Rāma Comes to the Hermitage

Rāma, the prince of Ayodhyā, had gone into the forest for fourteen years to keep the word his father, King Daśaratha, had given. He had lived ten years among the hermitages of the forest, a few months here, a year there, with his wife Sītā and his brother Lakṣmaṇa. Then he came back to the hermitage of the sage Sutīkṣṇa, and one day, sitting humbly before him, he said, I have always heard people say that the great seer Agastya lives in this forest. But the forest is so wide that I do not know where. Where is his hermitage? By your kindness I would like to go there with my brother and Sītā and pay my respects to him. It is a great wish in my heart to serve that best of sages myself.

Sutīkṣṇa was glad. I was about to tell you the same thing, he said. Go to Agastya with Sītā. He told Rāma the way: four yojanas to the south, a yojana being a measure of several miles, in a forest bright with long pepper, was the hermitage of Agastya's brother; they should spend a night there, and in the morning go a yojana further south along the edge of the woods, and they would come to Agastya's own hermitage.

As they came near the brother's hermitage, Rāma knew it by the signs: trees bent under fruit and flowers, the sharp scent of ripe pepper on the wind, bundles of firewood stacked here and there, cut darbha grass on the path, the smoke of the sacred fire rising like a dark cloud, brahmins bathing at quiet fords and offering flowers they had gathered. This must be the hermitage of Agastya's brother, Rāma said to Lakṣmaṇa. It was here that two demons, Vātāpi and Ilvala, once lived and killed brahmins, until Agastya put an end to them. He told the story of it as they walked, and his telling ends otherwise than the story of the three kings: when Agastya had eaten Vātāpi and digested him, Ilvala rushed at the sage in rage, and Agastya burned him to death with a look like fire. Then the sun set, and they said their evening prayers and went in and spent the night with the brother, eating roots and fruit. In the morning Rāma took leave of him: I am going to see your elder brother, your teacher.

As they went on through the forest, Rāma said to Lakṣmaṇa, The trees have glossy leaves here, the deer and the birds are at peace. The hermitage of the great sage cannot be far. Agastya is famous in the world for his own deeds. This is the one who, for the good of the worlds, held back by force the death those demons dealt, and made the southern quarter a place of refuge. Since he came here the demons have only looked at this quarter in fear and have not dared to enjoy it. They have become peaceful and without enmity. Obeying his word, the Vindhya, which was set on blocking the path of the sun, grows no more. No liar can live here, no cruel or deceitful man, no one who lives for his pleasures. Gods and yakṣas and serpents and birds live here, keeping strict diets and worshipping dharma. Here the gods grant the boons people ask. I will serve Agastya here for the rest of my exile. Go in ahead, Lakṣmaṇa, and tell the seer I have come with Sītā.

Lakṣmaṇa went in and found one of Agastya's disciples, and told him who had come. The disciple went into the room of the sacred fire and told the sage. It is good fortune that Rāma has come at last to see me, Agastya said. I too have longed in my mind for his coming. Bring him in with honour, with his wife and Lakṣmaṇa. Why has he not been brought in already?

Rāma came in with Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa and looked around the hermitage, where gentle deer wandered, and saw the places set apart for Brahmā and Agni, for Viṣṇu and Indra and the Sun, for Soma and Bhaga and Kubera, for Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ and Vāyu, for Ananta the king of serpents, for the Gāyatrī, the Vasus and Varuṇa, for Kārttikeya and for Dharma. Then the sage came out among his disciples, and Rāma said to Lakṣmaṇa, There is the revered seer Agastya. I know by his greatness that he is a treasure-house of austerity. He took the sage's feet in his hands and stood before him with folded hands, with Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa beside him.

Agastya received them with seats and water and asked after their welfare. He made his offering to the fire, honoured his guests, and gave them food as the dharma of a forest dweller requires. Then he sat down and said to Rāma, An ascetic must first offer to the fire, then give water of welcome, then honour his guest. If he does otherwise, he will eat his own flesh in the next world, like one who has given false witness. You are king of the whole world, a keeper of dharma and a great warrior, and you have come to me as a dear guest. You are to be honoured.

When he had honoured Rāma with fruit and roots and flowers, he said to him, This great bow, adorned with gold and jewels, belonged to Viṣṇu, and Viśvakarman made it. Here is the finest of arrows, given by Brahmā, unfailing and bright as the sun. Here are two quivers Indra gave me, always full of sharp arrows blazing like fire, and a sword in a golden sheath, adorned with gold. With this bow Viṣṇu once killed great demons in battle and brought back their shining fortune to the gods. Take the bow, the quivers, the arrow and the sword, for victory, as Indra who holds the thunderbolt takes the thunderbolt. And he gave all those weapons to Rāma.

Then he spoke again. I am pleased with you, Rāma, and pleased with you, Lakṣmaṇa, that you have come with Sītā to greet me. The weariness of the road is heavy on you, and Sītā is longing to rest. She is delicate and has never known hardship, yet she came into a forest full of dangers out of love for her husband. Rāma, see that she is happy here. She has done a hard thing in following you to the forest. He spoke of how it is the way of women to cling to a man while his fortunes stand and to leave him when they fall, and then he said of Sītā, But your wife is free of all such faults. She is worthy of praise, and worthy to be held up as an example, like the holy Arundhatī. Arundhatī, of whom he spoke, was the wife of Vasiṣṭha.

Rāma folded his hands and thanked him. Then show me a place with water and plenty of forest, he said, where I can build a hermitage and live happily. Agastya thought for a moment and said, Two yojanas from here is a place called Pañcavaṭī, with roots and fruit and water and many deer. Build your hermitage there with Lakṣmaṇa and keep your father's word. The time your father set is mostly gone, and once your promise is fulfilled you will live happily in your kingdom. Everything that has happened to you is known to me, by my austerity and by my affection for your father, and I know the wish in your heart. That is why I tell you to go to Pañcavaṭī. It is a beautiful place, not far, near the Godāvarī, and Sītā will be happy there. It is lonely and holy, and you are able to protect your wife, and living there you will protect the ascetics too. He showed them the way: past the great forest of madhūka trees, north toward a banyan, up onto the high ground near a mountain.

Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa honoured the truthful seer and took their leave, touching his feet, and set out for Pañcavaṭī with Sītā, bows in their hands and quivers on their backs, along the road the great seer had shown them.