Kids · उत्तरकाण्ड Uttara Kāṇḍa · Ages 8–12
As Long as the Story Is Told
When a long adventure ends, the hardest part can be saying goodbye to the friends you had it with. After Lord Rāma was crowned king of Ayodhyā, the vānaras, the bears and the good rākṣasas who had helped him win the war stayed on as his guests. But a day came when it was time for them to go home — to Kiṣkindhā, to Laṅkā, to their own hills and forests.
Sage Vālmīki tells how the Lord sent each of them off, and how one friend asked for something nobody else thought to ask for. Gosvāmī Tulsīdās tells the parting too, but a little differently — we will come to that at the end. This is the Vālmīki telling.
Go home, dear friends
Lord Rāma turned first to King Sugrīva. 'Return, gentle one, to Kiṣkindhā,' he said, 'and rule your kingdom with your ministers. Look with the greatest love on Aṅgada, on Hanumān, on mighty Nala — and on every vānara who risked his life for my sake. Never do anything that would hurt them.' Then he spoke sweetly to Vibhīṣaṇa, the new king of Laṅkā: 'Rule Laṅkā righteously. Never let your mind turn to wrong. And remember me, and Sugrīva, with love.' The bears, the vānaras and the rākṣasas cheered: 'Well said! How wise you are, and how kind!'
Sage Vālmīki
The two things Hanumān Jī asked for
Then, while everyone else was still speaking, Hanumān Jī bowed low and made his request. 'My Lord, may my love for you last forever. May my devotion to you never waver, and may my heart never turn to anyone else.' That was the first thing. The second was stranger and more wonderful: 'And may life stay in this body of mine for as long as your story is told on the face of the earth. Let the heavenly singers sing your deeds to me, O delight of the Raghus, so that I may drink the nectar of your story with my ears — the way the wind scatters a line of clouds, that will scatter my longing to see you.'
Sage Vālmīki
The Lord rises from his seat
Lord Rāma did not answer from his throne. He rose from his seat, took Hanumān Jī in his arms and held him close. 'So shall it be, prince of vānaras,' he said. 'There is no doubt about it. Your fame will last, and life will stay in your body, for as long as this story of mine is told in the world — and my story will last as long as the worlds last.' Then he said the thing that made everyone go quiet. 'For every single service you did me, I would give my life. For all the rest, I shall stay in your debt. Let what I owe you live in my heart forever — because a debt is only repaid when a friend is in trouble, and I never want you to be.'
Sage Vālmīki
A necklace like the moon
Then Lord Rāma lifted from his own neck a string of pearls, shining like moonlight, with a cat's-eye gem glowing at its centre, and fastened it around Hanumān Jī's neck. With the great necklace on his chest, says Sage Vālmīki, Hanumān Jī shone like golden Mount Meru with the moon resting on its summit.
Sage Vālmīki
Goodbyes with tears in them
One by one the vānaras rose, bowed their heads to the Lord's feet, and set off for home. Their throats were so choked with tears that they could hardly speak, and their eyes were full. Sage Vālmīki says that leaving Lord Rāma felt to them the way it feels for a soul to leave its body. The Lord held King Sugrīva and good Vibhīṣaṇa tightly to his heart before they went. And so the friends who had built a bridge across the sea went back to their own homes, with the Lord's gifts in their hands and the Lord's face in their hearts.
Sage Vālmīki
✦ Two tellings, one story
Sage Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa (Sanskrit)
In Sage Vālmīki's Uttara Kāṇḍa, Lord Rāma sends the vānaras, bears and rākṣasas home with loving words to King Sugrīva and to Vibhīṣaṇa. Hanumān Jī asks for two boons: that his love and devotion for the Lord may never waver or turn elsewhere, and that life may remain in his body for as long as the Lord's story is told on earth, with the heavenly singers singing it to him. Lord Rāma rises, embraces him, grants both — his story will last as long as the worlds — says he will remain in Hanumān Jī's debt, and fastens a moon-bright string of pearls with a cat's-eye gem from his own neck around Hanumān Jī's. The friends depart in tears.
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās’s Rāmcaritmānas (Awadhi)
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās tells the parting differently, and does not tell this boon at all. In his Uttar-kāṇḍa the Lord sends the friends home with the words 'worship me with firm resolve, knowing me to be everywhere and the well-wisher of all', and has fine clothes and ornaments brought: Bharata dresses King Sugrīva with his own hands, Lakṣmaṇa dresses Vibhīṣaṇa, and the Lord himself dresses Jāmbavān, Nīla and the rest. After Prince Aṅgada's farewell — told in 'The Prince Who Did Not Want to Go Home' — Hanumān Jī clasps King Sugrīva's feet and asks his leave: let me serve Lord Rāma's feet for a few days more, and then I will come and see you. Sugrīva answers, 'You are a heap of merit, son of the wind — go and serve the abode of grace.' Hanumān Jī turns back to the Lord, tells him of Aṅgada's love, and the Lord is overcome with love in return. So in both tellings Hanumān Jī stays close to Lord Rāma — but we have not invented a Mānas version of the pearl necklace or the boon.
What this story teaches
Ask for the thing that matters most
Everyone else went home with gold and jewels. Hanumān Jī asked to keep loving, and to keep hearing the story. When you are offered anything you like, it is worth knowing what you would truly ask for.
A good king gets up from his throne
Lord Rāma did not grant the boon from a distance. He rose, embraced his friend, and said that he was the one in debt. The greatest people are the quickest to say thank you.
The story keeps a friend close
Hanumān Jī asked to live as long as Lord Rāma's story is told — and people have told it every day since. That is why, when this story is read aloud, many believe Hanumān Jī is somewhere listening.
Words to know
- Uttara Kāṇḍa · the last book of the Rāmāyaṇa, which tells what happened after Lord Rāma became king
- boon · a special gift or promise granted to someone who asks for it; Hanumān Jī asked for two
- Kiṣkindhā · the vānara kingdom in the south, ruled by King Sugrīva, to which the vānaras went home
- Meru · the golden mountain at the centre of the world in old Indian stories; Hanumān Jī with his new necklace shone like Meru with the moon on top
- vānaras · the brave forest people who helped Lord Rāma build the bridge and win the war
- Raghu · a great ancestor of Lord Rāma; 'delight of the Raghus' is one of the Lord's names
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa — Uttara Kāṇḍa (the leave-taking of the vānaras, bears and rākṣasas, and Hanumān Jī's boon). Rāmcaritmānas — Uttar-kāṇḍa (the caupāīs after dohā 18, through dohā 19). Where the two Rāmāyaṇas differ, we tell both faithfully.