Ram had killed Khar, Dooshan and fourteen thousand Rakshas warriors with them in the battle of Dandkaranya. There still survived, however, one prominent Rakshas by the name of Akampan. He was Ravan’s maternal uncle. As soon as the battle ended, Akampan hurried to Lanka to report to Ravan the annihilation of Rakshasas in the janasthanof Dandkaranya. Ravan was astounded at the grave news. Burning in rage, he roared in his terrible voice –
Ken bheemamjansthanamhatam mum paraasuna/
Ko hi sarveshulokeshugatimnaadhigmishayati//
Who it is that wants to willingly embrace death for having destroyed my formidable resort of janasthan? Who is the dauntless one that is not to be given quarter anywhere in all the worlds?
Balmiki Ramayan/Aranyakand/Canto 31(iv)
Akampan told Ravan all that he knew about the fearless warrior. Dark complexioned, handsome and well-built young man, his name was Ram, son of Raja Dashrath. He lived at Panchvati in Dandkaranya with his wife, Sita and younger brother, Lakshman. He had single-handedly killed the mighty Rakshasas.For unmatched was his puissance –
Naiv deva mahaatmanonaatrakaaryavichaarnaa/
Sharra Ramen tootsrishtarukmapungkhahpatatrina//
Sarpaahpanchananaabhootvabhakhyantismaraakshasaan/
He does not have any devta with him, neither does he have with him a mahatma or a muni. Do not think about that. The gold-feathered arrows shot by Ram devoured Rakshasas like five-headed serpents.
Ibid, Canto 31(xviii)
Ravan said he would go directly to the place and kill both Ram and Lakshman. Akampantold him not to think of any such thing. Ram was invincible and not even the might of all the devtas and rakshasas put together could kill him. He by himself was powerful enough to destroy all the worlds and then repopulate it. Yet, said Akampan, there was a way to neutralise him. His wife Sita was a woman of unsurpassed beauty and virtue. If Ravan could somehow abduct her, Ram would die of grief. “Seetayarahito Ramo nachaiv hi bhavishayati”, he said – without Sita, Ram will certainly not survive.
Ravan liked Akampan’s suggestion. Early next morning, he flew in his magnificent donkey-driven chariot to Marich’s abode. (Aditya Ratha – Suraj Bhagwan’s chariot – flies in the sky on the power of seven horses; so did Rakshas Ravan’s chariot fly on the power of donkeys). Marich, son of Tadka, was also Ravan’s maternal uncle. He was adept at the Rakshasa art of changing into any shape that he liked. But that was the least of his qualifications. He was a learned man, a selfless supporter of the Rakshas cause and most importantly, someone who had personally experienced – and survived – Ram’s rage. So, when Ravan requested him for help in Sita’s abduction, Marich was able to convince him of the fatal consequences of such an act. Daunted, Ravan flew back to Lanka (see Balmiki Ramayan/ Aranyakand/Canto 31(xxxvi-l). It was only at the incitement of his sister, Shoorpnakha, who was maddened at her rejection by the Ayodhya princes and her eventual disfigurement, that Ravan went again to Marich to seek his help in abducting Sita.
Sant Tulsidas chooses to omit the Ramayana episode regarding Ravan’s interaction with Akampan. He straightway links Shoorpnakha’s anguish with Ravan’s resolve to avenge his sister’s humiliation and the killing of Khar and Dooshan –
Dhuaandekhi Khar-Dooshankera/JaeeSupankhan Ravan prera//
Boli bachankrodhkaribhari/Des kos kai surtibisari//
Sighting the ruination of Khar-Dooshan, Shoorpnakha went to Ravan and incited him. In great anger she said (to him) – you have forgotten to pay attention to your country and your treasure.
Ramcharitmanas/Aranyakand/20(iii)
In Ramcharitmanas, the insertion of two-and-a-half quatrains (ibid/23(i-iii)) just before Ravan’s landing in Dandkaranya introduces a new element in the story:
“(Ram says to Sita) ‘Hey, my dearest! You of the noble disposition who follows the code of marital fidelity! Listen! I shall now perform some delightful acts (befitting) a human being. That being so, you may abide in fire till I annihilate rakshasas.’
“As soon as Ram said everything in detail, Sita subsumed herself in fire, keeping the Lord’s feet in her heart. In her place, she left(on the spot) her likeness that was as virtuous, graceful and submissive as she herself was.
“Lakshman could not know of the mystery of the act that Lord had performed.” (Lakshman was away at that time collecting fruits and edible roots in the jungle).
Tulsidas comes to the culmination of these lines in another half quatrain of Lankakand on the moment Sita is brought out of her captivity before her victorious husband, Ram – “Sita pratham anal mahunrakhi/Pragat kinhichehantarsakhi// – Sita (the real one) was first kept in fire. Now the Lord (who is the witness within) intends to reveal her (to the world). – Lankakand/107(viii))
Thus, going by Sant Tulsidas, Ravan never got anywhere near Sita, it was only her likeness – Maya – that he could abduct. Further, Ram did not put His Divine Consort to a trial by fire. The Lord was only facilitating Her to return to her original form from out of fire. We have to have faith in the divinity of Sita-Ram couple to fully grasp the poet’s intent.
Well, the stage was set. Ravan approached Marich with his plan. Marich was to turn into a most fascinating golden deer to catch Sita’s eye. Sita would implore Ram to hunt the creature and bring it to her – alive as a pet or dead for its amazing skin.With Ram in pursuit of his quarry (that is, Marich in the guise of the golden deer), he, Ravan, would forcibly carry away Sita in his chariot.
Initially, Marich rejected the plan out of hand. Any act that roused Ram to anger would surely bring an end to the Rakshasas race, he said. He told him of his own experience of having affronting Ram. Quite many years ago, he had the strength of a thousand elephants and a boon too that no devta could kill him. In arrogance of his might, he tried to desecrate Vishvamitra’s altar. Ram, who was then barely in his teens, shot him with an arrow with such force that he was thrown into the sea a hundred yojans away.
Ravan, however, had no patience with Marich’s tales. As the king of Rakshasas, he commanded him to act according to the plan. Marich had two options before him. Either to refuse Ravan, or to comply with his wish to take a deer’s form so as to lure Sita and become a cause of her separation from Ram. In both the cases his death was certain. He chose the first one. It was better for him to die at the hands of Ram than being killed as a traitor by his own sovereign, Ravan.
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