Bits of life

J-9 Words-1700

you with me.”
Rama lifted the prostrating form of Bharat from his feet and embraced him with affection and said,
“My dear Bharat! You know I cannot go back on my word. If I go back with you I will get the name of a liar which will be a black mark on Ikshwaku dynasty. If you insist all I can do is to give you permission to rule Ayodhya in my absence.”
Bharat was disappointed at the decision of Rama. He suggested,
“I will be a caretaker of the land till you come back. Let me take your footwear as a symbol of your representation and place it on the throne of Ayodhya. Please don’t deny me this.”
Rama agreed to do as Bharat asked. Brothers parted again with tears in their eyes. None of them expected situations like this. Their lives changed in a matter of few days.
Bharat departed to Ayodhya carrying Rama’s footwear on his head. Such was the nobility of Bharat.
In the forest named Dandakaranya, Rama and Sita spent their lives in a comfortable way with brother Lakshmana serving them with devotion and love. Sita made friends with the flora and fauna of the forest. Sree Rama would go hunting to bring their meat and venison from the forest. They spent the day in prayers and other rituals, a householder would observe in his daily life. Lakshmana kept vigil at night so the couple could sleep in comfort. Before the exile days started, he appealed to the goddess of sleep to let him be awake for the next fourteen years and come back afterwards. The goddess of sleep had granted him his wish.
The rishis living nearby heard that Rama and Sita and Lakshmana had come to live in the forest at the behest of Rama’s father, Dasaratha. They visited Rama and paid their respects and wished him well.
Thus passed a few years. One day, when Rama was sitting on the open porch repairing his bow and talking to his wife Sita, a demoness came to pass by. As a demoness she had the power to be invisible. When she looked at Rama, she fell in love with him promptly. She assumed human form of a beautiful girl and approached Rama. She started talking to him thus:
“O handsome human! I am in love with you. I propose we marry and live happily in this forest.”
Rama looked at this strange woman and said,
“I am sorry lady. I am already married. This is my wife Sita,” he pointed out to Sita.
Then she looked at Sita and said to Rama in a voice of contempt,
“This woman is too thin too weak for you. You need strong woman like me. Do you know who I am? I am Surpanakha, the only sister of Ravanasura, the unchallenged, the most powerful king of demons. He rules Lanka, the most well guarded island kingdom. You too look like a king. The wedding between the two of us is the right thing to happen. Come on handsome man, let us marry.”
Rama understood it was not easy to convince the woman to let him leave alone. She appeared bent on her decision to marry him. So he pointed Lakshmana to her and said,
“Could you see that man? He has no woman with him right now. Why don’t try your hand with him?”
Surpanakha took one look at Lakshmana and felt he too was handsome and it was worth marrying him. She went to Lakshmana and asked him to marry her. Lakshmana was not as calm or cool as Rama. He was known for his hot temper. He looked at her witheringly and said,
“Get lost this minute or I will thrash you.”
Surpanakha was not angered by his wrathful words. Instead she became more attracted to him and ardor showed in her address thus. She said,
“Oh prince of princes! I like your anger too. How beautiful you look with anger flashing out of those black eyes resembling thick darkness of the night. I have fallen in love with you. Let us get married this minute and enjoy the luxury of our youthful stage of life.” So saying Surpanakha tried to touch Lakshmana and drag him with her.
Lakshmana could no longer bear with the rakshasa woman’s fling at him. He looked at his brother Rama and saw that there played a smile on his face.
Then he addressed Surpanakha and said,
“Look, you woman of baseless character! If you don’t leave me now, at this very minute, I am going to punish you with something beyond your imagination. This is my last warning to you. Get away from me.”
But Surpanakha was adamant to get Lakshmana as her lover. She didn’t realize that she was playing with a thousand hooded cobra. She once again tried to drag him with her.
Then Lakshmana took his sharp edged dagger and holding the Asura (demon in Sanskrit) woman firmly with his left hand, he had cut her ears and nose and left her bleeding and crying. Then she issued a warning to all the three of them.
She said,
“You frail human beings! You don’t know you are playing with fire when you have insulted me in this mean way. You will pay a heavy price for what you have done to me. I am the only sister of Ravana, the matchless emperor of Lanka. Have you ever heard of Lanka? My elder brother Ravana rules it like Indra, the chief of deities rules the heavenly kingdom. All of you will be duly punished by my brother. You wait and see what will happen to your lives. My brother will come here and will avenge the dishonor and insult you have heaped on me.”
Thus crying and babbling with pain, the Asura woman left them. The brothers and Sita soon forgot about the incident.
Surpanakha was as good as her words of anger to Rama and Lakshmana. She soon reached the kingdom of Lanka on wings of air and stood before her brother Ravana, the ten headed demon king as he was discussing matters of political importance with his ministers and courtiers. When Surpanakha appeared with her face dripping blood and tears, Ravana was filled with pity for her. After all she was his sister. So he asked her who did this despicable act of cruelty to her, to which she replied thus.
“My dear brother! In the forest called Dandakaranya, there dwell three frail human beings. They appear to have come from royal family. There are two men and one woman. The woman is extremely beautiful and I thought she suits as your eldest queen. She has exquisite eyes and long black hair. Her complexion is golden and her body is like that of heavenly dancers like Rambha and Urvasi. You should come and take her away from the worthless husband who seems to be very poor and cannot afford to give her proper shelter. When I tried to tell the same to the woman, her husband’s brother insulted me in this manner. For no real reason he had cut my nose and ears. Here I am undergoing injury and insult just because I tried to praise you and told her to come with so she could become your queen.”
Ravana was duly impressed by his sister Surpanakha’s lamentations and by way of consoling her, he said,
“Don’t worry my dear sister. Those who had made you suffer in this despicable manner will suffer for their deeds of cruelty. Just tell me exactly where they reside. I will send some of my best fighters to take avenge you.”
Surpanakha replied,
“They live in a place called Janapatha in the thick Dandakaranya. They live alone and have no army or any security. I can show the way to those whom you send to fight them.’
Ravana called for a famous general of his army and commanded him to depart immediately to fight the war of honor with the forest dwellers.
Surpanakha went with them to show Panchavati, the cottage of Rama and Sita and Lakshmana.
Both the brothers saw the dust rising with the stamping of the army of Ravana. They got ready for the battle. They wore their bows and placed the quiver of arrows on their strong shoulders and stood in readiness to face the enemy.
Soon the general of Ravana’s regiment along with eleven thousand troops neared the parnashala or the cottage made of leaves and tree trunks, belonging to Rama and Sita. The chief of that army was one of the most able fighters of Ravana’s army. His name was Khara. Khara’s brother Dushana was his equal in valor and war craft. Khara and his brother challenged Rama and Lakshmana to fight with them individually. They were killed by the sons of Dasaratha with two powerful astras or arrows with divine prowess. Later, they defeated the army of eleven thousand strong rakshasas with their sharp and powerful arrows. The remaining demon soldiers flew to ir lives ran away to Lanka and informed their emperor Ravana of their shameful defeat at the hands of two mere human beings.
Ravana started planning his strategy for avenging his sister with caution and cunning. He now understood that he might not be able to win the battle with the brothers, Rama and Lakshmana in straight combat. So he thought of an effective plan.
The seasons changed quickly. It was spring time in Dandakaranya. The trees wore a fresh green hue and the whole nature looked like a beautiful girl in her youth. Water in the ponds and streams sparkled. The skies were a clear blue. The wind blew with a gentle rhythm. Flowers bloomed and the bees buzzed. Birds twittered in the tree branches and animals were seen running through the forest with extra abandon.
Rama and Sita were playing an indoor game of snakes and ladders. Lakshmana was keeping vigil as usual at a distance.
At that time Sita spotted a doe with golden spots dancing in the nearby bushes. She was at once attracted by the lovely animal on nimble feet. The more she glanced