In the previous episode, we had witnessed Vaali being killed by Bhagawan Rama and subsequently, Sugriva succeeding Vaali as the next king of the Vaanara army. Sage Maarkandeya explains all these instances to Yudishtra to make him understand how Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita underwent enormous amounts of suffering together in the forest for fourteen years. Subsequently, as Sugriva takes charge as the king of Kishkinta, does he reciprocate Bhagawan Rama’s part of the deal? He doesn’t! He goes into an enjoyment mode as he has taken over as a king, and as time passes by, he totally forgets the promise that he had made to Bhagawan Rama. On the other side, Bhagawan Rama is struggling to stay afloat and His patience is running out! He is waiting for Sugriva for a long time and Sugriva never turned up! As Lakshmana too loses patience, finally he asks Bhagawan Rama whether he should go and kill Sugriva and his entire Vaanara army! Bhagawan Rama replies to Lakshmana that he should just go and sound a warning bell to Sugriva, and nothing more at this point.
Obeying Bhagawan Rama’s words, Lakshmana sets out angrily to meet Sugriva and Co. Upon seeing Lakshmana coming with his entire fury, Hanuman advises Sugriva to send Taara in front of Lakshmana to calm him down. Initially, Taara was Vaali’s wife, but post Vaali’s demise, Sugriva marries Taara. Thus, as Lakshmana comes by, Taara stops him and pacifies him with her words of praise and forgiveness too. Subsequently, Sugriva and Co. decide that it is time to meet Bhagawan Rama and to commence the search operation. As Sugriva is giving instructions to all the Vaanaras present there, he allocates one set of the army to go towards the northern direction, another set towards the southern direction, etc. Angadha, Hanuman, etc. are part of the army that is to proceed towards the southern direction, headed by the great Jaambhavan.
As Sugriva is giving clear instructions, all the Vaanaras are actively listening to him, except one person – Hanuman! He seems to be totally disinterested in this whole search operation itself for some peculiar reason! As Hanuman sits aloof, Bhagawan Rama spots Him and calls Hanuman by His side. The moment Bhagawan Rama sees Hanuman sitting all alone and disinterested, He makes a “Sankalpa” (Wish) within Himself that it should be none other than Hanuman who should see Mother Sita! Thus, Bhagawan Rama calls Hanuman and tells him thus, “Oh Hanuman! Please take this “Anguleeyam” (Ring) with you and keep this carefully. If at all you see Mother Sita anywhere, please give this to her as a token of my love and respect for her! She will definitely recognize this ornament and her respect towards you will increase!”
Saying thus, Bhagawan Rama hands over the “Anguleeyam” in Hanuman’s safe and divine hands, and with this, all the Vaanaras make their way towards their respective directions. Hanuman, Jaambhavan, etc. make their way towards the southern direction as decided earlier, and they travel a long distance by foot. In the middle, they pass through several hurdles and all through this treacherous journey, there are no traces of Mother Sita anywhere! At one point, all of them lose hope and get demotivated. They are about to declare their search operation a huge failure. Angadha starts lamenting about his father’s demise and all of them are contemplating to commit suicide! They are in no position to go back to Bhagawan Rama and tell Him that Mother Sita cannot be found!
Finally, Sampaati, the brother of Jatayu, comes to meet Hanuman and Co. It is with Sampaati’s direction and guidance, the entire Vaanara army reaches the shores of the southern ocean. Samaapti gives clear instructions that Mother Sita is held captive at Lanka by Ravana and guides the Vaanaras as to how to get there. Finally as the entire caravan reaches the seashore and now the question is who will cross over the ocean and go to the other side into Lanka? After a lot of deliberation, the onus again comes to Hanuman! Initially, once again, Hanuman seems to be disinterested in the whole process, but with the motivation from Jaambhavan, Hanuman decides to take it upon himself! With this, Hanuman prepares to cross over the ocean waters and decides to take the aerial route!
So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall witness how Hanuman crossed over the ocean and searched for Mother Sita at Ravana’s Lanka! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 