Mahabharata Vol. 3 (Penguin Translated Texts) (65 page)

‘Markandeya said, “She was sorrowful and miserable on account of her husband. She was attired in soiled garments and what remained of her gems and ornaments. She was devoted to her husband and was weeping. She was seated on a slab of stone and was served by the rakshasis. Oppressed by the arrows of love, Ravana came to see her. The gods, danavas, gandharvas, yakshas and kimpurushas had not managed to vanquish him in battle. Oppressed by Kandarpa,
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he went to the grove of ashoka trees. He was radiant and was attired in celestial garments. He had resplendent and jewelled earrings. He wore colourful garlands and a crown and was like spring personified. Having adorned himself carefully, he looked like
kalpavriksha.
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But with all these adornments, he was as terrible as a
chaitya
tree
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in a cremation ground. The traveller of the night approached the slender-waisted one, and looked like the planet Saturn approaching Rohini. Having greeted the one with the beautiful hips and struck by the arrows of the one who has the flower as a banner,
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he spoke these words to the one who was as terrified as a doe. ‘O Sita! You have shown favours towards your husband for a long time. O one who is slender in form! Show me your favours. You should be
adorned. O one with the beautiful hips! Love me, adorned in expensive garments and ornaments. O beautiful one! Be the foremost among all my women. I have daughters of the gods and the women of rajarshis. I have daughters of the danavas and the women of daityas. Fourteen crore
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pishachas await my word and double that number of rakshasas, the eaters of men and the performers of terrible deeds. Three times that number of yakshas carry out my instructions. Only a few have sought refuge with my brother, the lord of riches. O fortunate one! O one with the beautiful thighs. When I am in my drinking hall, gandharvas and apsaras always attend on me, as they attend on my brother. I am the son of the brahmana rishi, the sage Vishrava himself. My fame is renowned as the fifth guardian of the world.
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I eat celestial food and I have many different kinds of drink. O beautiful one! Whatever the thirty gods have, I possess that. Let all the evils of your sojourn in the forest be gone. O one with the beautiful hips! Be my wife, like Mandodari.’
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Thus addressed, Vaidehi, the one with the beautiful face, turned her face away.

‘“She thought of the traveller of the night as no more than a blade of grass and spoke to him, with inauspicious tears from her eyes drenching her firm breasts and beautiful thighs. Accepting her husband to be a god, Vaidehi spoke these words to the mean one. ‘O lord of the rakshasas! I am unfortunate that I have had to listen to such words from you. I am miserable and unlucky that I have heard such words. O fortunate one! Be fortunate in your happiness, but turn these thoughts away. I am another man’s wife and am always devoted to my husband. This helpless woman cannot be an appropriate wife for you. What pleasure will you find from violating a helpless woman? Your father is a brahmana. He was born from Brahma and is the equal of Prajapati. If you are the equal of a guardian of the world, how do you not follow dharma? Do you not have any shame at naming your brother, the lord of riches and the
king of the yakshas,
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the friend of the lord Maheshvara?’ Having said this, the heavy-breasted Sita trembled and wept. The one who was slender in form covered her head and her face with her garment. Her hair was long and was braided well. Hanging from her head, it looked like a delicate and dark serpent. The indignant one was weeping. On hearing those extremely cruel words spoken by Sita and being rejected, Ravana, whose intelligence was wicked, spoke again. ‘O Sita! Let the one with the makara on his banner burn my limbs through desire.
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O one with the beautiful smile! O one with the beautiful hips! But I will not enjoy you against your wishes. What can I possibly do? Even now, you are devoted to Rama, a human who is nothing but our food.’ Thus addressing the one with the unblemished limbs, the lord of masses of rakshasas instantly disappeared and went in whatever direction he desired. Surrounded by the rakshasis, Vaidehi was overcome by grief. Served by Trijata, she resided there.”’

‘Markandeya said, “When Raghava, together with Soumitri, lived under Sugriva’s protection on the slopes of Malyavan, he saw the clear sky. In that clear sky, the destroyer of enemies saw the unblemished moon,
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the planets, the nakshatras and the stars. The breeze was redolent with the fragrance of water lilies, blue lotuses and lotuses.
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The dweller in that cool mountain was suddenly stirred. The one with dharma in his soul was distracted at the thought of Sita captive in the rakshasa’s abode. One morning, he spoke to
the brave Lakshmana. ‘O Lakshmana! Go to Kishkindha and seek out the lord of monkeys. He is intoxicated and ungrateful, follows the dharma of the vulgar and is only learned about his own selfish interests. That stupid one, the worst of the lineage, has been instated by me in the kingdom and all the monkeys, apes
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and bears show him homage. O mighty-armed one! O extender of Raghu’s lineage! With your aid, it is for his sake that I slew Vali in the forest of Kishkindha. I think that worst of monkeys to be the most ungrateful on earth. O Lakshmana! That stupid one ignores me and does not know me now. I think that, because of his ignorance, he does not know how to honour an agreement. He ignores me, though I have performed a good deed for him. If he lazily indulges in the happiness of desires, you must send him along the path followed by Vali, the destination of all beings. O Kakutstha! But if that bull among monkeys acts to as to serve our purpose, quickly bring him here. Go without any delay.’ Lakshmana was always devoted to the words of his elders. Thus addressed by his brother, he grasped his beautiful bow, arrows and the string of the bow and departed.

‘“On reaching the gates of Kishkindha, he entered, without anyone stopping him. Thinking him to be angry, the king of the monkeys went out to welcome him. With his wife, and humble in soul, Sugriva, the king of the monkeys, welcomed him and happily offered homage to the one who should be honoured. Without any fear, Soumitri told him Rama’s words. O Indra among kings! On hearing all this, Sugriva, the lord of the monkeys, joined his hands in salutation. With his servants and wives, he spoke these words to Lakshmana, elephant among men. ‘O Lakshmana! I am not evil in intelligence. Nor am I ungrateful, or one without compassion. Listen to the efforts I have made to find Sita. Skilled monkeys have been sent by me in all the directions. One month has been decided for all of them to return. O brave one! The entire earth, with its forests, mountains, villages, towns and mines, girded by the ocean, will be searched by them. That month will be complete in another five nights. Then, together with Rama,
you will learn about the great service I have rendered.’ Thus addressed by the wise Indra among monkeys, Lakshmana happily discarded his anger and returned the homage to Sugriva. Accompanied by Sugriva, he returned to Rama, who was on the slopes of Malyavan, and told him about what had been done towards their objective. As had been said, the foremost among monkeys began to return in their thousands, those who had gone in the three directions, other than towards the south. They told Rama, ‘We have searched the entire earth, with the ocean as a girdle. But we have not been able to see Vaidehi or Ravana.’ Though his heart was grief-stricken at this, Kakutstha was still hopeful and waited for the bulls among the monkeys who had gone in a southern direction.

‘“When two months had passed, some monkeys hurriedly approached Sugriva and told him these words. ‘O foremost among monkeys! O king! The great and extensive grove of Madhuvana was always protected by Vali. It is now being enjoyed by the son of the wind,
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Vali’s son Angada and other bulls among monkeys whom you had sent out in a southern direction.’ Such acts were only possible by servants who had accomplished their duties. On hearing of this conduct, he
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thought that they must have been successful. The wise bull among monkeys went to Rama and told him this. Rama also thought that Maithili must have been seen. When those monkeys, with Hanuman at the forefront, had rested, they approached the king of the monkeys, who was with Rama and Lakshmana. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! On observing Hanuman’s gait and the complexion of his face, Rama was convinced that Sita must have been seen. The monkeys, with Hanuman at the forefront, were successful in their objective. They prostrated themselves before Rama, Sugriva and Lakshmana.

‘“Rama picked up his bow and arrows and spoke to the ones who had arrived. ‘Will you give me my life? Have you been successful? Having killed my enemies in battle and having recovered Janaka’s daughter, will I again rule the kingdom of Ayodhya? I have been robbed
of my wife and honour. As long as Vaidehi is not freed and my enemies are not killed in battle, I have no desire to be alive.’ When Rama had spoken thus, the son of the wind replied. ‘O Rama! My news is pleasant. Janaki has been seen by me. After searching the southern direction, with its mountains, forests and mines, we were exhausted. After some time, we saw a giant cave. We entered it and it was many yojanas long. It was dark, forested, deep and infested with insects. We traversed a long way through it and then we saw the splendour of the sun and a celestial palace nearby. O Raghava! That residence belonged to the daitya Maya. A lady ascetic named Prabhavati was engaged in austerities there. She gave us many objects to eat and drink. When we had regained our strength after eating, we proceeded along the road that she had pointed out. Emerging,
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we saw the salty ocean and near it, the great mountains Sahya, Malaya and Dardura. Ascending Malaya, we beheld Varuna’s abode and were extremely miserable, dejected and tired. We gave up all hope of life. We thought about this great ocean, which was many hundreds of yojanas wide. It was the abode of whales, crocodiles and large fish and we were extremely distressed. We decided to sit there and fast to death. In the course of our conversation, we began to talk about the vulture Jatayu. We then saw a terrible and fearsome bird that was as large as the peak of a mountain. It looked like another son of Vinata.
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Desirous of eating us, it approached us and asked, “Who is it that is talking about my brother Jatayu? I am his elder brother Sampati and am the king of the birds. In a contest with each other, we rose up towards the seat of the sun. As a consequence of this, my wings were burnt, but not those of Jatayu. That was the last time I saw my beloved brother, the king of the vultures. My wings having been burnt, I fell down on this giant mountain.” When he told us this, we told him about his brother being slain. We briefly told him about the calamity that had befallen you. O king! On hearing this, Sampati was extremely miserable. O destroyer of enemies! In a dejected frame of mind, he again asked us, “Who is Rama? Who is Sita? How was Jatayu killed? O supreme among
monkeys! I wish to hear everything about all this.” I then told him everything about the misfortune that had befallen you and the reason for our deciding to fast to death. But that king of birds made us arise with his words. “I know Ravana and his great city of Lanka. I have seen it across the ocean, in a valley of Mount Trikuta. Vaidehi must be there. I have no doubt on this score.” Hearing him speak these words, we swiftly arose. O scorcher of enemies! We consulted about how one might cross the ocean. But no one had the courage to jump across the ocean. I invoked the energy of my father. With that, I jumped across the great ocean, a hundred yojanas, after having killed a water-dwelling rakshasi.
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I then saw the faithful Sita in Ravana’s inner quarters. Eager to see her husband, she was fasting and engaged in austerities. Her hair was matted and her body was caked with dirt. She was lean, wretched and an ascetic. Knowing her to be Sita through these various signs, I approached her and spoke to her in private. “O Sita! I am a monkey who is the son of the wind-god. I am Rama’s messenger. Travelling through the sky, I have come here, hoping to see you. The brothers and princes, Rama and Lakshmana, are well. They are under the protection of Sugriva, the Indra of all the monkeys. O Sita! Rama, together with Soumitri, has asked about your welfare. Because of his sentiments of friendship, Sugriva has also asked about your welfare. Your husband will soon arrive here, with all the monkeys. O goddess! Have trust in me. I am a monkey and not a rakshasa.” Thinking for an instant about what I had said, Sita replied, “From what Avindhya has said, I know you to be Hanuman. Avindhya is a mighty-armed rakshasa, revered by the elders. He told me that Sugriva is surrounded by advisers like you. Go now.” Having said this, Sita gave me this jewel. The unblemished Vaidehi has worn it for a long time. Janaki also told me these words, so that you have your trust in me. O tiger among men! While dwelling on that great mountain of Chitrakuta, you hurled a straw at a crow. From this, you should believe.
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Hearing this, I myself burnt down that city.’ Rama then honoured the one who had brought such pleasant news.”’

‘Markandeya said, “While Rama was seated there with them, on Sugriva’s instructions, the foremost among the monkeys began to assemble there. Surrounded by one thousand crores of swift monkeys, Sushena, Vali’s illustrious father-in-law, came to Rama. Surrounded by one crore of monkeys, Gaja and Gavaya, the immensely valorous Indras among monkeys, separately made their appearance. O great king! Gavaksha was terrible to look at and had the tail of a cow. He arrived with sixty thousand crore. The famous Gandhamadana lived in Gandhamadana. He brought one thousand crore of awesome monkeys. The intelligent monkey, Panasa, was immensely strong. He brought ten, twelve and thirty-five crore. The brave and aged monkey, by the name of Dadhimukha, was illustrious. He brought a great army of monkeys that were awesome in energy. Jambavan brought a hundred thousand crore of bears. They were dark and terrible in their deeds. Their foreheads were lined. There were many other leaders of herds of monkeys. O great king! Innumerable numbers assembled for the sake of Rama. They roared like lions, with the complexion of shirisha blossoms. As they ran around, a tumultuous sound was heard. Some were like the peaks of mountains. Others were like buffaloes. Some were like clouds in autumn. Others had faces that were like vermilion. The monkeys jumped up and fell down. They leapt up and raised dust. Monkeys arrived from all the directions. The large army of monkeys was like the ocean when it is full. On Sugriva’s instructions, they set up their residences there. When all the Indras among monkeys had assembled from all the directions, when the lunar day was auspicious and so was the nakshatra, the illustrious Raghava marched out with Sugriva at the appointed hour. As if to shatter the world, the army was arranged in battle formations. Hanuman, the son of the wind-god, was in the front of the army. Soumitri, who was without any fear, protected the rear. The two Raghavas, with guards for the arms and the fingers, and surrounded by those foremost among monkeys, looked like the sun and the moon amidst the planets. That army of monkeys was armed with shala and
tala trees and rocks as weapons. It looked like an extensive field of rice at the time of sunrise.