The Ramayana

by Ramesh Menon

  “Brahma said thoughtfully, knowing where this boon would take the Rakshasa, ‘So be it, then. And I grant you another boon: that your nine heads, which you offered me in the fire, shall be restored to you. And Rakshasa, you will have the power to assume any form you choose.’

  “There are some who say that the Rakshasa offered his heads not to Brahma, but to Siva. Both versions are true: for different kalpas.

  “Brahma now turned to the good Vibheeshana. ‘I am pleased with your tapasya, as well, Vibheeshana. What boon would you have from me?’

  “Vibheeshana said, ‘Lord, my life’s purpose is already fulfilled and I am a kritakritya, that I see you before me. But if you are pleased with me, grant me that my mind remains steadfast and virtuous in the midst of life’s greatest trials. Grant me that the knowledge of the brahmastra dawns on me of itself. May every thought that enters my mind, during every stage of my life, be of dharma. Let me fulfill my dharma, however hard it is. For if a man has dharma, he has everything.’

  “And Brahma said to him, ‘Though you are born a rakshasa, your nature is like a maharishi’s. Noble Vibheeshana, I bless you that you will be a Chiranjivi. You will live as long as the earth.’

  “Brahma turned to Kumbhakarna. But the Devas cried, ‘Lord, you must not grant him any boon. All the worlds already live in terror of him. You know he came to the Nandana, and devoured seven apsaras and three of Indra’s servitors. There is no count of the rishis and men he has eaten, Pitamaha. Instead of a boon, cast a spell over him, that the worlds may be safe.’

  “But Kumbhakarna’s tapasya had been as compelling as his brothers’ and Brahma had to grant him a boon. With a thought, the Creator summoned the Devi Saraswati. When she stood, shimmering, before him, he said softly to her, ‘Goddess of the word, be the speech on Kumbhakarna’s tongue.’

  “When she had subtly entered the giant rakshasa’s mouth, Brahma turned to him and said, ‘Kumbhakarna, I am pleased with your tapasya. Ask me for any boon you want.’

  “Saraswati spoke from the demon’s mouth: ‘Lord, let me sleep for years and years’

  “Smiling to see the startled look on the giant’s face, Brahma said, ‘So be it’ and vanished from there with the Devas.

  * * *

  “When Sumali heard of the boons that Dasagriva had from Brahma, he rose from the Patalas, with Maricha and Prahastha, Virupaksha and Mahodara, and a host of other rakshasas. Sumali embraced his grandson and cried, ‘Not even Vishnu can harm us any more! Vaisravana lives in Lanka, but Lanka rightfully belongs to you. Dasagriva, you shall be the Lord of all the rakshasas, and our race will be restored to glory under you.’

  “Dasagriva said, ‘Kubera is my older brother. We should not speak of him like this.’

  “But his dreadful eyes shone with very different thoughts. Reading his heart clearly, Prahastha said, ‘Among kings, there is no brotherly love. Listen to what I have to tell you, Dasagriva.

  “‘The Devis Diti and Aditi are sisters, and they are both Kashyapa Prajapati’s wives. Aditi bore the great muni the Devas of day and light, the Lords of the worlds, and Diti bore him the Daityas of night and darkness. Indeed, the Daityas were Kashyapa’s first-born sons, and once all this earth, full of mountains, seas, rivers, and forests, belonged to the sons of Diti. They were the masters of the world.

  “‘It was Vishnu who helped the Devas usurp the power of the Asuras and rakshasas. That was long ago, in another yuga. But now you are the first of our kind who has a boon like the one Brahma has given you: that you shall be invincible to all the immortal races of heaven and earth. Yours, Dasagriva, must be an unrivaled destiny in the history of our people. You must not forsake that destiny, but seize it with both hands’

  “Dasagriva did not think long before he said simply, ‘I shall.’

  “The same day, with a legion of rakshasas who had pledged allegiance to him, Dasagriva arrived on Lanka, and Mount Trikuta. From there he sent Prahastha as his messenger to Kubera, Lokapala, master of wealth. Prahastha brought a courteous message to Vaisravana from Dasagriva:

  “‘Lord of treasures, O my half-brother, this city of Lanka belongs of old to the rakshasas of my clan. Malyavan, Mali, and Sumali ruled Lanka. I am Sumali’s grandson. I beg you, leave our city now, for I, Dasagriva, mean to be a king of our people here.’

  “Prahastha brought his new sovereign’s message to Kubera’s court. Kubera welcomed the messenger with every courtesy, and when he had listened to the rakshasa’s message he sent a reply through him:

  “‘Dasagriva, this Lanka was given to me by my father, and I have peopled her with my nairritas, whom I brought here with generous gifts of gold and homes. You are my brother, and you are welcome to come to live in Lanka and to share its bounty with me.’

  “While Prahastha took this message back to Dasagriva, Vaisravana flew to his father Visravas in his pushpaka vimana. He said, ‘Father, Dasagriva sent me a message through Prahastha, asking me to leave Lanka, because he means to be a king in our city and a king of the rakshasas of the world. I replied asking him to live with me in Lanka, to share the wealth of Lanka with me. But I am not sure how he will receive my offer.’

  “Visravas’s heart misgave him. He said, frowning, ‘Ah, he is an evil child, your half-brother, both by his birth and now by the boons he has from Brahma. He will never agree to share Lanka with you. My advice to you is, leave Lanka and go to Kailasa with your people. The Mandakini flows beside Kailasa. Golden lotuses that shine like the sun float upon her waters: lotuses as blue as Vishnu’s eyelids and those as white as moonbeams. Devas, apsaras, gandharvas, nagas, and kinnaras come to sing and dance and make love beside the Mandakini. I fear that with his boon, Dasagriva is so powerful that you must not make an enemy of him. Yes, my son, I am certain the best course is for you to leave Lanka with your nairritas and make yourself a home near Kailasa.’

  “And so Kubera did. He founded the secret city of Alaka to the north of the Himalaya, and its marvelous pleasure garden, the Chaitra, which rivaled Indra’s Nandana in Amravati. And with the Lord Siva’s blessing, he was happy there.

  “Meanwhile, Prahastha heard that Vaisravana had abandoned Lanka, and he came excitedly to Dasagriva, shouting, ‘He has left Lanka! Vaisravana has left Lanka for you to rule!’

  “Dasagriva embraced him and roared, ‘You, my friend, shall be my chief minister in our city!’ And indeed, Dasagriva and Prahastha have been as close as brothers ever since.

  “So the enemy of the Devas, Dasagriva, entered the magnificent city of his mother’s people. He was crowned king of Lanka, king of all the rakshasas, and his people flocked to him from across the earth and swarmed up to him from the deepest Patalas to the city of their fortune, to their invincible sovereign of night,” said Agastya Muni.

  5. Dasagriva marries

  Agastya continued: “When Dasagriva had been crowned king of the rakshasas, he decided it was now time to give his sister Surpanaka away in marriage. He gave her to a Danava chieftain, a great mayavi: Kalaka’s son Vidhujjiva.

  “Shortly after this wedding was celebrated in Lanka, with pomp and ceremony, Dasagriva went off to hunt in a forest of Bharatavarsha. He had grown up in a jungle and was always drawn to the wilderness. Now, fatefully, in the darkling vana, he came across the Asura Mayaa, Diti’s son. Mayaa was passing through that forest with his daughter.

  “Dasagriva saw the young Asuri, who was the most beautiful woman in creation in those days, and he was smitten. He asked Mayaa, ‘Who are you? Who is the young woman you lead through this dangerous forest?’

  “Mayaa looked at the Rakshasa before him and felt a current of fate stir in his heart. He said, ‘Have you patience to listen to my story?’

  “Dasagriva replied, ‘I have.’

  “Mayaa launched into his tale. ‘There was an apsara called Hema, perhaps you have heard her name. Even as Puloma’s daughter, Paulomi, was given to Indra by the Devas to be his wife, so, too, Hema was given to me. I lived with her for a thousand years and she
was like my very breath to me. I am Mayaa, good Rakshasa, and I am the builder of the Asuras, even as Viswakarman is of the Devas. With my siddhis, I built for Hema a secret city in a jungle’s heart. I made it with gold and paved its streets with cat’s-eyes, topaz, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds. I lined them with trees with silver leaves and built many mansions in which just we two lived.

  “‘She bore me two sons, Mayavi and Dundubhi, and one daughter: this child you see. But fourteen years ago, my Hema left me because the Devas wanted her back in Amravati with them. My daughter was just a child then. I lived in my hidden city, until she grew into a young woman; and now I am abroad with her, for I must find her a husband. As you can see, Rakshasa, she is uncommonly beautiful, like her mother, and it will be hard to find the man who can contain her. I fear for my honor, with my child being so beautiful.

  “‘But, stranger, you seem to be an exceptionally noble and strong rakshasa. Tell me who you are. Whose son are you?’

  “All the while he spoke, the Asura Mayaa’s dark and glowing eyes scrutinized Dasagriva with deep interest. When he finished speaking, he had no doubt the Rakshasa before him was an extraordinary young man: even a king, perhaps a king of destiny. Mayaa, also, had been a great king of his people once, in time out of mind. That was when three miraculous cities he built had circled the earth, and he and his two brothers had ruled from those fabled cities, the Tripura, which finally the Lord Siva torched from the sky. But that is another story.

  “Dasagriva said humbly, ‘I am Pulastya’s grandson, Visravas’s son. My name is Dasagriva.’

  “When Mayaa heard who the Rakshasa was and when he saw how this Demon gazed at his daughter, the Asura said to Dasagriva, ‘This is my daughter Mandodari. Will you have my child to be your wife, Dasagriva?’

  “With no hesitation, Dasagriva said, ‘I will marry her now’ and his eyes blazed with love.

  “There in that vana, Dasagriva kindled a sacred fire and he married the Asuri Mandodari by the wild rite of gandharva vivaha. Mayaa had heard of Dasagriva before; he even knew how Visravas had cursed his mother Kaikasi. He also knew Dasagriva was Brahma’s great-grandson, and he knew about the boons he had from the Pitamaha. Mayaa gave his son-in-law an occult shakti, which he himself had received from a God after a long tapasya. It was with Mayaa’s shakti that Dasagriva struck your brother Lakshmana down, Rama,” said Agastya.

  Rama shivered to recall that moment. He asked the muni, “And what of Kumbhakarna and Vibheeshana? Did they not marry?”

  “Indeed they did. Dasagriva had Kumbhakarna married to Vajrajwala, who was the granddaughter of great Bali, the son of Virochana. Vibheeshana was married to a gandharva king’s daughter. He married Sailusa’s pious child Sarama, a child of dharma, who had been born near the Manasa sarovara. It was when the lake was about to break her banks during the monsoon that the pregnant gandharvi cried, ‘Saro ma vardhayata!’ [Lake, don’t flood!] affectionately. And her child was named Sarama.

  “Once they were married, the three rakshasa brothers came home to Lanka and were absorbed entirely for a time in their young, nubile wives. Then Mandodari, who was the most beautiful woman on earth by a long way, gave birth to a magnificent son, who would be Dasagriva’s heir. When he was born, this child made a noise like spring clouds rumbling in the sky, and they called him Meghanada. This is the rakshasa Lakshmana killed: this was Indrajit.

  “Cosseted by a hundred women in his father’s harem, Indrajit grew in the palace of Lanka like fire hidden under a stack of wood.”

  6. The crimes of Dasagriva

  Agastya continued, and no one in his audience stirred. “One day soon, Brahma’s curse began to take effect on Kumbhakarna. He yawned for an hour and felt a fathomless slumber coming over him. He said to Dasagriva, ‘My brother, I feel a great sleep come over me. Have a palace built, in which I can lie undisturbed.’

  “At once Dasagriva commissioned the finest builders in Lanka to raise a matchless edifice for Kumbhakarna. It was a yojana wide and two yojanas long. It was supported by columns of crystal on every side and pillars of gold and silver. Its stairways were encrusted lavishly with padmaraga. Its terraces were of ivory and its latticed windows were hung with little bells that sounded together in the breeze.

  “Gently Dasagriva led his brother, whom he loved no less than his life, into the extraordinary palace and laid him down in its central chamber. There Kumbhakarna fell asleep on a bed of fragrant sandalwood, and he did not awaken for a thousand years.

  “In rage, and missing his brother terribly, Dasagriva set about distracting himself from his sorrow by conquering the three worlds. He smashed Indra’s legions; he slaughtered rishis, gandharvas, and yakshas without favor. He anointed himself with their blood, because he blamed them for the endless slumber Kumbhakarna lay in.

  “Dasagriva arrived with his demonic army in the Nandana, outside Amravati. He devastated the enchanted garden like a rogue elephant on the rampage. He sullied its clear pools and rivers; he cut down its trees and savaged its flower banks. Then he and his rakshasas stormed Indra’s city and pillaged it as they pleased. With wild yells they forced themselves upon the apsaras of heaven, in their homes, in the streets, as the nymphs of Devaloka tried to flee from the horrible invaders. Indra fled before the Rakshasa. He gave him an immense treasure as tribute, and Dasagriva returned to Lanka.

  “Vaisravana sent a messenger from the Himalaya to his half-brother in Lanka. This yaksha first arrived in Vibheeshana’s presence and was welcomed by the good rakshasa. Vibheeshana brought that strange being into Dasagriva’s court. The messenger bowed and said to the Lord of Lanka, ‘Jaya vijayi bhava!’ Be ever victorious.

  “Dasagriva received this with a resounding silence. In a moment, the yaksha continued, ‘My Lord Vaisravana, Kubera of the mountain, sends you a message, mighty Dasagriva. Your brother says to you, “Dasagriva, rule the worlds not with fear, but with dharma. Only the rule of dharma will bring you lasting fortune; only dharma will save you. I have seen what you did to the Nandana. It is a disgrace to our noble family. I have heard that you kill the rishis of the vana as if they were beasts made for hunting. I have heard your rakshasas drink their blood and eat their flesh.

  “‘“Beware, my brother, their curses will fall on you. I warn you again, as an older brother must when he sees his younger brother fall into danger: turn back from this folly! Or terrible punishment will come to you.

  “Dasagriva, you have also killed my nairritas and yakshas upon the mountain. Listen to what I have to say to you. When I sat recently in a tapasya to the Lord Sankara, on a tableland near Kailasa, I saw a Devi, who was the very embodiment of beauty, walking past the place where I sat. She lit up the mountain with her lambency and I gazed helplessly at her. Indeed, I could not turn my eyes away from her, though I saw she resented my regard. In a mere moment, my left eye burst in my face, and my right eye was turned the color of ashes.

  “‘“As I jumped up with a cry, I saw the Lord Siva appear before me, at that perfect woman’s side. They seemed to be a single light, blinding, and they filled me with such peace that I hardly remembered my eye had burst.

  “‘“Siva said kindly to me, ‘Suvrata, Dharmajna, I am pleased with your tapasya. Why, yours is the finest penance performed upon this mountain since my own, when I won Uma for myself. Be my friend, Kubera, you have conquered me with your worship. This is Parvati; she is like your mother from now. We bless you, Vaisravana, you shall live next to us forever.’

  “‘“The Devi Uma also raised her hand over me in a blessing, and they vanished before me.

  “‘“Siva himself swore friendship with me. I warn you, leave the earth in peace, or you will pay for your crimes.” So said my lord Kubera to you, O Dasagriva.’

  “And the messenger fell silent. Dasagriva sat as if graven of stone. Not a muscle moved anywhere upon his person; only his eyes turned the color of ripe plums; that, and all his nine heads appeared and vanished, again and again, in their malignant cone arou
nd his central face.

  “He scratched his cheek with a long talon, then said very softly, ‘I do not like the message you dare to bring to my sabha, yaksha. Your master sends word through you of his friendship with Mahadeva. Does he mean to threaten me? I have held Vaisravana in honor because I have thought of him as my older brother. But time and again he taunts me, he insists on provoking me. And now he dares to send you to my sabha with this haughty message. He is arrogant that he is a Dikpala, and that Siva once gave him some gold and a ship of the air. But I am Dasagriva, and I am invincible. And after hearing your master’s message, I have decided that I will conquer the three worlds’

  “Now he rose, tall and ominous, his eyes like flames, and his ten heads were plain in their evil cluster. Only now did the yaksha realize how angry the Rakshasa was. Only now did he realize that he might be in danger. But too late. His breath aflame, Dasagriva drew his curved sword and cut his half-brother’s messenger down before his throne. He had the yaksha’s body dragged out into the street, and gave it to his scavenger rakshasas to devour.

  “Dasagriva summoned the brahmanas of Lanka and had them perform an elaborate ritual for his well-being and the success of his next enterprise. Without further ado, he took a fierce legion of demons with him, mounted his chariot, and rode out of Lanka like a black wind, to attack Vaisravana, Lord of treasures, in his city in the north.”

  7. In Kubera’s city

  Agastya continued: “With six ferocious rakshasa commanders, Mahodara, Prahastha, Maricha, Suka, Sarana, and Dhrumraksha, in a ring around him, Dasagriva flew north through the air toward Mount Kailasa. He flitted over rivers laid like blue threads across the earth and plains like jade with brown hills jutting from them, flashed over unexplored jungles, and crossed the formidable Himalaya. In just a few hours that army arrived at Vaisravana’s gates and made camp.