Kids · सुन्दरकाण्ड Sundara Kāṇḍa · Ages 8–12
Mother Sītā's Brave Heart
Far across the southern sea, in Rāvaṇa's golden city of Lankā, there is a garden called the Aśoka grove. Its name means “without sorrow” — yet the saddest and bravest heart in the whole city lives beneath its flowering trees: Mother Sītā, waiting for Lord Rāma.
Yesterday we watched Hanumān Jī leap the ocean and drop Lord Rāma's ring into her hands. But before that ring fell, hidden high in the leaves, he watched something he never forgot. This is that story.
The queen beneath the tree
Rāvaṇa had offered Mother Sītā rooms in his golden palace. She refused to set one foot inside. Instead she sat beneath a tree in the Aśoka grove, ringed by fierce rākṣasīs who watched her day and night. Her clothes were simple, her face was sorrowful — but her heart, far away with Lord Rāma, never wavered once.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
The demon king's grand parade
One day the grove blazed with torches and jewels: Rāvaṇa himself had come, dressed in his finest, with his court trailing behind him. “Look at me!” he said. “Ten heads, twenty arms, king of this golden city! Forget Rāma. Become my chief queen, and every treasure of Lankā is yours.” His sweet words dripped like honey — with poison underneath.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
The blade of grass
Mother Sītā did not tremble, and she did not even look at him. She picked a single blade of grass and set it upright between herself and the mighty king — as if to say: this little straw means more to me than you. Then, remembering her beloved Lord, she spoke: “The arm of Lord Rāma, beautiful as a garland of dark lotuses, is the only arm that shall ever protect me. Your riches are dust.”
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās
The king's thunder
Rāvaṇa's twenty eyes burned like coals. He roared his threats, and his hand flew to his terrible sword — but a queen who fears nothing cannot be frightened, and a heart already given cannot be bought. The king of demons, who had conquered gods, stormed out of the garden defeated by a blade of grass.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
One kind heart, and a dream
Among the fierce rākṣasīs there was one gentle soul: Trijaṭā, who secretly loved Lord Rāma. “Listen,” she whispered to the others, “I dreamed a vānara burned this whole city, and Rāvaṇa fell from his glory. Treat the queen kindly!” The guards grew quiet, and Mother Sītā's long night felt a little less dark.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
The watcher in the branches
And high above, hidden among the leaves, Hanumān Jī had seen it all — the parade, the blade of grass, the fearless vow. Now he knew what kind of queen he had crossed the ocean for. When the grove fell silent, he softly sang Lord Rāma's story… and let the signet ring fall into her hands.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
✦ Two tellings, one story
Sage Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa (Sanskrit)
Sage Vālmīki shows Rāvaṇa trying every trick a king knows — flattery, gifts, threats — on one lone captive, and it all breaks against her steadiness. He also tells Trijaṭā's dream at wonderful length, full of strange and mighty omens.
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās’s Rāmcaritmānas (Awadhi)
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās gives the scene its most beloved image: the blade of grass Mother Sītā sets between herself and Rāvaṇa, and her blazing vow that only Lord Rāma's arm shall ever claim her. In his telling, devotion itself does the defying.
What this story teaches
A heart can't be bought
All the gold in Lankā could not move Mother Sītā's love one inch.
Small things can be mighty
One blade of grass, held with courage, stopped a king with twenty arms.
Kindness hides everywhere
Even among the rākṣasīs of Lankā there was one gentle, brave Trijaṭā.
Words to know
- Aśoka grove · the garden in Lankā where Mother Sītā was kept — its name means “without sorrow”
- tṛṇa · a blade of grass — the tiny wall Mother Sītā set before a king
- rākṣasī · a demoness of Lankā
- Trijaṭā · the kind demoness who loved Lord Rāma and comforted Mother Sītā
- signet ring · Lord Rāma's own ring, carried across the sea as a sign of hope
This story follows the Sundara Kāṇḍa of Sage Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa and the Sundar Kāṇḍ of Gosvāmī Tulsīdās's Rāmcaritmānas. The blade of grass is Gosvāmī Tulsīdās's beloved image; Sage Vālmīki tells Trijaṭā's dream at greatest length.