Inside Lanka

  

 

Inside Lanka

The leap across the ocean did not exhaust Hanuman. Realizing that his immense form would attract too much attention, he returned to his original appearance and walked towards the great city of Lanka. Would he find Sita there?

Hanuman looked around the island, which was a sight to behold, with its forests and rivers. Ravana's Lanka was on the peak of the Trikuta mountain and equalled the city of the gods in its prosperity and splendour.

The impenetrable fort

He approached the city and took in the moat with its flowers, and the golden rampart. Mighty Rakshasas guarded Lanka, which Vishvakarma, the architect of the gods, had built. "What would have been the use if the Vanaras had managed to get here," Hanuman wondered. "What will even Rama do when he reaches this impenetrable fort? These Rakshasas do not look amenable to diplomacy, gifts, or schemes. In any case, only four of us Angada, Nila, Sugriva, and 1-can get here.

"For now," he told himself. "Find Sita and determine if she still lives." He stood outside the city for a moment, wondering how to achieve his goal and Rama's end. Even the wind seemed t move under careful scrutiny in Ravana's realm.

So, Hanuman abandoned his regular form and made himself smaller than a gnat and waited. As the moon rost and shrouded the city in a cascade of moonlight, he entered the gates.

Lanka was divided by pathways and rows of palaces that were seven or eight storeys high. The city's prosperity and invincibility worried Hanuman, but he continued his search for Sita. Finally, he saw Ravana's palace and sensed the beautiful fragrances that filled it. Inside, he saw a thousand of his queens lying entangled, exhausted after that night's sport. None of them seemed to have been brought there forcibly, and they all appeared to love Ravana.

For a moment, Hanuman wondered if any of them could be Sita, but dismissed that thought. He continued walking and saw Ravana, reclining on a bejewelled crystal bed, and retreated. Seeing Mandodari, the king's beautiful wife, Hanuman wondered if she could be Sita. "Sita would not sleep this peacefully when she is separated from Rama. She would not dress up or drink, or be so close to another man - and what man could equal Rama anyway?" he thought.

A moment of doubt

Soon, Hanuman, struck by anxiety about dharma, thought, "Looking at other women is censured, and 1 have been looking at so many sleeping women. This will certainly destroy my dharma."

He resolved this thought soon. "Yes, I looked but there was no disturbance in my mind, and the mind is the root of the activity of the senses," he told himself.

A more immediate, serious worry took place. "I cannot see Sita anywhere, so she must be dead. This Rakshasa must have killed her as she tried to defend herself, or she slipped as he ascended the sky. Could it be that she saw the immense ocean and her heart simply stopped? Perhaps Ravana or the Rakshasis ate her." He renewed his efforts, but when he still could not find her, he began to panic.

"If I return without seeing her, what will Rama and Lakshmana say? What will I tell my comrades? If I tell Rama that I did not see her, he will certainly die. If he dies, Lakshmana cannot live and neither can Bharata or Shatrughna or their mothers.

"If Rama dies, Sugriva will not live, and Taaraa, Angada, and the rest of the Vanaras will also die. No, the end of the Ikshvakus and Vanaras will not be by my hand. I will not return. I will live here as a mendicant, or enter the sea."

He renewed his efforts and soon came upon the Ashoka grove. He invoked the deities, saying, "Obeisance to Rama and Lakshmana, to that daughter of Janaka. Obeisance to Rudra, Wind, Yama, Indra, Sun, Moon and the Maruts. Obeisance to Sugriva and all the deities.. Grant me success." So saying, he entered the grove.

…

ANALYSIS

LANKA PERSONIFIED

When Hanuman enters Lanka, in some recensions of Valmiki's Ramayana, he encounters the guardian deity of Lanka. When Hanuman defeats her, she tells him of Brahma, the Creator of the universe's prophecy that a Vanara would defeat her, and that it would mark terror for the Rakshasas. This story is retold in many versions, but in Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha's retelling, it is the goddess Chamunda whom Hanuman encounters. Her consort, Shiva, had told her that she could only return home when she had met Hanuman.

ALTERNATIVE ACCOUNT

A MEETING WITH VIBHISHANA

In Valmiki's Ramayana, Hanuman merely sees Ravana's brother Vibhishana's palace as he passes by. In Awadhi poet Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, he stops at Vibhishana's house, noticing the signs of his devotion to Rama in the objects of worship outside. When Vibhishana wakes up and remembers Rama's sacred name, Hanuman is determined to go and speak to him. He comforts Vibhishana by reminding him of Rama's compassion, and Vibhishana tells him how to get into the Ashoka grove where Sita is confined.