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Continued from yesterday’s instalment
 'I took him lightly when I saw him as a boy on the first occasion,' Märïca continued. With an amazing kind of awe and devotion he narrates his first encounter with Rama to Ravana. Let's listen to
Valmiki.
"Twanging his wonderful bow, Sri Rama stood by the side of the sage consecrated for a sacrifice in the Dandaka forest as prearranged. Illuminating the Dandaka forest with his refulgent splendour, the glorious Rama - who was (still) a boy, in whom the marks of manhood (in the shape of moustaches etc.) had not yet appeared, dark-brown (of complexion) with charming eyes and a single cloth (wrapped about his loins as a token of celibacy), wielding a bow and wearing a tuft of hair on the crown of his head and adorned with a string of gold - looked at that time like the new moon (just) risen. ...The moment I entered the hermitage I was espied by him. Having suddenly lifted up his weapon on seeing me, he strung his bow calmly indeed." (Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kanda, Canto XXXVIII, Sloka13-15 and 17)
That is a compliment indeed! Considering that it was the first battle that Rama waged and considering his age, the 'calmness with which he strung the bow' as recounted by Märïca, brings out the essence of the character of Rama. As we have observed several times, Rama seldom lost his temper and remained calm and collected, especially when he takes the bow in hand. He keeps all his other feelings, troublesome thoughts and emotions aside once he steps into the battlefield. Remaining calm in the face of storm is one of the qualities that the character of Rama exemplifies to all other mortals.
 "Disregarding Rama (a scion of Raghu) through ignorance," continues Märïca, "I rushed with speed towards the well-known altar occupied by Viswamitra. By him was discharged at that time a sharp arrow capable of destroying the enemy. Struck by it I was cast into the sea, which was a hundred Yojanas long. Spared on that occasion by the hero, who did not want to kill me, O dear one, and flung by the impetus of Rama's arrow at that moment, I was hurled by him into the deep waters, rendered unconscious." (Ibid, Sloka 17-20)
'He did not want to kill me and hence I was thrown away into the sea that was around 800 miles away.' It was probably for this high-pitched drama to take place around 25 years later, to take the epic to its ultimate destination! 'I was spared on that occasion,' confesses Märïca. But that doesn't move Ravana an inch. Märïca then recounted his second encounter with Rama - which is less known or spoken about - on a subsequent occasion, in the jungle. Kamban mentions this in passing in just one verse, while we find Valmiki devoting an entire canto describing that incident.
The fact remains that Märïca was spared on the first occasion and managed to escape on the second occasion. And was it just a coincidence that Märïca and the other two demons assumed the form of deer, to attack Rama as if it were a prelude to what was lying in store! And also, Märïca was the only one ever in the Ramayana to survive the arrow of Rama, twice.
More follows...
Hari Krishnan
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