A gist of epic Ramayana-Part XI
Hanuman meets Sita in Ashoka vana!
Hanuman meets Sita in Ashoka vana.
Thus, Hanuman reached the heavily guarded fortress of Srilanka. But he don't want him noticed by the demons of Ravana Kingdom. Hence he assumed a tiny size and he was leaping from one house to another in search of Sita. It was his folly, that he had no idea how Sita would look like? Hence he could not really able to identify between several woman in each house hold. Suddenly, he heard that some one chanting the name of God as "Hari Hari". He just peeped inside the house and found a deeply devoted man chanting the name of God with great devotion. Hanuman went inside and attracted his attention. He told him, "I am the servant of Rama who is in search for his wife" We heard that a demon named Ravana abducted her. I am searching for the correct whereabouts of Sita since i could not personally identify Sita amongst the many woman here!
Hearing this Vibhishana(Ravana's younger brother) was very happy. He embraced Hanuman who has shown his true form! He said, Oh Hanuman, how fortunate I am ? To day I felt exhilarated by the announcement that the Lord himself has set in search for Sita. She is kept in the custody of many demon woman in a distant garden known as Ashoka Vana". Having got the clue, Hanuman took the leave of Vibhishana and reached the Ashoka Vana. There he found under a big tree, there was a frail woman who held her head looking down in deep sorrow and lamenting. He surmised that she should be Sita due to the disposition. She was surrounded by many demon woman. Hanuman was on the very tree above where Sita is kept in custody. Hence he started repeating the name of Rama so that only Sita could hear it. He was repeating, Ram, Ram,Ram. Sita suddenly saw up and found that a monkey was repeating the name of her Lord!
She suspected that this may be one of the stratagem of Ravana. Meanwhile Hanuman found that Ravana was approaching the are in order to gain the confidence of Sita. He wanted to marry her. But a curse from a sage prevented him from forcibly taking her hand. He knew, that she is the wife of another man Rama. But his infatuation was so great, he was in no mood to think about the after effects of desiring Sita! But Sita never lifted her eyes from the ground and she never looked at Ravana. She plucked a grass and addressed Ravana indirectly. She addressed the grass thus! Oh fool! why you are inviting doom on your head. Rama would come and rescue me from you. He will vanquish the demons in fight! Ravana tried to earn her hand by crook but he could never succeed. Hence he commanded the demon woman to terrorise Sita into submission and left in a hurry. Hanuman found that this is the apt chance. He descended from the tree and prostrated to Sita and said, Oh Mother, Rama has sent me to find out your whereabouts. He has handed over this ring as a proof. He handed over the valuable ring of Rama. She immediately pressed the ring to her eyes and she was hopeful that Rama would come soon. She addressed Hanuman, "How you entered this land which is heavily guarded by the demons. Before anybody sees you, hide yourself and take this jewel and convey the message to Rama! She handed over a precious jewel she used to wear on her head and said, Pray to Rama to come back quickly and rescue me!
Hanuman received the head jewel and promised to convey her anguish to Rama. He said, Rama would wage war against the demons and rescue you. He sought her permission to eat some fruits from the Ashoka vana. Sita granted her permission. In a trice, he assumed his normal form, started leaping from tree to tree and plucked the ripe fruits and ate to his heart's content. Some demons observed this and tried to hurt Hanuman. But Hanuman plucked huge trees by the root and hurled at the demons. Many of them were killed instantaneously. Ravana was informed that a huge monkey is plundering the garden and many demons who guarded the garden were killed. Ravana could not believe this news. He sent many valiant demons who were killed by the monkey Hanuman. Hearing this, Indrajit, the mighty son of Ravana himself came there along with many demons. Though he could not contain the monkey with normal weapons, he sent "Nagasthra", a powerful weapon with chants. It bound Hanuman and he was brought to Ravana. The king was in no mood to offer any respect to the monkey. But Hanuman built a throne with his huge tail and occupied it which was equal in height to the throne of Ravana. Rest in next part.
