Hari Om.
Let us begin the one hundred and thirteenth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.Things were settling down in lanka with vibhIshaNa anointed the king. He assured the anxious citizens, consoled the grieving womenfolk and beginning a rule of dharma in lanka, he returned to where rAma was in the camp and stood with due humility. A relieved rAma who tried his best not to cause bloodshed but when rAvaNa’s obstinacy and foolishness refused to see reason and fought deploying warrior after warrior, rAma marshalled his troops and his army fought in a determined manner to earn the conquest. The gods who had prayed to lord vishNU to get relief from the atrocities of rAvaNa, did their bit to help rAma and deployed the glorious chariot of indra to be used by rAma. After the last rites of rAvaNa, rAma sent the chariot back to the heavens. With that, the battle was complete. Now the next move was to convey these good tidings to sItA and act as per her response. The great accomplisher, the articulate hanumAn was chosen for this. Onwards…
Ordered thus by rAma, hanumAn, with due permission of vibhIshaNa entered the city of lanka to a hero’s welcome by the demons! He soon reached the place where sItA sat at the feet of a tree without much sheen and joy resembling a scared rOhiNI, the consort of chandra. The dEvI saw hanumAn who had come and while she was silent all this while, she felt some joy seeing him. Finding her to be positively disposed to listen to him, the best among the vAnaras, hanumAn began to narrate the message of rAma –
“O vaidEhi, I bring the news of welfare of rAma and that of sugrIva and lakshmaNa. rAma has stayed true to his name as an accomplisher by defeating the enemy with the help of vibhIshaNa, sugrIva and his forces. Inquiring your welfare, the successful rAma has conveyed the following hearty message to you delightfully –
प्रियमाख्यामि ते देवि त्वां तु भूयः सभाजये ।
दिष्ट्या जीवसि धर्मज्ञे जयेन मम संयुगे ।
लब्धो नो विजयः सीते स्वस्था भव गतव्यथा ॥
‘O dEvi, receive my acclaims and lots of love to you. I have very good news. Fortunately, you are alive to see me victorious in the battle. O sItA, let your misery be a thing of past and cheer up, we have secured victory in the battle. The enemy rAvaNa has been vanquished and this lanka is under our control now. With lot of determination, I have overcome sleepless nights to secure your freedom and fulfilled my vow to vanquish rAvaNa by building an elaborate sEtU on the great ocean. Don’t feel embarrassed to be in the abode of rAvaNa. The entire lanka belongs to vibhIshaNa now. Believe that you are at home now. Ecstatic vibhIshaNa is also eager for your darSan and will be there soon”.
Listening to this message from hanumAn, the moonlike countenance of sItA lit up but with joy surging, she could hardly speak a word! The best among the vAnaras, hanumAn, noticing that sItA was not expressing anything, spoke again –
“O dEvI, what are you thinking about and why are you not saying anything to me”?
Asked thus by hanumAn, sItA, who was established on the path of dharma, choked with ecstasy and with great affection said –
“Having heard this very pleasing news of the conquest of my husband, I am overcome with ecstasy and for a moment, I am at loss of words. O vAnara, as much as I think, I still can’t make out what would be a befitting gift for someone who brought me such good news. I believe there is nothing in this world which I can give you that equals the joy that you have brought to me. Neither money, nor gold, nor varieties of gems, nor any kingdom in the three worlds as presents can equal the great news you broke to me”.
The great vAnara accepted the compliments showered by vaidEhI with folded hands and replied –
“O lady, you are invested in the welfare of your husband and keen on his victory and only you can speak with such magnanimity. O gentle lady, those words of yours spoke with such grace and substance excels the collection of various gems and even the kingdom of the gods. Seeing rAma establish himself in the victory and routing the enemy is as good as winning the kingdom of gods for me”.
Hearing that beautiful articulation of hanumAn, the daughter of janaka, maithilI articulated even more graceful words and said –
“Only you are capable of speaking in such a pleasant manner using your intellect and lace those words with such sweetness and substance. Your tevery dharmic and commendable son of anila (wind god). You revel as an embodiment of might, valor, learning, heroism, great ability, brilliance, forbearance, determination, perseverance, humility and other great virtues”!
श्लाघनीयोऽनिलस्य त्वम् पुत्रः परमधार्मिकः ।
बलं शौर्यं श्रुतं सत्त्वम् विक्रमो दाक्ष्यमुत्तमम् ।
तेजः क्षमाधृतिर्धैर्यम् विनीतत्वं न संशयः ।
एते चान्ये च बहवो गुणास्त्वय्येव शोभनाः ॥
He stood humbly in front of sItA listening to her eulogy with folded hands and then asked –
“If you permit me, I would like to slay these cruel and crooked demons here who have tortured you in the past in the aSOka grove by berating your lord and threatening you in terrible ways. Grant me this opportunity to shower blows, slaps, kicks on them. I would shear off their ears and nose, pull off their hair and kick them hard. With my sharp nails and teeth I would like to hurt these ogresses who have caused such irritation to you. They have caused great offence to you and I would like to punish them for that in various ways”.
Requested thus by hanumAn, the illustrious daughter of janaka, spoke words full of dharma –
“O best among the vAnaras who unleashes their wrath on those servitor women who were under the control of the king and obediently carrying out his diktats?
राजसंश्रयवश्यानाम् कुर्वन्तीनां पराज्ञया ।
विधेयानां च दासीनाम् कः कुप्येद्वानरोत्तम ॥
It is only on account of my fate and poor judgment in the past that I incurred all this. I had to put up with all this only due to my own doing. This was a result of the planetary confluence and I helplessly put up with the slights of the servitors of rAvaNa. They were ordered by rAvaNa to torture me. Now that he is dead, they won’t do so any longer. O great vAnara, there is this narration in an epic (a purANa) about a tiger and a bear, listen, I shall tell you.
A tiger was chased by another tiger and climbed on to a tree where a bear was resting. the bear granted him protection. After a while when the tiger was dozing on the branch, the tiger on the ground asked the bear to push off the tiger since he was an enemy. But the bear flatly refused to the request and said the tiger was under his protection since he came seeking help. After a while, the tiger had woken up and the bear was sleeping. The tiger on the ground lured the tiger on the branch to push the bear down. The tiger did so, but the bear, saved itself by clinging onto another branch. The tiger on the ground again tried to provoke the bear for this treachery and asked him to push the tiger down. But the bear refused to do so.
न परः पापमादत्ते परेषां पापकर्मणाम् ।
समयो रक्षितव्यस्तु सन्तश्चारित्रभूषणाः ॥
In this manner, a good person doesn’t keep looking for holes in the sinful deeds of others. The great protect their conduct and achieve glory through that. A noble person should be equal minded and compassionate towards the vices and virtues of even those who deserve to be killed, for where can you find a person who does no wrong? Even if the demons go around inflicting pain and torture on others assuming various forms at will, it is not appropriate to do so”.
The very articulate hanuman heard this and said –
“O illustrious one you are the befitting consort of rAma. Please give me the message that I should carry to rAghava.”
Responding to hanuman, sItA told him that she desired to see her lord. Delighted at her crisp response, the resplendent hanumAn assured her –
“O noble lady you shall soon behold rAma who has a full moon like countenance along with lakshmaNa. He has secured allies and vanquished the foe and like Sachi beholds indra, you shall behold him”.
With these words, he leapt back to where rAghava was and conveyed the message of sItA and narrated the entire conversation to rAma who resembled indra.
Here we conclude the one hundred and thirteenth 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: 6.114. She sees him!
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
