#Dashadharma # Story of Kaakasura from the Ramayana

 

We had seen the story of Sukeshi who went to the ashram of the sages in the Magadh forest and learnt many dharmic concepts. (https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/02/pious-asuras-and-worried-gods). Amongst the many things he learnt from the sages, he got the knowledge of the ten basic principles of Dharma that is common to all people irrespective of their occupation (varnas). We had already covered few of these Dharmas through relevant stories. Please see the links below.

Dasha Dharma

1.         Dhṛti – Patience (https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/02/dashdharma-patience-shabari.html; https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/02/dash-dharma-patience.html)

2.         Kṣhamā - Forgiveness

3.         Damo - Calmness

4.         Asteyaṃ - Not coveting/ stealing

5.         Saucam - Cleanliness

6.         Indriyanigraha – Control of senses

7.         Dhīr – Righteous Action

8.         Vidya – Pursuit of knowledge

9.         Satyam – Truthfulness (https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/03/harishchandra-test-and-triumph.html.)

10.       Akrodho – Control of anger

daśakaṃ dharmalakṣaṇam।।

#Kshama - Forgiveness

Let us see an episode from the Sundara kandam of the Ramayana that brings out the beautiful trait of forgiveness.

Before we go into the story, let us contemplate the beauty and greatness of Sundarakandam. Sundarakandam is considered to be the heart of the Ramayana. It signifies the feat of Sundaran (Hanuman) who achieved many things in two days. Hearing it, reading it or even thinking about it can bring peace, victory and happiness. Jai Bajrangbali.

(This story is written with a small preamble to the Sundara kandam – purposely so. So that we can relive, reread and enjoy those precious moments between Ma Sita and Hanuman).

Hanuman reaches the beautiful island of Lanka after many trials and tribulations. These hurdles and the way Hanuman overcame them, while being interesting anecdotally, teach many life and behavioural lessons.

Anyway, let us start from the point where Hanuman reaches the shore of Lanka. Once he reaches Lanka, Hanuman made himself into a small monkey using the power of Anima (Anima is one of the Ashtamasiddhis that helps a human being to shrink his body). He searches the whole city of Lanka for Ma Sita including the palace of Ravana. Finally, Hanuman reaches Ashoka Vanam. Ashoka Vanam is an artificial garden that was created for the pleasure of the king and his guests. It had beautiful trees, man-made streams, ponds and beautiful flowers.

Hanuman after going around Ashoka Vanam, sees Sita sitting under a Simsuba tree with golden hued leaves. She is surrounded by Ravana’s rakshasis who are guarding her, while also threatening her. Hanuman is contemplating what would be the right moment to go in front of Ma Sita. While he is waiting for the right moment, Hanuman witnesses Ravana coming and threatening Sita. Ravana gives her an ultimatum and says that she will face death if she does not acquiesce to his wish to marry her. After he leaves, the rakshasis of Ashokavanam, threaten her, cajole her and abuse her to make her agree to their king’s wishes.

Sita is sitting sad and alone after they go to sleep. Hanuman senses this as a good opportunity to introduce himself to Sita. Instead of just jumping in front of her, Hanuman narrates the story of Rama from his birth till the time he met him in the forest sitting in the tree. Hearing soothing words about Rama, Sita looks up at the Simsuba tree. Hanuman finally musters the courage to come in front of her. Sita, who is still worried about Ravana’s Maya (make believe pretenses or illusions), further questions Hanuman by asking him to describe Rama’s beauty and gunas. Hanuman describes the Lord in his glory and this makes Ma Sita very happy.

Sita is further elated when Hanuman gives her the Kanayazhi (ring) of Rama. She blesses Hanuman and enquires about the next step of action.

At that moment, Hanuman puts in a small request. He requests her to give him some token that he can take back as proof of having actually met Sita. It is understandable that Rama sent a token with Hanuman for Sita to recognise him as Rama’s representative. After all, Hanuman was a stranger to Sita as she had not met him before. But why did Hanuman need to take a token to back? He could have just gone back and told Rama and Sugreeva that he met Sita. There is a reason for this.

When King Sugreeva called his vaanar sena and sent them in various directions, he had given all of them one month to do their search. They were instructed to return to Kishkinda if they did not find the place where Sita is held by Ravana. The group that went south with Hanuman, Angad and Jambavan did not go back within the prescribed time and decided to continue their search. Since he disobeyed the command of his king Sugreeva, Hanuman was perhaps worried. He may have thought it is better to take a proof that he met Sita. More importantly, having witnessed Rama’s distress on Sita’s disappearance, perhaps Hanumanji thought it might be better to take some momento to make Lord Ram feel better.

Whatever may be the reason, Sita gives him a Choodamani  (a hair clip like jewellery). She tells him that it was given to her by her father King Janaka who got it from the Lord of the Oceans. To reinforce that Hanuman had met her, she also narrates a story about an incident that happened in the forest.

Ma Sita says, “Hanuman, you depicted my Lord’s qualities so well. It was honey to my ears. One of the qualities that you talked about is his immeasurable compassion and forgiveness. I will narrate an incident to you that happened during the time in the forest when we were alone. If you tell him this, Rama will know that it was I whom you met.” Saying so, she started.

# Kshama Forgiveness – Kaakasura

Rama and Sita were enjoying the idyllic surroundings of the Chitrakoot mountains. One day, Rama was sleeping with his head on Sita’s lap. Being spring time, the flowers were blooming, the birds were singing and the bees were buzzing around for the honey from the multitude of flowers. Sita was enjoying the surroundings while enjoying her solitude with her beloved.

Suddenly a crow started flying and cawing very close to her head. At first, Sita chose to ignore the crow. The crow kept circling Sita and the sleeping Rama. It flew pretty close to Sita’s head a couple of times. She tried to shoo it away without disturbing Rama.

It suddenly zoomed and pecked her chest quite sharply. Shocked, she used a twig to shoo it away. The crow kept repeatedly coming back to peck at Sita’s breast. Sita bore the pain and the trouble as she did not want to disturb Rama who was sleeping. But the crow was not stopping its antics. Moreover, Sita’s wound started bleeding and the blood started dripping on Rama’s face.

Unable to the bear the pain, Sita wakes Rama up.

Rama gets up and immediately understands the situation. Angry with the crow, Rama picked up a kusa grass and chanted the mantra for Brahmastra and threw it at the crow. The Brahmastra started spewing fire and started chasing the crow all over the forest.

It went to many places. It sought refuge from various powerful kings and even from some of the Gods and Demi Gods. None of them were willing to help as they did not want to antagonise Lord Rama.

Realising its mistake, the crow came back to

Lord Rama and surrendered. Lord Rama took pity on the crow and decided to forgive the crow. But since the crow committed a mistake, he still needed to be taught a lesson. Rama took a kusa grass and poked the eye of the crow. The crow lost its eyesight.

This episode might sound a bit strange. Why did the crow suddenly attack Sita? And why did Rama give a punishment of poking the crow’s eye? The crow was actually the son of Indra by name Jayanta. He was not a bad person by nature. He misbehaved with Sita as he got possessed by the demonic force of Kaakasura.

Because of influence of Kaakasura, Jayanta perhaps did not realise the crime he was committing and behaved like an asura. And why did Rama poke one eye of the crow? It is because, Kaakasura had got the boon that he will not die till crows had eyesight in both their eyes. Strange boon, isn’t it.

While it appears that Rama poked the crow as a lesser punishment, he actually killed Kaakasura, while saving Indra’s son, Jayanta.

Finishing the story, Sita tells Hanuman, “As you can see Maruti, My Lord is an ocean of compassion and does not harm anyone even when they make mistakes. If you tell him this incident which happened when we were alone, Rama will know that you had met me.” So saying she blessed Hanuman for a safe trip back to Kishkinda.

This episode also has another significance. Sita narrated a very personal incident that happened to her to Hanuman, who was a stranger to her till then. This perhaps shows the trust that Sita had on Hanuman and his ability to move things along and reach her message to Rama. Perhaps it is a message for us to surrender to the strong and invincible Bajrangbali and leave our problems to him. He can present them to Sri Hari and ensure that our trivial problems are resolved.

Jai Shri Bajrangbali.

Jai Shri Ram.