Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana Read online

  Artists visualize the vimana, or flying chariot, in different ways. At times it is a cart or chariot pulled by donkeys, horses or swans, and sometimes the structure itself has wings.

  A traditional Hindu or Jain temple is also called a vimana and is seen as a flying chariot used by divine beings to travel between heaven and earth.

  In Greek mythology, one hears of gods and heroes flying: Zeus has his eagle, Bellerophon his flying horse, Hermes has shoes with wings and Medea has a chariot of flying serpents. But descriptions of earth from the sky are more frequently seen in Sanskrit poetry, starting with Valmiki.

  Ram’s Atonement

  The entourage stopped many times along the way.

  First at the tip of Jambudvipa, from which sprang the bridge to Lanka, where Ram and Sita offered prayers to Shiva, to Sampati and to Varuna, thanking them for their support during the war. After a brief halt at the caves of Swayamprabha, they passed over Kishkindha and Ram pointed to the clearing in the woods where he had killed Vali and the boulder by which he had met Hanuman. Sita recognized the trees and the riverbanks over which she had strewn her jewels. She thanked them for passing on her message to her Ram.

  Then they stopped at the ashramas of the rishis they had visited earlier: Agastya, Atri, Sharabhanga, Sutikshna and Bharadwaja. The birds and snakes had informed the tapasvis of Sita’s plight and the rishis were glad she was safe again. Lopamudra told Sita to think of the future. Anasuya warned her against dwelling on the past.

  Later Ram asked the Pushpak to travel beyond Ayodhya to the Himalayas. ‘I killed a man who knew the hymns of the Vedas and was a master of many sciences and the arts. By killing its transmitter, I have committed the crime of brahmahatya. I need to atone for this disservice to humanity.’

  ‘But he abducted your wife,’ said Lakshman.

  ‘Ravana had ten heads. Nine were filled with delusion, which made him impatient, lustful, greedy, arrogant, insecure, angry, envious, rude and dominating. But he had one head filled with wisdom and faith. The cacophony of nine heads overpowered the music of that head. I regret killing that head.’

  So on the slopes of the Himalayas, the vanaras and the rakshasas and Lakshman and Sita watched Ram seek Ravana’s forgiveness. He sat on the ground, shut his eyes and, contemplating on the events of the war, invoked the memory of that enemy of his with ten heads and twenty arms.

  Two celestial beings appeared before Ram and said, ‘Know this. We are Jaya and Vijaya, doorkeepers of Vaikuntha. Once we had stopped four sages from entering the abode of Vishnu because Vishnu was asleep. We stopped them three times. And for this reason they cursed us to be born on earth three times. Vishnu promised us that he would liberate us from our mortal lives. The first time we were born as the asuras Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu. Vishnu liberated us, taking the form of the boar Varaha and the man-lion Narasimha. Then we took the form of two rakshasas, Ravana and Kumbhakarna. Vishnu liberated us, taking the form of Ram. Now we shall be reborn as two humans, Shishupala and Dantavakra. Vishnu will liberate us taking the form of Krishna. Go to Ayodhya in peace, Ram. Know that you have done what you were destined to do.’

  Only after this did Ram make his way to Ayodhya.

  At Rameswaram, people make Shiva-lingas using sand, imitating Ram and Sita who did the same to invoke Shiva and thank him for his support.

  At the temple of Rameswaram, there are two lingas of Shiva, not one. The story goes that Ram had sent Hanuman to Kashi to fetch a linga but it took him so long to return that he asked Sita to make one of sand instead. By the time the rituals started, Hanuman arrived with his linga and was angry that no one had waited for him. He tried uprooting Sita’s sand linga with his tail but failed. Thus he realized he was not indispensable. To pacify him and please him, Ram worshipped Hanuman’s Shiva-linga beside Sita’s Shiva-linga.

  The idea of Ram atoning for brahma-hatya-paap, the crime of killing a priest, became a popular pilgrims’ tale in medieval times. Both Rameswaram in the south and Rishikesh in the north are identified as spots where Ram performed penance and ritual in memory of Ravana.

  In the bhakti marga or devotional path, there is reference to viparit-bhakti or reverse devotion. By constantly abusing God, the enemy of God remembers God so many times that he forges for himself a path to divine grace. So it is with Ravana.

  In both Jain and Buddhist traditions, Ravana is a wise man with a flaw. In the Jain tradition, he will be reborn as a sage. In the Buddhist tradition, he converses with the Buddha.

  Testing Bharata

  As Ram approached the borders of Kosala, he dispatched Hanuman to inform Bharata of his imminent arrival. ‘Tell him there is still time to claim what his mother secured for him. Tell him Ram will not think less of him if he chooses to be king.’

  When Hanuman said this to Bharata, he said, ‘Like Ram, even I do not hunger for a kingdom. I do not need the crown of Ayodhya to feel validated. But the kingdom certainly hungers for a good king.’

  ‘And who is a good king?’ asked the ever-curious Hanuman.

  Bharata replied, ‘A good king is one who does not see the kingdom as a measure of his worth. Such a king does not fight his brothers for the crown, nor does he demand the loyalty of his subjects. Such a king encourages people to take responsibility for their lives, and enables them to be dependable rather than dependent. Thus a happy kingdom comes into existence.’

  ‘Such a kingdom does not exist,’ argued Hanuman, remembering Kishkindha, where brothers were killed for a crown, and Lanka, where people were totally dependent on their great king.

  ‘It will,’ said Bharata, ‘when Ram sits on the throne, for it is a throne that he neither seeks nor claims as his right, but occupies only because he has been invited to do so by his people, his father and his brothers.’

  Just as Bharata uttered these wonderful words, Ram emerged through the dark clouds on the horizon like the sun on his aerial chariot. Beside him sat Sita; behind him stood Lakshman. He was surrounded by vanaras and rakshasas. Bharata’s eyes widened in delight. The exile was over. His brother the king had finally returned.

  In the Valmiki Ramayana, Hanuman simply goes to check if Bharata is comfortable with Ram’s return. He finds Bharata living like an ascetic in the village of Nandigram, ruling the kingdom in the name of Ram, whose sandals are placed on the throne. To make the return more melodramatic, Kamban in his Tamil Ramayana describes how Bharata plans to immolate himself if Ram does not arrive on time, disregarding the entreaties of his family, including Kaushalya’s.

  The Ramayana is essentially the story of three sets of royal brothers: those of Ayodhya (humans) who are eager to give away the throne to the other brother; those of Kishkindha (monkeys) who cannot share the throne as their father had wanted them to; and those of Lanka (demons) where one brother claims the throne that rightfully belongs to the other. The relationship of Bharata and Ram is an indicator of brotherly love rising above all territorial desires and sibling rivalry.

  Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata raise the question of whether kingdoms are the properties of kings. Both agree that they are not.

  Waking Up Urmila

  The mothers did not recognize them at first: the boys who had left home fourteen years ago had returned as men. Their hair was long and thick and bleached by the sun. Their skin was dark and coarse. They had beards, and their bodies were emaciated, their features gaunt.

  And the daughter-in-law who had left as a girl had returned a fully bloomed woman, dressed in bridal finery. And the jewels, which had once made her beautiful, now took their beauty from her.

  Their eyes were calmer, like those of hermits who have solved the mystery of life and are surprised by nothing. The forest had not turned them into savages. Instead, in their presence even monkeys and bears had turned civilized.

  When they stepped on earth at the gates of Ayodhya, everyone wept with joy. There was Guha, the fisherman, and Sumantra, the old king’s charioteer.

  The mothers had changed so much: the