Barring physical assault, Ravan had not spared any effort to wreck Sita’s self-esteemto fulfil his vile desire. Yet, he had to beat a retreat before her steadfastness. It was only his tactical retreat though.Ravan left the Ashok Vatika – a sort of forest resort – only after giving Sita two months to reconsider her stance. He also commanded a band of his most fearsome rakshasis to apply all their tricks to make her amenable. Sita felt so miserable in that dark hourthat she thought of committing suicide –
Sahm tyakta priyenaiv Ramen viditatmana/
Pranamsatyakshyami papasya Ravanasya gta vasham//
I am separated from my beloved, self-realised Lord Ram, and caught in the claws of the sinful Ravan;therefore, I will abandon my breath.
Balmiki Ramayan/Sunderkand/Canto 26 (lix)
While most of the rakshasi-guards tried to bully her with their invectives, it was old Trijata who boosted her morale,telling her of a dream she had had the previous night: white-clad Ram and Lakshman approached Sita on a white elephant and she joined her husband on the shoulder of that elephant; while a tonsured,bathed-in-oil Ravan fell down from his aerial vehicle, the Pushpak Viman.
Trijata’s dream presaged things that were dear to Sita – her reunion with Ram, degradation and death of Ravan with all other rakshasas, and burning down of Lanka by an envoy sent by Ram.
Yet Sita was hardly consoled. Trijata’s was but a dream, while Ravan’s threat loomed large before her.She preferred to die of her own volition rather than get killed by the rakshas like a common criminal. There was no sharp weapon within her reach, but she still had her long and supple coil of hair. She wanted to throttle herself with that.
Sita stood up in that sombre mood, holding a branch of the nearest Ashok tree.
Unbeknown to her, Hanuman had been witnessing from the tree-top all that she suffered. Now was the time, he thought, to appear before her and prevent any untoward incident –
Kapi kari hrideyn bichar deenihn mudrika dari tab/
Janu Asok angar dinh harshi uthi kar geheu//
Then Hanuman with deliberation cast down (Ram’s) ring (before Sita), it was as if the Ashok (tree) had given her an amber (to burn herself with). With happiness, she took it into her hand.
Ramcharitmanas/Sunderkand/Sortha 12
To allay any doubts in Sita’s mind, Hanuman began to narrate Ram’s tale from the prince’s birth till his separation from her. A close look at the ring had already assured Sita that it belonged to none else than Ram. She began to listen to Hanuman’s sweet voice intently.
Noticing her favourable response, he nimbly climbed down the tree to present himself before her. Sita shrieked in fear at the sudden appearance of a monkey in front of her. But Hanuman was quick to display his simian trait of affability. Like a cuddlesome little monkey, he snuggled close to her. Sita also doled out her affection to him. It did not take them long to know each other.
Hanuman told her how badly Ram missed her. He also assured her that Ram and Lakshman would soon be coming at the head of a huge army to rescue her. His talk only made Sita more impatient. She told him that if there was any delay in Ram’s arrival, she was certain to meet a painful death at Ravan’s hands.
Hanuman offered her a suggestion. He would himself take her across the ocean on his back! Sita looked at his puny guise and could not help smiling, despite her woebegone state of mind. “Could you do that, really, son? Just look at you!” she said. Hanuman then resumed his original form, which was as huge as a mountain. “Yes, mother, I will fly you to Lord Ram on my back!” He reassured her.
Sita was glad to have with her such a powerful ally. But she did not agree to his proposal. Firstly, being a pativrata, she could not think of letting her body be in touch with any male other than her husband. Secondly, in that form of his, the rakshasas could have easily caught him, endangering the lives of both of them. “It would be best for all of us,” she told him,”if you alone went back to Ram.Tell him to invade Lanka with Sugriv’s armyfor my release from Ravan’s captivity as soon as possible.”
Hanuman agreed with her readily. He said he would gladly take her message to Lord Ram with the urgency that it required.But he needed something to establish before her husband that he had actually met her. Sita told him to recount before Ram the incident involving Lord Indra’s son, Jayant. [This deity had taken into his head to test Ram’s strength. He took the form of a crow and pecked at Sita a few times. When Ram saw her bleeding, he shot an arrow which pursued the mischievous fellow throughout the universe till he fell at Ram’s feet to seek his mercy. Ram spared his life, but leaving him one-eyed].
Sita also entrusted to Hanuman her churamani -an ornament worn by married women on top of their head – to be handed to Ram in token of her earnest prayer that he should relieve her of her misery without delay. (In Sant Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas (Sunderkand/26(i-ii), Sita gives her churamani to Hanuman only when he is flying back to the Indian coast on completion of his mission.)
Taking leave of Sita, Hanuman proceeded northwards with satisfaction. He had found Sita alive and the exact place where she was forced to live. He had also done a thorough reconnaissance of Ravan’s palace and the security arrangements of Lanka.
But one important task he still had to attend to. It would be of considerable advantage to his side if he could form an accurate idea of the strength of Ravan’s army. With that in mind, Hanuman deliberately set out to demolish the forest resort. Uprooting stately trees, demolishing the garden architecture and flooding water reservoirs, he utilised his unmatched strength and vigour to provoke Ravan’s army to come out in the open.
The time had come for Ravan to pay for his deeds.
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