’.

  Trial by Fire

  Patiently Sita heard the mourning end and being replaced by celebration. Patiently she watched the city being cleaned and decorated for the new king. Patiently she watched the streets being watered, the flags being unfurled. Patiently she heard the war drums being replaced by flutes of joy. Patiently she waited for Ram to send for her.

  But something told her there was agitation in his heart. She remembered how Renuka had been beheaded because she was unchaste in thought. She remembered how Ahilya had been turned to stone because she was unchaste in deed. She had been unchaste in neither thought nor body, but how does one prove purity? Those who trust need no proof; those who do not trust reject all proof. And whether she liked it or not, she was a blot on Ram’s reputation. Ravana had seized her while she was in Ram’s protection; she symbolized Ram’s failure. Would the world be as forgiving as him? Would he speak his own mind or give voice to the world he ruled?

  The women came to her carrying news that Ram had sent for her. Vibhishana would hand her over as the brother who hands over the bride. Hanuman had been sent by the groom to accompany her; he carried with him her jewellery that the vanaras had found cast away on the forest floor. Besides this, every woman in Lanka had sent a piece of jewellery for the woman they had come to love. They wanted her to be more resplendent than the starry sky when she finally met Ram.

  But then there was an argument. Some women said, ‘Should her husband not see what she has become in his absence – dull and lifeless? Let him know how much she missed him.’ Others disagreed: ‘No. He is seeing her after many moons. Let him be dazzled by her beauty.’ There were those who argued, ‘If she looks radiant and beautiful, he might assume she was happy in captivity. Let us take her as she is right now, unwashed, unkempt, like a tree bereft of flo