Ramayana: Historicizing Myth and Mythologizing History 51his brothers, Lakshmana, insisted on going along with Rama despite his
resistance to the idea. Scarcely did the trio leave Ayodhya on their 14-
year exile when King Dasaratha, who had been lying inert, died of the
pangs of separation from his beloved son. Bharatha, who had been to Kai-
keyi's father's kingdom along with Sathrugna, was summoned to come
to Kosala to become the king. The furious Bharatha blamed his mother
and set out to the forest to bring Rama back to Kosala. Unable to convince
Rama, Bharatha had to be content with Rama's sandals for the throne and
ruled the country as a regent.
Besides some pleasant incidents and experiences, Rama, Sita, and Lak-
shmana roamed about the forest encountering and eradicating quite a few
demons and devils. When one such demon, Soorpanaka, tried to harm
Sita out of her lust for Rama, Lakshmana disfigured her. That revenge-
ful sister demon of Ravana, the most powerful king of all the demons in
all the worlds, maliciously sowed lust for Sita in his mind. Ravana, who
instantly fell lovesick for Sita, devised plans to obtain her. One day, Sita
happened to see an extremely beautiful golden deer near their hut and
pleaded to her husband to fetch the lovely animal for her. The magical and
mysterious deer, who was none other than an uncle demon of Ravana, led
Rama farther and farther away from their hutment. Realizing the trickery,
Rama killed the animal, but the cunning demon feigned Rama's voice and
cried for help.
Hearing the cry, Sita begged Lakshmana to go to her husband's rescue.
Besides being reluctant to leave Sita alone for fear of her safety, Laksh-
mana was sure of his brother's abilities and tried to reason her out of her
fears. But the impervious Sita kept nagging him and even started ques-
tioning Lakshmana's intentions. No sooner did the frustrated Lakshmana
leave than an old hermit showed up at the hut. The pious and kind Sita
asked him in, and the real nature of Ravana slowly emerged, as he had
been overwhelmed by Sita's beauty and angered by her convictions about
the demons. Ravana, having been forbidden by an old curse not to touch
any woman without her consent, lifted Sita along with the ground under
her and fled in his aerial chariot.
When the two brothers, Rama and Lakshmana, returned, they found
Sita missing and started looking for her. Eventually, they strayed into a
monkey kingdom ruled by Vali, who had been caught up in a feud with his
brother, Sugreeva, and had snatched away the latter's wife. Rama helped
Sugreeva kill his brother, get his wife back, and become the king of mon-
keys. In return for this great favor, Sugreeva, along with his lieutenant,
Hanuman, offered their participation in the search for and redemption of
Sita. With the help of Sugreeva's monkey army, Rama built a bridge across
the ocean and led them to Lanka in the war against Ravana. The adamant
Ravana would not give up despite one of his own brother's advice to see
reason and rectify the situation. The 10-headed king of demons stood his