Ramayana chapter 5 Rama kills Thataki

Rama and vishwamithra  in forest

Viswamitra and the two princes spent

the night on the bank of the river Sarayu. 

Before retiring Viswamitra initiated the

princes in two secret mantras Bala and

Atibala, which had the virtue of guarding

them from fatigue and harm. They slept

on the verdant bank that night and rising

at dawn proceeded on their journey. They

reached Kamashrama in Anga Desa. After 

presenting the princes to the rishis there,

Viswamitra recounted to them the history

of the ashrama.

"This," be said, "is the place where the 

Lord Siva was long engaged in austerities. 

It was here that the foolish god of love

Manmatha aimed his arrow at Siva and

was turned to ashes by his wrath. Hence

this place is known as Kamashrama."

They were the guests of the rishis that 

night, and the following morning, after

performing the usual rites, the sage and

his pupils set out on their jour reached the Ganga. They crossed the river 

on a raft got ready for them by the rishis.

In midstream, the princes heard a noise 

and asked Viswamitra what it could be.

He explained to them that it was the sound 

of the Sarayu flowing into the Gangs. The 

princes paid silent homage to the

confluence of the two holy rivers.

A river or a hill, a tree or a cloud,

indeed any object of beauty may raise one 

to contemplation of the Supreme Being

and silent worship of Him. In particular,

sacred rivers, temples or images, which

have for generations been the objects of

devotion and worship, possess this power

in a special degree, in virtue of the sacred 

thoughts they have witnessed and

absorbed as garments retain perfumes.

Having crossed the Ganga, Viswamitra

and the princes made their difficult way

through a dense forest made dreadful by

the reverberating roar of wild beasts.

"This," Viswamitra said, "is the

Dandaka forest. What is now a terrible

forest was once a well-peopled country.

Once upon a time, Indra was

contaminated by sin, having killed Vritra,

and had therefore to exile himself from

the world of the Devas. The Devas set to 

themselves the task of cleansing Indra.

They brought waters from the sacred

rivers and bathed him to the

accompaniment of mantras. The waters

which cleansed Indra flowed into the

ground and enriched the earth and the land 

be came tremendously fertile."

All dead things, rotting corpse or

stinking garbage, when returned to the

earth are transformed into things of beauty

such as fruits and flowers and the

wholesome things that nourish life. Such

is the alchemy of Mother Earth.

Viswamitra continued: "For long

people lived here happily till Tataka (wife

of Sunda, a Yaksha) and her son Maricha 

wrought havoc and changed this into the

dreadful wilderness it now is. They are

still in this forest. And none dare enter it

for fear of Tataka. She is equal in strength 

to a score of elephants. I have brought you 

here to rid the forest of this great enemy. 

There is no doubt that this monster, who is 

a source of trouble to the rishis, will be

destroyed by you."

Rama, who listened to this, asked the

sage: "You say she is a Yaksha. I have 

never heard that Yakshas are particularly

strong. What is more, how does a woman

happen to possess so much strength?"

Viswamitra replied: "You are asking a

very pertinent question. Her strength

comes from a boon granted by Brahma.

There lived a Yaksha by name Suketu.

Having no progeny he performed tapas

and won a boon from Brahma thus: 'You

will have a beautiful daughter of great

strength of body, but you will have no

son.' Suketu's daughter, Tataka, beautiful

and strong, was married to Sunda, a

Yaksha, and their child is Maricha. Sunda 

at one time incurred Sage Agastya's curse 

and died. Provoked by this, Tataka and

Maricha pounced on Agastya who cursed

them to be monsters living on the carcases 

of men. So Tataka is now an ugly

monster. Thenceforward, she and Maricha 

have been harassing the dwellers in this

region of Agastya. Do not hesitate to

destroy her on the ground that it is against 

Kshatriya dharma to kill a woman. Her

atrocities are intolerable. To punish the

wicked, whether male or female, is the

duty of kings. It is right to kill her, as to 

kill a wild animal for the sake of human

safety. This is a duty cast on rulers. Many

women have been punished with death for 

their crimes. Hence do not hesitate."

Rama said to Viswamitra: "Our father's

behest is that we should obey you without 

question. Bidden by you and for the

general welfare, we shall kill Tataka.

So saying, he strung his bow and

twanged it till the forest echoed to its

shrill note and the wild animals scattered

in all directions in terror. It reached

Tataka in her fastness, filling her with

amazement at the audacious intruder who

dared enter her domain. Raging with

anger, she ran in the direction whence the 

sound came and sprang on Rama. The

battle began.

The prince at first thought of cutting 

off the limbs of the monster and sparing

her life. But Tataka attacked fiercely and,

rising in the sky, she rained stones on

Rama and Lakshmana. The two princes

defended themselves against the attack.

The fight continued and Viswamitra

cautioned Rama against delay in dealing

the death-blow to the monster.

"She deserves no sympathy," he said.

"The sun is about to set and remember

that at night Rakshasas grow stronger. Do 

not delay to slay her."

Thus advised, Rama decided on killing

Tataka and pierced her chest with a deadly 

arrow and the huge, ugly monster fell

down, lifeless.

The Devas cheered, and Viswamitra,

filled with joy, embraced Rama and

blessed him.

With Tataka's end, the forest was freed 

from the curse and became beautiful to

see. The princes spent the night there and 

next morning they proceeded to

Viswamitra's ashrama.

At dawn the next day, Viswamitra

called Rama to his side and blessing him

said: "I am very happy indeed. What is it 

that I can do in return for all that you have 

done? I shall teach you the use of all the 

astras."

So saying, Viswamitra gave

Ramachandra the divine astras which he

had obtained through his tapas.

Viswamitra taught Rama the use, control

and recall of the various divine weapons

and Rama in his turn imparted the

knowledge to Lakshmana.

As they continued the journey, Rama

pointed to a big hill with a lovely forest on 

its slopes and asked: "Is that the place

whereto we have to go? And who are the 

evil ones who hinder your yaga? And

what should I do to destroy them?"

Ramachandra was eager to fight and

win the blessings of the sage.

"That is the place we are going to,"

replied Viswamitra. "There the Lord

Narayana performed tapas and it was

there that he was born as Vamana. It goes 

by the name of Siddhashrama. Mahabali,

son of Virochana and grandson of

Prahlada the good Asura, was such a

powerful ruler that of him even the Devas 

were afraid. Mahabali had by his deeds

acquired the power of Indra himself.

Kashyapa and his spouse Aditi, of whom

all the gods were offsprings, prayed to 

Vishnu and begged Him to be born as

their son and protect Indra and the Devas 

from Mahabali. In answer to the prayers,

Vishnu was born of Aditi as Vamana.

Vamana in the form of a young student

went to the yaga that was being performed 

by Mahabali and whereto all were

welcome, to ask for and receive anything

they wanted. When Vamana presented

himself as a suitor, Mahabali's guru,

Sukra, the preceptor of all the Asuras,

knew who he really was and warned

Mahabali against promising to grant the

young Brahmana his request since indeed

he was the Lord Hari in disguise, come to 

undo him. Mahabali did not pay heed to

this. It was his wont never to turn down a 

request. Besides, he was at heart a devotee 

of the Lord, and felt that he would indeed 

be blessed if the Lord should deign to

accept a gift from him. With a smile,

Mahabali bade him ask for what he

pleased without hesitation. 'All have is at

your disposal, money, jewels, the wide earth and all it inherits.' Vamana answered 

that wealth was of no use to him, and all 

he begged for was three paces of ground, 

as paced by him. The monarch smiled as

he looked at the diminutive brahmachari's

legs and said, 'So be it; pace and take it.' 

The little Bachelor suddenly grew in size

into Trivikrama and with one step

measured the earth and with another the

entire heavens. And there being no room

left for the third step that had been

granted, he set his foot on Mahabali's

devoted head. In the eyes of God, the head 

of a bhakta is as wide as the earth or the 

heavens. And Mahabali, whose head was

blessed by the touch of Narayana's foot,

became one of the seven immortals of the 

world."

After narrating the story of Mahabali,

Viswamitra added: "This is where at first

Narayana and later Kashyapa performed

tapas, resulting in the incarnation of God

as Vamana. In this holy place I live. And 

here the Rakshasas come and obstruct our 

worship and our austerities. Your coming

here is to end this evil."

"So be it," said Rama.

The arrival of Viswamitra and the two

princes was a signal for rejoicing at the

ashrama. The rishis offered water and

fruits according to custom. Rama told

Viswamitra that he might begin the

preparations for his yaga immediately and

Viswamitra took the vows that very night.

Getting up very early the next morning, 

the princes went to Viswamitra and asked 

when the Rakshasas were expected so that 

they might hold themselves in readiness to 

receive them.

Viswamitra was under a vow of

silence, and could not answer, but the

rishis, his jouniors, told the princes that

they should be ceaselessly vigilant for six

nights and days to safeguard the sacrifice.

The princes, fully armed, kept vigil for

six days and nights. On the morning of the 

sixth day Rama told Lakshmana:

"Brother, now is the time for the enemies

to come. Let us be wary."

Even as he was saying this, flames shot 

up from the sacrificial fire, for Agni, the

God of Fire, knew that the Rakshasas had 

arrived. As the rites were being

performed, there was heard from the sky a 

great roar.

Rama looked up and saw Maricha and 

Subahu and their followers preparing to

shower unclean things on the sacrificial

fire The army of Rakshasas covered the

sky like a great black cloud.

Rama said, "Look Lakshmana," and let 

go the Manavastra at Maricha. As was

intended, it did not kill Maricha, but

wrapping him up in resistless force hurled

him a full hundred yojanas near the sea.

With the Agneyastra Rama killed

Subahu; and then the two princes utterly

destroyed the entire army of Rakshasas.

The sky was bright again.

Viswamitra was supremely happy at 

the completion of his yaga. "I am grateful

to King Dasaratha," he said. "You have

fulfilled the promise, princes. I admire

your fortitude. This ashrama has through

you become again a scene of success,

Siddhashrama." (Siddha means success).

The next day, Rama and Lakshmana,

after their morning prayers, went to

Viswamitra and asked for further orders.

The purpose of Rama's birth was not

unknown to Sage Viswamitra. And he

knew too the powers of the weapons he

had given to Rama. Still the actual fact

when experienced is something more than

expectation. Sage Viswamitra was happy

beyond words, and his face glowed like a 

flame. He then thought of the service that

he still had to do for Rama. This was the 

prince's marriage with Sita.

The rishis assembled there said to

Rama: "We intend proceeding to the

kingdom of Videha, where in the capital city of Mithila, Janaka, the illustrious

philosopher king, intends to perform a

great sacrifice. All of us are going there

and it will be good if you and the prince, 

your brother, accompany us. It is meet and 

proper that the Prince of Ayodhya should

see the marvellous bow in the court of

Janaka."

So it was decided, and Rama and

Lakshmana went with Viswamitra to

Janaka's city.