Kids · लङ्काकाण्ड Laṅkā Kāṇḍa · Ages 8–12
The Messenger of Good News
The war for Laṅkā is over. Rāvaṇa has fallen, and his good brother Vibhīṣaṇa has been made king. But Mother Sītā is still sitting where she has sat for all these long months — beneath a tree in the Aśoka grove, with rākṣasī guards around her, waiting for news.
Someone has to carry it to her, and Lord Rāma chooses the one who found her the first time. This is the story of the happiest errand Hanumān Jī ever ran — and of what Mother Sītā said when he offered to punish the guards who had been cruel to her. Sage Vālmīki tells it in full. Gosvāmī Tulsīdās tells it in a few joyful lines.
One more errand
When Vibhīṣaṇa had been crowned, Lord Rāma called Hanumān Jī to his side. He asked him to go into Laṅkā, to tell Mother Sītā everything that had happened, and to come back with word of how she was. In Sage Vālmīki's telling the Lord adds something thoughtful: first ask leave of King Vibhīṣaṇa. Laṅkā had a new king now, and even the Lord's own messenger would not walk into his city without asking.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
Beneath the same tree
The last time Hanumān Jī entered Laṅkā he came by night, small and hidden. This time he walked in openly, and the rākṣasas of the city greeted him with honour. In the Aśoka grove he found Mother Sītā at the foot of a tree, sad and weary, with the rākṣasī guards still around her. He did not rush up to her. He bowed — from a respectful distance, says Gosvāmī Tulsīdās — and stood quite still with his head low. For a moment she only looked at him. Then she knew him, and her face brightened.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
The news
'Lord Rāma is well, Mother, and so are Lakṣmaṇa and Sugrīva,' said Hanumān Jī. 'Rāvaṇa has fallen in battle, and Laṅkā belongs to Vibhīṣaṇa now.' In Sage Vālmīki's telling he gives her the Lord's own message too: he has not slept all these months; he built a bridge across the sea and kept his promise to win her back; she need not be afraid any more. Mother Sītā was so full of joy that she could not say a single word. Hanumān Jī grew worried. 'What are you thinking, Mother? Why do you not speak to me?' 'I was so happy,' she said at last, 'that for a while the words would not come.' Gosvāmī Tulsīdās says a thrill ran through her and her eyes filled with tears.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
A gift greater than gold
Mother Sītā wanted to give him something for such news — and found that nothing was good enough. 'Not silver, not gold, not jewels, not even the kingship of the three worlds is worth as much as what you have told me,' she said. Hanumān Jī stood with folded hands. He wanted no gift. To see Lord Rāma safe and victorious, he said, was already like being given the kingdom of the whole world. So Mother Sītā gave him her blessing. 'May every good quality live in your heart,' she says in the Mānas, 'and may the Lord of Kosala, with Lakṣmaṇa, always be gracious to you.'
In both Rāmāyaṇas
'Who has never done wrong?'
Then Hanumān Jī looked round at the rākṣasī guards. On his first visit he had heard for himself the harsh words they used to frighten Mother Sītā. With folded hands he asked her leave to punish them. Mother Sītā thought for a while. Then she said no. 'Who would be angry with servants? They did what their king ordered them to do. He is gone, and they do not threaten me now. A noble person is kind to those who have done wrong as well as to the good — for there is no one who never does wrong.' And she told him an old saying, first spoken by a bear to a tiger: the good do not pay back a wrong with a wrong, for good conduct is their ornament.
Sage Vālmīki
'I wish to see my Lord'
Hanumān Jī asked what message he should carry back. Mother Sītā had only one: she longed to see her Lord. 'You shall see him this very day,' Hanumān Jī promised in Sage Vālmīki's telling, and he hurried back. Lord Rāma asked that she be brought with honour. She was bathed and dressed in fine clothes and jewels, and Vibhīṣaṇa brought her in a palanquin. When she came, the vānaras and bears crowded close to see her, and the guards began to push them back. The Lord stopped the guards at once. Let her come on foot, he said; and in the Mānas he smiles and adds that the vānaras may look on her as they would on their own mother. So Mother Sītā walked toward her Lord, and looked at last upon the face she had not seen for so long.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
✦ Two tellings, one story
Sage Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa (Sanskrit)
Sage Vālmīki tells this episode at length in his Yuddha Kāṇḍa. Lord Rāma asks Hanumān Jī to take King Vibhīṣaṇa's permission, enter Laṅkā, tell Mother Sītā that he, Lakṣmaṇa and Sugrīva are well and that Rāvaṇa has fallen, and return with her message. Honoured by the rākṣasas of the city, Hanumān Jī finds her at the foot of a tree among the rākṣasī guards, cheerless, and stands before her bowed and still; she is silent at first, then recognises him and rejoices. He gives the news and the Lord's own message — the sleepless months, the bridge over the sea, the promise kept, Laṅkā now in the hands of a friend, so that she may feel she is in her own home. She is speechless with joy; he asks why she does not speak; she answers that joy had tied her tongue, and that neither silver, gold, gems nor the sovereignty of the three worlds equals his news. He replies that seeing the Lord victorious is itself every blessing, and she praises his strength, learning, patience and humility. He then asks leave to punish the rākṣasīs who had threatened her. She reflects and refuses: they were servants obeying their king, and now that he is gone they threaten her no longer; a noble soul shows compassion to wrongdoers as to the good, for there is no one who never commits a wrong; and she recalls an old saying, spoken by a bear before a tiger, that the good do not return evil for evil. Her message is that she longs to see her Lord, and Hanumān Jī promises she will see him that day. Hearing it, the Lord grows thoughtful and his eyes fill with tears; he asks Vibhīṣaṇa to bring her bathed and adorned. She wishes to come at once, just as she is, but agrees when told it is the Lord's wish, and is brought in a palanquin. When guards drive back the crowding vānaras and bears, the Lord stops them and asks that she come on foot so that all may see her; she comes to him and gazes on his face. The solemn events that follow belong to the next story.
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās’s Rāmcaritmānas (Awadhi)
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās tells it briefly and joyfully, in the Laṅkā Kāṇḍa. The Lord calls Hanumān Jī and asks him to go to Laṅkā, tell Mother Sītā the news and return with word of her welfare. The rākṣasas and rākṣasīs of the city run to meet him, honour him in many ways and show him to her. He bows from a distance, and she knows him as the Lord's messenger and asks whether the Lord is well, with his brother and the vānara army. He answers that all is well, that the ten-headed king has been defeated in battle and that Vibhīṣaṇa has received a kingdom that will not be shaken. Her heart fills with joy, a thrill runs through her, her eyes fill with tears, and she says again and again that nothing in the three worlds is equal to this news. He replies that today he has gained the kingship of the whole world, seeing the Lord safe and victorious with his brother. She blesses him — may all good qualities dwell in his heart, and may the Lord of Kosala with Lakṣmaṇa be ever gracious to him — and asks him to find a way for her to see the Lord. In this telling Hanumān Jī does not ask to punish the guards, and there is no speech about mercy; the rākṣasīs are simply found serving Mother Sītā humbly. The Lord sends Prince Aṅgada and Vibhīṣaṇa with Hanumān Jī to bring her with honour; the rākṣasīs bathe and adorn her, and she mounts a palanquin gladly, thinking of the Lord. When the guards run to keep back the bears and vānaras who have come to see her, the Lord tells Vibhīṣaṇa to bring her on foot and, smiling, says the vānaras may look on her as on their own mother. The bears and vānaras rejoice, and the gods rain flowers from the sky.
What this story teaches
The best gift is not a thing
Mother Sītā had no gold to give, and Hanumān Jī wanted none. Good news carried with love, and a blessing given from the heart, were worth more to them than the kingship of the three worlds.
There is no one who never does wrong
The guards had been unkind to Mother Sītā for months — and she was the one who said they should not be punished. Remembering that everyone makes mistakes, you and me included, is where forgiving begins.
Ask before you enter
Lord Rāma had just won the war, and still he had Hanumān Jī ask King Vibhīṣaṇa's leave before going into the city. Good manners matter most when you are the one with the power.
Words to know
- Aśoka grove · the garden in Laṅkā where Mother Sītā was kept, named for its Aśoka trees
- rākṣasī · a female rākṣasa; here, the guards Rāvaṇa had set around Mother Sītā
- Vibhīṣaṇa · Rāvaṇa's good younger brother, now the king of Laṅkā and Lord Rāma's friend
- three worlds · the heavens, the earth and the world below — a way of saying 'everything there is'
- Kosala · Lord Rāma's own kingdom, whose capital is Ayodhyā
- palanquin · a covered seat carried on poles, used to bring someone with honour
A true episode from just after the war, told in both Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa — Yuddha Kāṇḍa — and Rāmcaritmānas — Laṅkā Kāṇḍa. Asking King Vibhīṣaṇa's permission, the Lord's own message about the sleepless months and the bridge, Mother Sītā's silence from joy, Hanumān Jī's request to punish the guards and her answer that no one is free of wrongdoing, the old saying of the bear and the tiger, her wish to come at once just as she was, and the Lord's tears are Sage Vālmīki's. The bow from a respectful distance, Mother Sītā's blessing, Prince Aṅgada going with Vibhīṣaṇa to fetch her, the Lord's smile and his words that the vānaras may look on her as their own mother, and the rain of flowers are Gosvāmī Tulsīdās's. Hanumān Jī being sent with the news, the honour shown to him in the city, Mother Sītā's joy and her words that nothing in the three worlds equals such news, his reply that the Lord's victory is his whole reward, her longing to see the Lord, the palanquin, and the Lord asking that she come on foot so that the vānaras and bears may see her are in both tellings.