In the previous episode we witnessed that Maareecha gives valuable advice to Ravana, warning him of the invincible valour of Lord Rama. He narrates his past experience of his war with Rama and how Shubaahu was killed and Maareecha was pushed and thrown into the deep ocean and how he managed to escape out with great difficulty! However, all this advice didn’t matter to Ravana as he was steadfast in his aim to somehow abduct Sita and take revenge for what happened to his sister Soorpanaka!
At one stage, Ravana gained the upper hand and instructed Maareecha to take the form of a golden deer and roam around near the hamlet of Rama and Sita. The trap was laid! Accordingly Maareecha obeys Ravana and starts to roam around the hamlet where Rama and Sita are staying! As per the plan, the golden deer captures the attention of Sita and she is so surprised to see such an unusual breed of deer! She’s so happy and she wants to have it with her and play with it every day! Hence Sita requests Rama to go and bring that deer into the hamlet for her! Upon seeing the golden deer, Rama is also equally impressed and surprised! He also gets interested in it and prepares himself to go and bring the deer inside the hamlet.
At this point when Rama was about to leave the hamlet in pursuit of the golden deer, Lakshmana stops him!
“Aahuya aahuyacha punaf punastha mrigam saadhumikshathe!
Aagacchaagaccha sheekramvai aarya puthra sahaanuja!!
Thamayavaivineham vanye maareecham raakshasam mrigam!
Changamaanasthu tham drishtvaa lakshmano vaakyam abhraveeth!!
Charantho mrigayaa drishtaaha paapena upaadhinaa vane!
Asya maayaavidho maayaa mriga roopam idham kritham!!”
From the above slokas, Lakshmana conveys to Rama, “Oh Rama! Listen to me! I’ve never seen a golden deer ever in my life in any part of the world! It might perhaps be a “Maya” or a trap laid by someone! Let’s not go behind this animal! Look at one more thing – All the other normal deers are coming closer, sniff and then move away in fear! Hence I feel that this deer is an illusion and is not a real deer! Let’s not fall into the trap!”
Upon hearing Lakshmana, Rama thinks within himself, “Oh! This Lakshmana is trying every means to stop pursuing my mission of this birth! Already we are running short of time! If he stops me like this every time, then how do I go and kill Ravana?” 🙂 Thinking thus, Rama replies to Lakshmana, “Oh Lakshmana! Perhaps we might not know certain secrets of celestial beings! Maybe this is one such thing! You wait here and take care of Sita. I shall go and find out what is it exactly!”
Saying thus, Rama leaves the hamlet and goes after this golden deer! He tries to catch the golden deer but however, the deer was smart enough to escape from Rama and run away! After a certain point of time, the golden deer runs away to a long distance as Rama chases it!
“Jagaama manasaam sitaam lakshmanascha vachaha smaran!
Maareechasyathu maayeshaa poorvotthaa lakshmanenathu!!”
Thus, as Rama was chasing the deer, he suddenly recollected Lakshmana’s words and realizes that it was just an illusionary deer! It was none other than Maareecha and he has taken the form of a golden deer to cheat on Rama! The plan was to pull out Rama from the hamlet, eventually pull out Lakshmana after a while, and Sita would be alone in the hamlet, wherein Ravana can come and abduct her! While Rama was realizing this, he got angry, took his bow and fired a sharp arrow at Maareecha!
Surprisingly for Rama, while Maareecha was falling on the ground after being hit by the arrow, he shouts exactly in the voice of Rama – “Haaa Sita! Haa Lakshmana!” The sound of the shout reaches the hamlet where Sita and Lakshmana were staying and hearing this, Sita gets stunned and immediately asks Lakshmana to go and check out what happened to Rama!
Thus, for Ravana, the foil was working perfectly as he thought to be! Sita was slowly falling into his trap! What happened next? Did Lakshmana go out and see what happened to Rama? Let’s wait curiously till the next episode to find out!
The Indian Dharma 