Hari Om.
Let us begin the eighteenth sarga of the araNya kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Life at the panchvaTI was lovely. The sylvan surroundings, woods, abundant water, fire wood, flowers, fruits, roots – there was everything that was needed to lead a righteous life in the forest. The trio were very happy and reveled there for a while. The mission in the meanwhile shifted gear. One day as they returned from the river after ablutions and were busy in scholarly discussions, there appeared an ogress, by name SUrpanakha. Post the introductions, the ugly and scary demoness wanted rAma to marry her and said there sItA being of unpleasant appearance and manners didn’t deserve him at all! She assured rAma that she would swallow both sItA and lakshmaNa and ensure that they didn’t cause any nuisance as they both would roam the forests at will and enjoy their life! rAma was amused and with a smile he replied… Onwards
To that SUrpaNakha smitten with passion, rAma, with a smile replied clearly and lucidly –
“Hmm, I am married already and am here with my wife who is very dear to me. Further, for one like you to be a cowife is a difficult proposition. Here is my brother lakshmaNa, although married earlier, currently he is without his wife. He is of good conduct and is handsome. You may seek to be his wife and in doing so, you will not have deal with the difficult matter of being a cowife. Therefore O beautiful woman, you may want to approach him”.
As rAma said thus, the demoness left him aside and being smitten by passion approached lakshmaNa and told him that her beauty is the right match for his handsomeness and that he should make her his wife. Approached thus, the articulate saumitri gave a fitting reply to her with a smile –
“O woman with a lotus complexion, why do you want to be the servant of me who is already in the service and is dependent on my elder brother! You beauty, you ought to seek this wealthy lord and be his younger wife. I believe he will then give up his current wife who is ugly, immodest, frightening and has a drooping belly and will fall for you alone. Which diligent man will not want a beauty like you and will seek normal human beings”.
को हि रूपमिदं श्रेष्ठं संत्यज्य वरवर्णिनि।
मानुषीषु वरारोहे कुर्याद्भावं विचक्षणः।।3.18.12।।
As lakshmaNa made fun of her thus, unable to sense the sarcasm, the demoness took his words to be true and approached rAma who was seated in the leaf hut along with sItA. Then sensing sItA to the stumbling block here, she charged rAma that he was ignoring her advances and holding on to sItA. Therefore, she wanted to swallow sItA and be the only wife of rAma. With that cruel intention she charged at sItA like the meteors (bad omen) charge at the constellation of rOhiNI, in order to secure rAma! Then rAma was livid, restrained her and said to lakshmaNa –
“O lakshamaNa such cruel and uncouth people don’t deserve to be dealt with in humour and sarcasm. We could somehow save sItA from her. But this terrible, ugly impostor deserves to be punished. She must be deformed and mutilated”! Prompted thus, immediately the mighty saumitri swung into action and cut off her nose and ears with the sword. With blood dipping from her nose and ears, the deformed ogress thundered like the clouds during the rainy season and ran back to the forest in the direction in which she had come. She ran to the place where her brother, the demon khara who lorded over the forest was sitting with his council and dopped there like a bolt from the blue! Then she narrated to him about the advent of rAma, sItA and lakshmaNa to the forest and how she was disfigured by them.
Here we conclude the the eighteenth sarga of the araNya kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Click on the above link for word by word meaning from IITK website
Click on the above link to listen to the audio by SrIrAma ghanApATi
Next: 3.19. khara brags about!
Previous: 3.17. A terrible proposal!
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
