Hanuman realized Sita was sharing a very intimate personal detail with him. It indicated how much Sita trusted him, and how much she yearned for Ram to rescue her.
Then Hanuman had an idea. ‘Why don’t you climb on my back? I will carry you back safely to him.’
‘Did he ask you to carry me back?’
‘No. I don’t think he knows I am capable of this. It will be a surprise, a pleasant surprise.’
‘Let my husband liberate me. His honour is at stake.’
Valmiki uses Hanuman’s search for Sita through the streets of Lanka as a clever device to give the audience a voyeuristic journey through the houses of the rakshasas. They appear human at times and demonic at others, at times barbaric and at times domestic. They are sensual on the one hand and fearsome on the other.
Valmiki’s description of Ravana in bed with many women is highly erotic. The women are shown in various stages of longing and satiation. Their clothes are a mess. Many have left their husbands to enjoy the pleasure that only Ravana can give them. Many women kiss each other to savour the aftertaste of Ravana in each other’s mouths. It is an unabashed orgy, indicative of Ravana’s virility. That Hanuman turns away from the sight reinforces Hanuman’s hermit nature.
In Krittivasa’s Ramayana, Hanuman finds a house where a man is chanting Ram’s name. He learns he is Vibhishana, Ravana’s brother.
In Marathi, the term Lanke-chi-Parvati means a woman in a rich household who wears no jewels. To be adorned is the sign of being happy. An unadorned woman indicates an unhappy household. Sita wears no jewels even though she is sitting in the city of gold, indicating the unhappy state of her mind and thus helping Hanuman identify her.
The chudamani or the crest jewel, sometimes described as a tiara, was an elaborate head jewel for women in ancient India, usually pinned to the bun or placed in the parting of the hair. It is still worn by women of the northern hill tribes of India.
According to folklore, the crow has only one eye as Ram pierced its other eye as punishment for troubling his wife.
Destroying the Garden
It was finally time to leave. The rakshasa guards and attendants were slowly getting up. ‘Before I leave,’ said Hanuman to Sita, ‘I must eat something. I have not eaten for days and the journey back is long.’
‘If this was my kitchen, I would have fed you the choicest of delicacies,’ Sita said. ‘But all I have to offer you is the fruit of these trees. These trees are my sisters, born of the earth. Eat their fruit, drink their nectar, and enjoy their fragrances until you are refreshed enough to make your journey back to my Ram.’
So Hanuman jumped up the tree and leapt from branch to branch, swinging and jumping, tearing leaves, ripping out flowers, eating the flesh of fruits and dropping the seeds on the ground, creating a commotion that made all the guards of the garden look up at him. He threw the skins of bananas at them, and the shells of coconuts and the pits of mangoes. Angry, the guards tried to catch him. But he was too fast for them.
They hurled sticks at him, threw rocks at him and spread out nets to catch him, but Hanuman proved too smart for them and dodged these easily, hiding behind trunks of trees, slipping down and swinging up vines with ease.
The beautiful royal pleasure garden of Lanka was a mess. Branches were broken, and trees had been stripped of leaves. Sita realized Hanuman was not just hungry for food, he was hungry for a fight, itching to annoy those who held her captive. She could not help but smile at the comedy of the situation.
The commotion in the garden disturbed Ravana’s sleep and he roared in anger. Soldiers were sent to catch the audacious monkey. But even their axes, spears and clubs failed to come anywhere near Hanuman.
Finally, Ravana’s son Akshaya came into the garden bearing a mighty bow. Hanuman realized his importance observing how all the rakshasas deferred to him. Akshaya shot an arrow at him; Hanuman caught it in his hand and hurled it back. It ripped through Akshaya’s heart, killing him instantly.
The guards were stunned. A silence descended on the garden. This was no mischievous monkey. This was an act of war.
The decision to meet Ravana, tell him about Ram’s mission and terrify his people is Hanuman’s alone, indicating an independent spirit. He does not wait for orders.
In many folk retellings, Ram does not appreciate the havoc caused by Hanuman in Lanka. It is not clarified if it is the act that is not appreciated or the fact that it was done without permission.
In the Ranganatha Ramayana, Sita offers Hanuman an armlet so that he could buy fruits from the markets of Lanka but Hanuman says he does not eat fruits plucked by others.
For the first time Ravana faces defeat in his own city. He loses a son. The son, Akshaya, is no villain; he becomes a martyr, who dies protecting his father’s property. The narrative starts getting complex as the lines between heroes and villains are blurred.
The Burning of Lanka
‘Bring this monkey to me, Indrajit,’ roared Ravana, holding the lifeless body of his son in his arms. Ravana’s eldest son, Indrajit, immediately entered the garden blowing a conch shell, the sound of which revealed his strength and his rage.
Hanuman saw the confusion and fear on the faces of the rakshasas who accompanied Indrajit. All security that Lanka offered its residents had for the first time been breached. Now it was time to surrender, Hanuman realized.
Hanuman let Indrajit’s arrow stun him. He let Indrajit bind him with a noose. He let Indrajit drag him to Ravana’s pillared court by his tail. The rakshasa-king sat sprawled on his throne, Akshaya’s body in his arms, surrounded by rakshasas who were growling and clamouring for Hanuman’s blood.
Hanuman jumped up and sat right in front of Ravana, staring him in the eye. No one dared look at Ravana so. ‘Don’t you rakshasas know the rules of hospitality?’ asked Hanuman. ‘Get me a seat. Quick!’ The rakshasas did not know how to respond to this. They had never seen a monkey talk. They had never seen anyone talk so in front of Ravana. ‘Is this the way to treat a guest?’ Hanuman’s mocking tone did not escape Ravana. ‘Very well, then I shall make a seat for myself.’
Hanuman extended his tail and coiled it to create a tower. He then sat on it. Ravana had to strain his neck up to look at him. He was not amused. ‘Who are you? Who sent you? You are no ordinary vanara; you speak Sanskrit but don’t look like a brahmin,’ said Ravana.
‘Speaking Sanskrit does not make anyone a brahmin. Expanding the mind does. I thought you with all your legendary knowledge of the Vedas would know that. Clearly, Ram knows more than you.’ At the mention of Ram’s name, there was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Ravana realized the monkey was here in Lanka on a mission, not by accident. ‘Yes, I have been sent by the Ram whose wife you abducted like a thief. Unbecoming of one who calls himself brahmin, unbecoming of someone who calls himself king. Return her to her husband. Respect dharma.’
‘A monkey teaches me dharma,’ Ravana scoffed. On cue, his brothers laughed.
‘Brother, don’t you see this is no ordinary monkey and Ram whose wife you abducted is no ordinary man? Let Sita go. Even if you don’t think there is anything morally wrong in keeping her here against her will, at least let her go for the sake of the city’s security,’ cried a rakshasa.
‘What kind of a brother are you, Vibhishana? What kind of a rakshasa are you, Vibhishana? Frightened of a monkey! Wanting to make peace with Ram who mutilated our sister! This man goes hunting leaving his wife all alone. He is not worthy of Sita. Get out of Lanka if you prefer Ram. Those who are not with me are against me!’ shouted Ravana.
Hanuman looked at the lone voice of reason in Lanka. Vibhishana! So unlike the other frightened sons and warriors who dared not speak against Ravana. ‘You,’ said Ravana turning to Hanuman, ‘I shall roast and eat for dinner tonight. And since you are so proud of your tail, we shall begin by burning your tail.’
On Ravana’s orders, the rakshasas tried to grab hold of the end of Hanuman’s tail. But Hanuman kept elongating his tail,
much to their irritation. So Ravana said, ‘Go to the garden where Sita sits, rip off the cloth that covers her body and use it as a rag to burn this monkey’s tail.’ Realizing that he would get Sita into trouble, Hanuman immediately reduced the size of his tail, allowing the rakshasas to grab it, wrap it with rags dipped in oil and set it aflame. Hanuman realized that the fire was not hot. It felt cool and comforting. He knew that a woman who is chaste has magical powers, like tapasvis with siddha, that give her control over the elements. Sita’s chastity was protecting him from the heat of fire. She who needed help was helping him who needed no help. Hanuman’s heart was filled with affection. How different Sita and Ram were from all the vanaras and rakshasas he had met!
As the fire blazed on the tip of his tail, Hanuman broke the bonds around his arms and leapt up to the ceiling and lashed his burning tail against the pillars of the palace. As Ravana watched, the tapestries adorning his palace and the columns of the courtyard began to burn. The flames spread across the walls and roofs, from the palace to the roofs of houses nearby. Before long the whole city was ablaze. The gold on the walls started melting. Roofs crumbled and collapsed. People rushed out of their homes screaming. Black soot covered their faces. The rakshasas ran to fetch water and douse the flames but the fire spread through the avenues, setting aflame everything in its path. Elephants and horses rushing out of the stables added to the commotion.
‘This was but a warning of the fate in store for you if you do not release Sita,’ said Hanuman. Indrajit raised his bow to shoot Hanuman down but Hanuman had leapt up into the sky far from the reach of any arrow.
The only place in Lanka that the fire did not spread to was the garden where Sita sat, surrounded by the women and children of Lanka. She was teaching them songs she had heard as a child from Gargi. Here it was cool and fragrant, an oasis of peace in a city once peaceful and prosperous, now struck by an unimaginable terror.
Now, thought Sita, they will blame Hanuman, hence Ram, hence me. Not once will they hold Ravana responsible for his obstinacy. Not once will they blame Surpanakha for her unbridled passion. When the mind is knotted in fear, the problem is always outside, never inside.
Indrajit is unable to subdue Hanuman until he uses a weapon obtained from Brahma. Hanuman, out of respect for Brahma, lets the weapon stun and bind him.
The throne created by coiling the monkey tail is variously attributed either to Hanuman when he is caught, as in Telugu retellings, or to Angada when he arrives as a formal messenger of Ram, as in Avadhi retellings.
In temple art, especially in the south, when Hanuman is shown with his tail below, as in front of Ram, it indicates he is calm and gentle. To show Hanuman as an aggressive warrior and guardian, the tail is held aloft and forms a corona over his head.
In some temples, Hanuman has an upraised palm. Some identify this as the gesture of blessing and others as the gesture of a slap (tamacha Hanuman). Hanuman, in folklore, slaps the great Ravana and knocks his crowns away before setting Lanka aflame.
A touch of humour is introduced into the story of Hanuman’s tail being set aflame when Hanuman elongates it. No amount of fabric is enough to wrap it until Ravana threatens to get Sita’s sari, suggesting he will disrobe her.
In the Telugu retelling, rakshasas are unable to stoke the flames as they try to burn Hanuman’s tail. Ravana is enlisted for help and he blows on it using his ten heads; the flames leap up and singe his beard and his hair.
Fire, over which chaste women have control according to tradition, does not hurt either Hanuman or Sita.
In the Mahabharata, Vishnu as Krishna encourages the burning of a forest to build a city. In the Ramayana, Shiva as Hanuman resides in a forest and burns down a city.
Lankapodi is a festival commemorating the burning of Lanka. It has been celebrated around Ram Navami, in spring, in Sonepur district in western Odisha since the eighteenth century. Clay images are purchased by children, who play with them all day and set them afire on the streets at night, recreating the burning of Lanka. This region was known as Paschimi-Lanka or western Lanka in the eleventh century.
By burning Lanka to punish the acts of a king, Hanuman ends up hurting its innocent residents. Does this turn the entire rakshasa clan against Ram and his monkey army? Suddenly they are as much victims as their king was a victimizer.
When Shiva destroys the three cities or Tripura, its residents’ cries make Shiva shed tears from which is born the rudraksha fruit. It is a reminder of the cost of yagna: when fire burns in the altar something is claimed as fuel. The human mind focuses on who benefits from the fire, rarely on who is consumed by the fire.
To put out the flames, Hanuman puts his tail in his mouth and the soot makes his face black, which is why, according to folklore, vanaras, once red-faced monkeys, later became black-faced monkeys.
Book Six: Rescue
‘Lanka desired her submission. Ayodhya demanded her innocence.’
A Triumphant Return
Honey, the sweetest honey, could be found in Madhuvana, a garden just outside Kishkindha. The hives there were reserved for the monkey-kings. But the scout-monkeys, on their return from the south, raided this royal sanctuary and drank all the honey there, ignoring the warnings of the guards.
When this was reported to Sugriva, he smiled indulgently, saying, ‘Such audacity can only spring from success.’
Indeed it had. After the excited chatter of the monkeys about their numerous adventures had died down, Hanuman opened his palm and showed Sita’s hairpin to Ram. He then told Ram the secret story of the crow who long ago, in the forest, had attacked Sita while Ram was asleep. ‘Like a proud tree in the vicious grip of venomous vines, she sits in Ravana’s garden, awaiting your arrival.’
‘Is she frightened, Hanuman?’ asked Ram.
‘No. She knows you will come.’
‘Then there is not a moment to lose. Let us go south, to the shores of the sea, and find a way to that island city of the rakshasas.’
Valmiki describes the boisterous return of the vanaras and the havoc they create to celebrate their success.
The return of Hanuman marks the start of the Yuddha-kanda, the sixth and final chapter of the Purva-Ramayana.
Ram is eternally indebted to Hanuman, who finds Sita. He hugs him as a brother. In a hierarchical and feudal society this is hugely significant: it indicates the debt of the master and the gratitude of those in authority.
Hanuman has nothing to gain from the entire exercise. At first he is simply obeying Sugriva but later it is an act of unconditional affection. This elevates Hanuman to the level of a god in the eyes of the people. No temple of Vishnu is complete without a shrine to Hanuman. In North India people say, ‘Pehle Hanuman, phir bhagavan,’ meaning ‘First Hanuman and only then God’.
The thirteenth-century Vedanta scholar Madhwa, based in Udupi, Karnataka, was identified as an incarnation of Hanuman. Madhwa is known for his doctrine of duality (Dvaita) where he saw a devotee as separate from the deity, in contrast to the foremost ninth-century Vedanta scholar, Shankara, who said such divisions were delusions. The name Madhwa alludes to the notion of a ‘medium’. Just as Hanuman connects Sita to Ram, Madhwa’s doctrine hopes to connect devotee to deity.
A Bridge across the Sea
The great army of monkeys and bears and vultures and other forest creatures led by Ram followed Hanuman. It was easy to cross the jungles, but not the sea.
Ram had never seen the sea: the waters seemed to stretch into infinity, blending with the sky in the horizon, and they rose up in waves and roared like angry lions, reaching out to touch the sky like trumpeting elephants. Under the waters, it was told, lived a fire-breathing mare.
Ram joined his palms and begged Varuna, the god of the sea, to part and make way for him and his army. But his request was greeted with silence. He invoked the sea-god again and again and again, for several days and nights. But the silence persisted. Then, in an unusual display of impatience and rage, Ram picked up his bow, mounted an ar
row and threatened to destroy the sea.
That is when Varuna appeared, seated on a gigantic fish, and told Ram, ‘From the sea come fish and salt and pearls. From the sea comes the rain. If you destroy the sea, all life will come to an end. Don’t let your rage get the better of you, Ram. Fly over me, as Hanuman did. Or build a bridge over me. But do not expect me to change my nature and make way for you or your army.’
Varuna then saw the animals behind Ram, the great army of beasts, behaving so uncharacteristically in the presence of Ram. If they could be inspired to transform, so could he. So Varuna revealed a secret: ‘Amongst the vanaras who have followed you are the brothers Nala and Nila, children of Agni, the fire-god. Rocks dropped by them into the sea cannot sink. Use them to build a bridge. I will keep it afloat. No more.’
The monkeys let out a whoop of joy and Ram smiled. That was good enough.
The vultures scouted from the air, the bears made the plans and the monkeys executed them. They carried huge boulders and passed them on to the brothers Nala and Nila, who hurled them into the sea. These stayed afloat as Varuna had said, but they did not stay together: they drifted in different directions. ‘What do we do now?’ screamed the vanaras.
Hanuman then etched the name of Ram on the boulders that were being handed over to Nala and Nila. Now these rocks stuck to each other like a garland and extended southwards, towards Sita.
Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana Page 22
