Hari Om.
Let us begin the twenty third sarga of the sundara kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Spurned and pooh-poohed by sItA in strong terms and utterly humiliated in front of his womenfolk, rAvaNa flew into a rage. But sItA continued her rebuttal and prophesied his doom before long. The ten-headed demon was aghast at what the morning had turned into for him and threatened sItA further. He now served an ultimatum – she was to fall in line with his proposal in two months’ time, failing which she would become his morning meal!! He charged the scary ogresses around maithilI with the responsibility of ensuring that she accepts him and he gave them free hand to employ all the four methods of sAma (persuasion), dAna (charity/enticement), bhEda (creating fissure with rAma) and danDa (punishment) to get her in. As he kept charging at sItA with menacing moves, dhAnyamAlinI, one of his consorts came forward and took him away from the scene. sItA could have turned him to ashes just by her splendour, but she spared him for the day as rAma was yet to approve of the same. He retreated to his mansion. The great vAnara was watching this all from the top of the SimSupa tree. Onwards…
Having tormented maithilI thus and instructing the ogresses to ensure she falls in line, king rAvaNa left the aSOka grove and headed to his mansion. As rAvaNa reached his private chambers, those scary ogresses with huge and terrifying forms converged on vaidEhI began to speak to her harshly and said –
“O sItA, it seems you don’t consider it to be a great privilege to be the wife of the great rAvaNa who belongs to the hallowed lineage of pulastya”.
A demoness by name EkajaTa seething with anger showing her red eyes to sItA said –
“Out of the six prajApatis, the sons born off the thought of lord brahma (maricha, atri, angira, pulastya, plaha, kratu), the creators of the beings on the earth, the fourth is the pulastya and very famous. Born off the thought of that pulastya and as illustrious as him is the sage viSravasa. O sItA, the tormentor of the enemies, rAvaNa is his son. You ought to be the wife of this king of the demons. I say, O beauty, be his wife. Why is it that you don’t see the point in my words?”
Then ogress by name harijaTa, rolling her eyes in anger like those of a cat said –
“You must accept to be the wife of the demon king who has conquered the thirty three gods along with indra.”
Then the demoness praghasA seething with anger spoke terrible words terrifying maithilI –
“Why are you not grabbing this chance to be the wife of the warrior of great strength who is steeped in valour and has never retreated from a battle ground? The mighty king will give up even his most coveted consort that brought him all good fortune and will come to you. He will even give up his luxurious gem studded palace teeming with a thousand women and come to you”.
Another rAkshasI by name vikaTa said – “You mean woman, the one who has defeated the gods, nAgas and demi gods more than once in the war came to you today. Why did you spurn that wealthy king blessed with everything”?
Then the demoness named durmukhI said – “Afraid of whom, the sun doesn’t scorch, the wind doesn’t blow hard, why don’t you accept him? Being afraid of whom, the trees shower flowers on him, the mountains spring water, the clouds rain, why do you not make up your mind to accept him, O hot-tempered lady. We have told you of his greatness as a matter of fact and advise you to become his wife. If you do not listen to us, you will cease to exist”.
Here we conclude the twentythird sarga of the sundara kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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Next: 5.24. Chaste sItA loses hope not resolve
Previous: 5.22. Admonished and spared, for now
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 