Sita in the Ashoka Grove

It was spring in the Ashoka grove. As Hanuman leapt from tree to tree, sleeping birds flew up and blossom showered down on him. In the middle stood a tall white temple, and beside it a thick shimshapa tree. Hanuman hid among its leaves and looked down.

The first sight

Under the tree sat a woman. She wore a single soiled yellow garment. Fasting had wasted her body. Her hair hung down her back in a single braid. Tears ran from her eyes and she sighed again and again. Around her sat fearsome rakshasis: one with a single eye, one with a single ear, one with a face like a boar's.

Valmiki says she looked like a flame hidden in smoke, like a lotus smeared with mud, like learning that has been forgotten, like hope that has been broken.

Hanuman looked closely. Some of the ornaments Ram had described hung on a branch of the tree, and those that were missing were the ones dropped on Rishyamuka. The colour of the cloth was the same. "This is she. For her sake Ram lives, and for his sake she." Tears fell from his eyes. Then he thought, "For what Ravana has done for the sake of this one woman, it would be right if Ram overturned the whole earth."

Ravana comes

It was the last watch of the night. Ravana woke to the sound of Vedic chanting, and as soon as he woke his mind went to Sita. He came into the grove with hundreds of women carrying lamps and fans. Hanuman drew further into the leaves.

Sita saw him coming and trembled like a plantain tree in a storm. She covered her belly with her knees and her breast with her arms and stayed seated on the ground.

Ravana spoke sweetly. "Sita, do not fear me. I will not touch you against your will. But give up this soiled cloth, this sleeping on the ground, this fasting. Youth does not return. Be mistress of all my queens. All that I have conquered is yours, and so am I. Ram wanders the forest in bark. Who knows whether he is even alive?"

Behind a blade of grass

Sita placed a blade of grass between herself and him, and spoke to that.

"Take your mind from me and give it to your own wives. As a sinner cannot attain perfection, you cannot attain me. I belong to Ram as its radiance belongs to the sun. Is there no good man here to advise you? Make friends with Ram. He forgives those who seek refuge. Give me back to him, or nothing will be left of you, your Lanka or your line. You stole me when the two brothers were away. A dog does not stand before a tiger."

Ravana's eyes burned. "The more gently I speak, the more you insult me. I gave you twelve months. Ten have passed. I give you two more. If you still refuse, you will be served at my morning meal." He ordered the rakshasis, "Persuade her by any means," and went back.

The rakshasis and Trijata

The rakshasis closed round Sita. One coaxed: "Ravana is lord of the gods." Another brandished a spear: "I will eat her liver." Weeping, Sita said, "A human woman cannot be the wife of a rakshasa. Eat me, all of you. I will not do as you say."

Then an old rakshasi named Trijata woke from sleep. "Wretches, eat yourselves; do not touch her. I have just had a dream at dawn. I saw Ram in white, in a palanquin of ivory, travelling through the sky with Sita. And I saw Ravana: his head shaved, bathed in oil, dressed in red, riding a donkey towards the south. I saw Lanka sinking into the sea. Only Vibhishana stood under a white umbrella. Ask this lady's forgiveness. She alone can save you."

The rakshasis were frightened and, one by one, fell asleep.

The last moment

But Sita's endurance had run out. "Ten months have passed and Ram has not come. Either he is no more, or he has forgotten me. In two months this sinner will kill me. Before that I will end my own life." She had neither poison nor weapon. She took her long braid in her hand and stood up, holding a branch of the shimshapa tree.

At that moment her left eye throbbed and her left arm throbbed. These were good omens. She paused.

Above, among the leaves, Hanuman had seen everything. There was not a moment to lose.