Hari Om.
Let us begin the thirty second sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Very clearly rAvaNa was overwhelmed by the vAnara army resembling the ocean and grew nervous on the accounts and exploits of the vAnaras he heard from his spies Suka, sArNa and SArdUla. All these spies were apprehended, soundly thrashed by the vAnaras and were released by rAma’s dhArmic intervention. They survived to tell the tale of the impending doom on lanka and were squarely rebuked by rAvaNa for praising the enemy! No matter how much he wanted to ignore the might of the army, in his own mind he was looking for avenues other than bravely facing the war to make sItA agree to being his wife. Now he tried to trick her. He called up trickster of a demon who could conjure anything and made a severed head that resembled rAma’s and also a bow and arrow which bore rAma’s insignia. He went to sItA and lied that his army led by prahasta had made short work of rAma and his army and slayed them during the night when they were in deep sleep. While they killed many, many others including lakshmaNa fled the scene! Perhaps sItA could not have believed that lakshmaNa would desert rAma at any cost but such was her grief that commonsense deserted her. She grieved as vidyujjihva tossed the so called severed head and rAvaNa tossed the false kOdanDa that they had conjured up. Onwards…
Beholding the severed head along with the bow and arrow, sItA saw the resemblance to the countenance, eyes and the curls of rAma. What she had heard about the friendship with sugrIva from hanumAn made her believe this even more since rAvaNa gave a detailed account of the vAnaras as well. She identified the crest jewel on the head of rAma and began to wail like a female deer. She went to the root of the problem and began to curse kaikEyI –
“O kaikEyi you may become one with fulfilled desire now that the delight of the clan is gone. You have destroyed the clan by your scheming mentality. What grief did the noble rAma bring to you that you had to banish him to the forest along with me in bark clothes”?
With these words she fell down unconscious on the ground like an axed tree. After a while she gathered her senses, took the head, kissed the portion on top of the forehead and wailed piteously –
“Alas, I am devastated! O mighty one, o follower of the conduct befitting a warrior, this condition of yours has rendered me a widow. It is said that if a man dies before his wife, it is due to her poor conduct. But alas, here you have passed despite my good conduct! Alas, trying to rescue me who is drowning in the ocean of grief you were struck down as well. That doting mother kausalyA has been rendered childless like a cow losing its calf.
O rAma, you have unimaginable valour and were said to be destined for a long life by the preceptors. Their words have been proved to be untrue as you turned to be short lived. Perhaps even the intellect of the learned gets destroyed when they come under a spell. O rAma, you are so capable of dealing with disasters and how come this death has struck you, O knower of the statecraft? You have been snatched away cruelly from my embrace, O lotus eyed one by the destiny and leaving this pining one aside you are sleeping in the embrace of the earth as if she is dearer to you. Alas, what has become of this bow that has been always worshipped by you and me with sandal paste and garlands! You have now joined my father-in-law daSaratha and all the other pitR dEvatas in the heavens. Having become a star in the skies, you can behold the hallowed lineage of the ikshvAkus there.
O king, why are you not talking back to me? Why are you not casting your glance on me? I am your young consort, your follower who was secured by you in the childhood itself. Remember, you took my hand into yours and promised to be with me always? Remember that and take this wailing wife also along with you. O bestower of Sadgati, how is it that you went off to the other worlds from this world, leaving behind this grieving me? I have been taking care of your body and keeping its sanctity by giving you ablutions. Alas, it will be devoured by the eagles today. You have performed many fire sacrifices, yajnas and performed charities. How is it that your rites were not performed by fire. The grieving kausalyA will question lakshmaNa about how out of three only one has come back from banishment? When lakshmaNa narrates the vanquishment of your supporters and you during the night and also about me being abducted by the demon, kausalyA’s heart will break and she can’t survive that.
For the sake of the undeserving me, the very capable rAma crossed the great ocean but drowned in the small puddle made by the hoof of a cow! I wedded dASarathi (rAma) and in a moment of impulse turned out be the death of the noble rAma. For sure in a previous life, I must have prevented the wedding of a maiden because of which I am grieving thus today even being the consort of someone who can host everyone in this world.
O rAvaNa, kill me as well and throw me on him. Do this good deed by uniting the wife with the husband. Make my head in contact with his and my body in contact with his and let me follow the footsteps of my lord. I don’t want to live for one moment more of this sinful life. I have heard from the vEdic scholars in my parent’s place that those women for whom the husband is the dearest are destined for the higher worlds. The one who is endowed with forbearance, restraint, sacrifice, truth, dharma, gratitude, nonviolence towards beings, what is life for me without him”?
Thus the lotus eyed sItA wailed uncontrollably repeatedly glancing the illusory head and that bow. As the demon king watched the wailings of sItA, a guard came there, folded his hands and hailed the king. As the king turned to him, he informed him about the presence of the commander in chief prahasta along with other ministers who is desirous of meeting him urgently. The guard begged to be excused by the king since they were insisting on meeting him on a very important matter.
Hearing this, the ten headed one, left the aSOka grove and went to meet the ministers.
अन्तर्धानं तु तच्छीर्षम् तच्च कार्मुकमुत्तमम् ।
जगाम रावणस्यैव निर्याणसमनन्तरम् ॥
As soon as rAvaNa left the aSOka grove, the illusory severed head and the bow disappeared!! Being aware of the valour of rAma, the demon king conferred with his ministers and discussed the course ahead. He commanded to summon all the army at once to report to duty without giving them any reasons whatsoever. Following his command, the leaders of the battalion summoned their teams just informing about the desire of the king to fight a battle.
Here we conclude the thirty second sarga of the yuddha kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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Next: 6.033. saramA, the good samaritan
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
