The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic by Ramesh Menon

Author:Ramesh Menon [Menon, Ramesh]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2004-05-25T15:00:00+00:00

17. “Lord, I have seen Sita!”

When a chastened Dadhimukha came back to the madhuvana, he found most of the monkeys asleep, on the ground and in tree forks. He presented himself before Angada with folded hands and said, “Forgive me, my prince. Forgive my guards for trying to spoil your army’s enjoyment. I have just been to the king to complain about you, but he said, ‘Welcome them to my madhuvana, for I am sure they bring good news. Tell Angada, Hanuman, and Jambavan that Rama, Lakshmana, and I wait impatiently for them on Prasravana.’”

Angada blew a blast on his hunting horn and his army rose out of its stupor. Thousands of vanaras, scattered across those woods, shouted their prince’s name and stood groggily before him. Some were unsteady on their feet, but every last one was ready to jump to his command. Angada called to his people, “Rama and Sugriva are waiting for our news. We must go to Prasravana.”

Cheering Angada and Hanuman, Rama and Sugriva, that long-armed legion flew along to Prasravana. Through the treeways they swung, and where there were no trees to swing through, they loped along the trails the jungle folk had made on the ground.

Meanwhile, on Prasravana, Sugriva went to Rama and said, “They have found her. They must have found your Sita, or they would not enter my madhuvana. Besides, they have crossed the limit of time I set for them. They would not come home at all unless they had good news. Rama, I am sure our Hanuman has discovered Sita.”

They heard the commotion of Angada’s army, still far from sober, roaring its way up Prasravana. The excited monkeys chased each other as they came. With pride in his eyes, Sugriva watched his people swarm up the slope. Every vanara walked tall. They shouted their delight to the sun, the sky, and the wind, and whoever else cared to hear them. And if any doubt lingered in Sugriva’s mind that they had found Sita, it vanished when he heard his monkeys climb the hill. At Sugriva’s side, Rama sat hardly breathing.

With Angada, Jambavan, and Hanuman at its head, their faces shining, the army arrived at the cave mouth. The leaders prostrated themselves at the feet of Sugriva, Rama, and Lakshmana. Now Hanuman bowed again and again at Rama’s feet, and he cried, “Lord, I have seen Sita!”

Like the sun at dawn after a long night of fear, a smile appeared on Rama’s dark face. He touched Hanuman’s head with his hand in a loving blessing. And a tumult broke out there, as every vanara ran forward to babble the tale of how Sita was found on Lanka, each one as if it was just his own story.

Some cried that she was unharmed; others how sad she was; others said she was like a doe surrounded by tigresses, among the rakshasis; others told of Trijata’s dream; others how Hanuman savaged the asokavana; some described Hanuman’s rout of Ravana’s forces; then some spoke of

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