The Ramayana Read Free Page A

and you will discover how deep and true it is. My life began when I first saw you and yet you are so cruel to me.”
    She said nothing, never looked up at him. Hanuman, little monkey in his tree, sat riveted by what he saw and heard. Ravana’s eyes roved over her slender form, and they blazed. He whispered, “Sita, give yourself to me! I will love you as women only dream of being loved. Rule my heart, rule me, and be queen of all the earth. We will walk hand in hand in this asokavana, just we two, and you will know what happiness is.”
    But again she set a long blade of grass between herself and him, like a sword. She said, “I am another man’s wife, Rakshasa. How can you even think of me as becoming yours, when I am already given? Not just for this lifetime, but forever, for all the lives that have been, and all those to come. I have always belonged to Rama and always will. You have so many women in your harem. Don’t you hide them from the lustful gazes of other men? How is it, then, you cannot conceive that I would be true to my Rama? That it is natural for me, because I love him.”
    He looked away from her. Not that he saw anything except her face, even when he did; but he could not bear what she said, which was so savage and so true. He had never encountered such chastity, and to believe in it would mean denying everything he had lived for. Ravana turned his gaze away from her and a smile curved his dark lips.
    Undaunted, Sita continued, “You court doom for yourself and your kingdom. Have you no wise men in your court to advise you against your folly?”
    He laughed. “They all know I am a law unto myself. They know I am invincible.”
    â€œYou have violated dharma; punishment will come to you more swiftly than you think. You don’t know Rama. He is not what you imagine him to be. You speak of this sea being an obstacle between him and me. But I say to you, Ravana, even if the ocean of stars lay between us my Rama would come to find me.”

BOOK ONE
    BALA KANDA
    {The beginning}
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    1. On the banks of the river Tamasa
    â€œHoly One, I wonder if any man born into the world was blessed with every virtue by your Father in heaven.”
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    Long ago, the sage Valmiki sat meditating in his hermitage on the banks of the Tamasa. The river murmured along beside the dark, gaunt rishi, whose hair hung down to his shoulders in thick dreadlocks. But otherwise the secluded place was silent; not even birds sang, lest they disturb Valmiki’s dhyana.
    Suddenly the silence was shattered; the air came alive with the abandoned plucking of a vina. A clear voice sang of the Blue God who lies on his serpent bed, upon eternal waters. Valmiki’s eyes flew open. Though he had never seen him before, he had a good idea who his visitor was.
    Narada, the wanderer, was Brahma’s son, born from his pristine thought in time out of mind. A curse had been laid on Narada before the earth was made: that he would roam the worlds without rest. Once he sent his brother Daksha’s sons, who wanted to create the first races of men, on an impossible quest. He had asked them how they could become creators unless they first saw the ends of the universe. And Daksha cursed Narada to wander forever homeless and restless himself, for the endless wandering he sent those children on.
    A fine aura enveloped Narada. Valmiki’s disciples stood gaping at him, until their master called briskly to them. Then they ran to fetch arghya, milk and honey, for the guest, who accepted their offering graciously.
    Valmiki folded his hands. “Be seated, Maharishi.”
    Valmiki sat beside the hermit from heaven, by the languid Tamasa. As if he sought something, Narada stared up and down the river’s course, while Valmiki sat absorbed.
    Narada strummed a fluid phrase on his vina. “A blessing, dear Valmiki, for your thoughts!”
    Valmiki laughed. “Muni, you are as subtle as Vayu the