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A sage is losing his sacrifices. In a holy hermitage in the forest Vishvamitra goes in great fear of Maricha and Subahu. Whenever a sacrifice is seen the night-walkers come running and make havoc of it. Worry spreads in his mind that without the Lord these sinful night-walkers will not die. Before long the sage is standing at the door of a king, to ask him for two of his sons. One of them is the son the king cannot bring himself to give.
Before the sage arrives, the episode shows the days of that son in Ayodhya: the hunt with his brothers and friends, the animals shown to his father. The meals eaten together, the mornings that begin with a bowed head. After the sage arrives come the king’s own seat given to him, the four sons laid at his feet. A request at which the light of a father’s face fades, and the guru Vasishtha’s explaining, after which the father’s doubt is destroyed. Then two brothers on the road, a dark one and a fair one. Tataka, and one arrow. Lore and weapons and a meal of bulbs, roots, and fruit. A sacrifice guarded, with Maricha sent a hundred yojanas beyond the sea and Subahu struck by an arrow of fire. The road to a bow-sacrifice, and on it a hermitage where no creature lives, and a stone that is the wife of Gautama. She appears at the touch of Rama‘s feet, praises him, asks one boon, and goes to her husband’s world. The doha that closes the episode turns on a fool who is told to worship him.
A sacrifice guarded, and the stone that was Gautama’s wife
The main figures in this episode
- Rama the king’s son, who hunts every day with his brothers and friends, eats with them, bows each morning to mother, father, and guru, and does the city’s work. He is the one Vishvamitra comes to ask for, and the one his father at first cannot bring himself to give. He bows at his mother’s feet and sets out. He takes Tataka’s life with one arrow and gives her his own abode. He receives lore and all the weapons and guards the sacrifice. He strikes Maricha with a headless arrow and Subahu with an arrow of fire. He kills the asuras and asks about a stone on the road. At the touch of his feet Gautama’s wife appears.
- Lakshmana the younger brother the sage asks for together with Rama, the fair one of the two, who destroys the night-walkers’ army at the sacrifice.
- Vishvamitra Gadhi’s son, the great and wise sage, whose sacrifices the night-walkers break up. He comes to Ayodhya to ask for the two brothers and forgets his body at the sight of Rama. He gives him lore, weapons, and a meal. He performs his sacrifice while Rama guards it, and tells the whole story of the stone.
- Dasharatha and Vasishtha the father whose heart trembles at the request. He offers land, cows, wealth, treasure, his body, and his life and cannot give Rama. Then he hands both sons to the rishi with his blessings. And the guru who explains it to him in many ways, after which his doubt is destroyed.
- Tataka who runs at them in anger on the road, loses her life to one arrow, and is given Rama’s own abode.
- Maricha and Subahu the night-walkers the sage greatly fears. Maricha comes running with his helpers. Struck by a headless arrow, he goes a hundred yojanas beyond the sea. Subahu is struck by an arrow of fire.
- Ahalya the commentary’s name for Gautama’s wife, who bears a body of stone by a curse and longs for the dust of Rama’s feet. She appears at their touch, praises him, asks one boon, and goes to her husband’s world.
Rama’s day in Ayodhya
Rama calls his brothers and his friends to go with him, and every day he goes out to the forest to hunt. He kills the animals he knows in his heart to be pure, and every day he brings them back and shows them to the king. The animals that die by Rama’s arrow leave their bodies and go to the world of the gods. He eats with his younger brothers and his friends, and he follows the orders of his mother and his father.
Whatever makes the people of the city happy, that is what Rama brings about. The commentary reads the word for it as his play. He listens to the Vedas and the Puranas with his mind on them, and he explains them himself to his younger brothers. He rises at dawn and bows his head to his mother, his father, and his guru. He asks their leave and does the work of the city. The king watches his deeds and rejoices in his mind. The light of this father’s face will fade later in the episode, when he hears what a sage has come for.
The all-pervading one, without parts, without desire, unborn, without qualities, with neither name nor form, does matchless deeds of many kinds for the sake of devotees.
A wish, in the forest, to see him
“All this I have sung,” Shiva says. “Now hear the story that follows, with your mind on it.” Vishvamitra, the great and wise sage, lived in the forest, in a place he knew for a holy hermitage. There he did his japa, his yajna, and his yoga, and he went in great fear of Maricha and Subahu. Whenever a sacrifice was seen, the night-walkers came running and made havoc of it, and the sage suffered.
Worry spread in the mind of Gadhi’s son: without the Lord, these sinful night-walkers will not die. Then the sage reflected in his mind that the Lord had descended to take away the earth’s burden. His thought ran on, inside his mind: “On this pretext I will go and see his feet, and with entreaty I will bring the two brothers back. The Lord who is the home of knowledge, dispassion, and every virtue, him I will see with full eyes.”
Making wishes of many kinds, he was not long in going. He bathed in the waters of the Sarayu and came to the king’s door.
The sage seated on the king’s own seat
When the king heard that the sage had come, he went out to meet him with the company of brahmins. He prostrated himself before the sage, honored him, brought him in, and seated him on his own seat. He washed the sage’s feet and worshiped him greatly, and said: “No one today is as blessed as I am.” Then he had foods of many kinds set before him, and the sage felt great joy in his heart.
Then the king laid his four sons at the sage’s feet. At the sight of Rama the sage forgot his body. He was lost in the beauty of that face as he looked at it, like a chakora bird charmed by the full moon.
Glad in his mind, the king spoke. “Sage, such grace you have never shown. For what reason have you come? Say it, and I will not be long in doing it.” The sage answered him. “Hosts of asuras torment me, and I have come to beg of you, king. Give me Rama and his younger brother. With the night-walkers killed, I will have a protector.” He went on. “Give them, king, with a glad mind, and put away delusion and ignorance. For you, lord, dharma and fair fame. For these two, very great good.”
The hardest thing to ask of a father
The king heard those very unwelcome words, and his heart trembled, and the light of his face faded. “In the fourth age of my life I have got four sons. Brahmin, you have not thought before you spoke. Ask for land, for cows, for wealth, for treasure. I will give my all today, and gladly. Nothing is dearer than the body and life. Those too, sage, I will give in a moment. All my sons are as dear to me as my life, and Rama, master, I cannot bring myself to give. Where are the night-walkers, so dreadful and so cruel, and where are the beautiful sons, boys so young?”
The king’s words were steeped in the rasa of love, and Vishvamitra, hearing them, felt joy in his heart. Then Vasishtha explained it to the king in many ways, and the king’s doubt was destroyed. The verse gives Vasishtha’s explaining no words of its own.
With great respect the king called the two sons, pressed them to his heart, and taught them in many ways. Then he spoke to the sage. “These two sons are my life, master. You, sage, are their father. No one else.”
Two brothers set out with his blessing
The king gave the sons into the rishi’s keeping with blessings of many kinds. The Lord went to his mother’s palace, bowed his head at her feet, and set out. The sortha gives the two who go: lions among men, two heroes, setting out gladly to take away the sage’s fear. Oceans of mercy, firm of wit, the cause of the causes of the whole universe.
Then the verse turns to the Lord’s form. Red eyes, a broad chest, long arms. A body dark as a blue lotus and as a tamala tree. A yellow cloth at the waist and a fine quiver bound on. A lovely bow and arrow in his two hands. Two beautiful brothers, one dark and one fair, and Vishvamitra had found a great treasure. His thought, which the commentary sets inside his mind, was this: “I have known the Lord to be the god of the brahmins. For my sake the Lord has left his father.” The commentary glosses that title as one who is devoted to brahmins.
One arrow, and his own abode
As they went along, the sage pointed out Tataka. Hearing it, she ran at them in anger. With one arrow Rama took her life, and knowing her to be wretched, he gave her his own abode. The commentary reads that abode as his own divine form. The killing and the gift sit in one line, and the line gives the fight nothing beyond the arrow.
Lore, weapons, and a meal at the hermitage
Then the rishi knew in his heart that the Lord was his own master. He gave lore to the treasury of lore: a lore by which hunger and thirst would not touch him. Matchless strength and radiance would shine in his body. The verse gives the lore no name. Having handed over all the weapons, he brought the Lord to his own hermitage. Knowing him for his well-wisher, he fed him bulbs, roots, and fruit, with bhakti.
Perform the sacrifice without fear
In the morning Rama said to the sage, “Go and perform the sacrifice without fear.” All the sages began the homa, the offering into the fire, and Rama himself stayed as the guard of the sacrifice. Maricha heard of it, the angry night-walker, the enemy of sages, and came running with his helpers. Rama struck him with a headless arrow, and he went a hundred yojanas, beyond the sea. The commentary reads the hundred yojanas as the width of the sea he crossed. Then Rama struck Subahu with an arrow of fire, and the younger brother destroyed the night-walkers’ army. Rama killed the asuras and made the brahmins fearless, and the gods and the sages, all of them, sang his praise.
Rama stayed there some days more and showed kindness to the brahmins. Out of bhakti the brahmins told him many stories from the Puranas, though the Lord knew. Then the sage spoke to him with respect, explaining: “Lord, come and see a deed.” Hearing of the bow-sacrifice, Rama set out gladly with the sage.
A hermitage where no creature lived
On the road they saw a hermitage. No bird was there, no beast, no living creature. The Lord saw a stone and asked the sage about it, and the sage told him the whole story, at length. The verse leaves that story in the sage’s mouth. Then it gives what he says to Rama: “Gautama’s wife, by the power of a curse, bears a body of stone, with patience. She longs for the dust of the lotus feet. Show grace, Rama.” The commentary names her Ahalya.
A stream from both eyes, and the boon she asked for
At the touch of Rama’s feet, which are holy and destroy grief, Gautama’s wife appeared, truly a mass of tapas. Seeing him, she stood before him with her hands joined. Great love left her without patience. Her body thrilled. No word would come to her mouth. Greatly fortunate, she clung to his feet, and from both her eyes a stream ran down. The commentary calls it tears of love and joy.
Then she gave her mind patience, knew the Lord for who he was, and by Rama’s grace received bhakti. With very pure speech she began her praise. “Victory to Rama, who is reached by knowledge. I am an impure woman. You, Lord, purify the world, you are Ravana’s enemy, and you give happiness to your people. You whose eyes are lotuses, who release from the fear of existence, protect me, protect me. I have come for refuge.”
“The sage did very well in the curse he gave. I count it the highest grace. I have seen with full eyes the Lord who releases from existence, and this is the gain that Shiva knows. Lord, my entreaty is this: I am simple of wit. Master, I ask no other boon. Let my mind, a bee, drink the rasa of love at the pollen of the lotus feet. The feet from which the Ganga, most holy, appeared, she whom Shiva bore on his head. The lotus feet that Brahma worships: those the gracious Lord has set on my head.”
In this way, falling again and again at the Lord’s feet, Gautama’s wife departed. She received the boon that pleased her mind greatly, and went full of joy to her husband’s world.
Leave the tangle of deceit
The doha that closes the episode carries the poet’s own name. “Such a Lord, the friend of the humble, merciful without any cause: Tulsidas, fool, worship him and leave the tangle of deceit.” The commentary reads the line as Tulsidas speaking to his own mind, and the fool it names is that mind.
The doha says “such a Lord.” What stands just before it is a stone touched by his feet and a woman gone to her husband’s world full of joy.
Vishvamitra set out from his hermitage wishing to see the Lord with full eyes. Gautama’s wife says she has seen him with full eyes, and calls the seeing the gain that Shiva knows.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 2: Vishvamitra, the Slaying of Tataka, and the Guarded Sacrifice, and chapter 3: The Redemption of Ahalya, and Tales Along the Road.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Balkand, doha 205 to 211, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.