49. SITA IN THE ASOKA VANAM :

As HANUMAN stood on the high
wall, he did not know why, a thrill of joy
passed through his frame. It was the
invisible atmosphere which envelopes an
accomplished mission and influences
subtly the devoted heart. As be had at last
reached the spot where Sita was, his
whole being throbbed with exulting
expectation without any apparent reason.



It was an early spring night. Trees and
plants were in flowers. Hanuman jumped
to a place where there was a thick cluster
of trees. This disturbed the birds that
rested there and they flew out with sweet
noises. Deer and other animals moved
about. Flowers dropped from the branches
and covered the body of Hanuman.



The creatures in the park, looking at
the lovely figure of Hanuman covered all
over with flowers, thought that the God of
spring was visiting the grove in the early
dawn.



The garden was entrancingly beautiful.
Lovely tanks, terraces decorated with
gold, silver, ivory, pearl and coral crystal
steps, artificial hills and waterfalls, the
sight filled Hanuman's heart with joy.
Around some trees were platforms
overlaid with gold and silver. Little bells
suspended from the trees made music in
the breeze.



Hanuman climbed up and sat hidden
among the leaves of a tall spreading tree
with a golden platform around its stem. "If
she be alive and in Lanka " said Hanuman
to himself, "Sita would surely visit this
garden. She would choose this place
above all others for solitude and
contemplation of Rama. They said, did
they not, that she loved groves and trees?
She would surely come here at dawn to
offer worship to the Universal Mother."



He gazed all round, hiding himself
among the leaves. He sat on a branch and
looked below. He beheld a female figure
seated on that platform, blindingly
beautiful and divinely pure.



Thin and pale, she shone like the streak
of the moon in the beginning of the bright
half of the month. Her beauty glowed
fitfully through deepest dejection like
flame through enveloping smoke.



Wrapped in a soiled upper garment she
resembled a lovely lotus obscured by miry
moss. Her face was bathed in tears, and
she was wan and thin for want of food.



She had no thoughts but of sorrow, no
glimpse of friends or hope. There were
only Rakshasis wherever she turned her
eyes, and she felt like a doe which had
lost its herd and found itself beset by a
pack of wild dogs.



A single snake-like braid of hair
wandered unregarded down to her hip.
She seemed to Hanuman at once adorable
and pitiful, like the holy word torn from
its context by infidels, like prosperity sunk
in unmerited ruin, like shattered hope and
faith betrayed, like frustrated fulfilment,
like intellect muddied by insanity, like
blameless purity besmirched by foul
slander.



Hanuman said to himself with
conviction: "This image of beautiful
despair is surely Sita. For, behold,
hanging unregarded on the branches of the
tree are the jewels described by Rama as
having been on her when she was carried
away, all except those which she dropped
during the flight and which were picked
up by us on the hill. And see the scarf she
wears, though soiled and crumpled, is the
fellow to the one we found. Surely this
sublimely beautiful lady, who seems like
one steadfast in true love in a tempesttossed
sea of troubles, is Rama's beloved
queen. It is for her that Rama is consumed
by a three-fold agony, grief for her
suffering, wrath for the insult to her and
heart-broken pangs at separation from her.
Surely he is ever in her heart and she in
his, and in truth they are not parted or they
could not live."



And as he continued to see her, his
heart leapt back across the ocean and
sought Rama's feet in adoration. And
again he looked at Sita and said to
himself: "It was for the sake of this divine
lady that the mighty Vali, the peer of
Ravana in prowess, was slain. For her that
Kabandha and Viradha met their death,
and fourteen thousand fierce Rakshasas
with Khara, Dushana and Trisiras
crimsoned with their gore the glades of
Janasthana. It was for her that the splendid
sovereignty of the Vanaras was wrested
from the heroic Vali and given to Sugriva.



It is to do her service that I crossed the
sea, the lord of rivers, and am now here in
Lanka. All this seems much, but verily, if
for her sake Rama should transform or
even destroy the universe, I would say
from my soul it is well done! She is worth
it all and more!"
And again Hanuman's heart crossed the
sea back and dwelt on Rama far away.



Just then, as off the clear surface of a
lake a swan might glide, so in the blue sky
the moon swam into sight and shone
brightly as if on purpose to help the son of
Vayu.



Peering between the leaves and not
knowing what to do, Hanuman took
another long look at the face of Sita, a
face that disclosed a sea of care like a
heavily-laden ship caught in a storm. The
Rakshasis who guarded her were
intolerably ugly. One had only one eye,
another only one ear. Some were without
ears and some without noses. Some had
noses turned steeply upward. Some were
bald, while some had done their hair in
grotesque styles.



Some had pendant stomachs and some
had camel's lips. Some were hunchbacks.
Some were dwarfs and some tall like
palmyrah trees. Swine-face, tiger-face,
buffalo-face, goat-face, all were to be
seen. These unsightly creatures were
holding spears and other weapons in their
hands.



And in their midst, the pale-faced
princess sat trembling, befriended only by
her virtue, like an unsupported beautiful
creeper fallen on the ground.



It was still dark and not yet dawn.
Ravana was roused from his slumber by
the chanting of the Vedas and the morning
songs of the court bards. The moment he
awoke, he thought of Sita and started
towards the park where she was kept.



With all his retinue, he entered the
palace park, accompanied by scented
torches and the royal umbrella,
surrounded by maidens, covered all over
with brilliant ornaments and clad in
spotless white clothes. Ravana appeared
charming like another Manmatha.
As the procession entered the gate,
Hanuman could hear the noise of the
crowd and the tinkling of women's
anklets. Soon he saw the Rakshasa king
approaching. At once Hanuman hid
himself more effectively than before
among thick leaves.



As Ravana came towards Sita, his
strength and splendor were wonderful to
behold. At this sight Sita's body shrank
and trembled like a plantain tree in a
storm.



As one reads or listens to this sacred
story, one should form a mental image of
Sita in her present state. One can imagine
the agony of despair of any good woman
who has by misfortune fallen into the
power of a lustful man. What must be the
state of Sita, daughter of Janaka and wife
of Ramachandra, in such a predicament?
To appreciate Valmiki's metaphors and
similes in this context, one should purify
one's heart and fire it with piety.



One feels unequal to rendering into
another language the beautiful similes by
which Valmiki illustrates her condition.
Only a few are cited here to give some
idea of them.



Ravana approached Sita still in the
hope of obtaining her consent. Sita was
covered with dust and had no jewels on
her person but she shone as if wearing all
the jewels that a princess must wear. She
looked like a beautiful tree felled down
and lying low.



Her face was covered by light and
shadow, like a lotus flower stained by
mire. She swayed like a cobra bound by
charms. Her state was like one surrounded
by raging fires on four sides, like an army
which had lost its chief warriors, like a
river which had run dry, like a vessel for
sacrificial fire that suffered desecration,
like a lovely lotus tank destroyed by
elephants, like a flowering creeper
uprooted and cast aside, like a cow
elephant separated from the leader of the
herd, captured and tied as a prisoner.



Sita sat trembling, overwhelmed with
grief and fear. When she perceived
Ravana's approach, that very instant her
heart travelled to Rama like a chariot
drawn by swift steeds. With faded face
and wasted form, she thought of her
protectors far away. "When will they
come? Will they ever come?" she asked
herself and meditated on God.
Ravana approached and spoke to her.
Hidden in the branches of the tree,
Hanuman watched what went on below.


NEXT : 50. RAVANA'S SOLICITATION


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