"I have seen Sita"

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Namaste. Come and sit with me for a while.

Last time we were with Sita in the Ashoka grove. Hanuman had given her Rama's ring, and she had given him her **chudamani**, the jewel she wore in her hair, to carry back as a sign. Today Hanuman leaves the grove. But before he goes home, he decides to do something nobody asked him to do.

**

Sitting on a branch above the grove, Hanuman thinks like a good messenger. He has found Sita. That was his task. But Rama will need to know more. How strong is this city? How does its king think? Will he listen to reason? Hanuman decides that he should meet Ravana face to face, and the quickest way to be brought before a king is to make his guards come looking for you.

So he shakes the grove. Trees fall, the pleasure-house is disturbed, and the guards come running. Valmiki tells of a long struggle here, one group after another sent against him. We will keep it short. None of them can hold him, until Ravana's son **Indrajit** uses a weapon blessed by Brahma. The bonds of that weapon hold Hanuman.

Valmiki tells us something lovely at this moment. Hanuman knows he can free himself. The blessing of Brahma allows it. But he chooses to stay bound, out of respect for Brahma, and because being bound is exactly how he will reach the king. So he lets himself be led through the streets to the court.

**

Now picture the court of Lanka. Pillars of gold and crystal. Ministers in rows. And on a high seat, **Ravana**, shining with jewels, strong, learned, a great devotee of Shiva, a king who had done hard tapas in his youth.

And here Valmiki gives us one of the most honest moments in the whole poem. Hanuman looks at Ravana, and the first thing he feels is wonder. What splendour, he thinks. What strength, what brightness. If only this king were not set against dharma, he could have been the protector even of the heavens.

**

Hanuman has every reason to see only darkness in this king. Yet he sees the good that is there, and grieves that it is being wasted. That is the eye of a devotee. Seeing clearly does not mean seeing only faults.

Ravana's minister **Prahasta** asks Hanuman who he is and who sent him. Hanuman answers plainly. I am a vanara, a messenger of Rama, and I have come on behalf of Sugriva, king of the vanaras. I broke your grove only so that I could stand here and speak to you.

Then he speaks, and his words are words of peace. You know dharma, he tells Ravana. You have done great tapas. You have received great blessings. Do not throw all of it away. Return Sita to Rama. No one who has set himself against Rama has found lasting happiness. Choose well, for your own sake and for the sake of your city.

**

Ravana is not used to being spoken to like this. His anger rises, and he orders that the messenger be put to death.

And now his younger brother **Vibhishana** stands up. Calmly, with folded hands, he says: my king, this is not dharma. An envoy is never put to death. Punish him some other way if you must, but do not break this rule, which every good king keeps. It is a small moment, but hold on to it. Vibhishana will be very important to our story soon.

Ravana listens, at least on this point. Very well, he says. A monkey's tail is its pride. Set his tail on fire and parade him through the city.

So cloth is wound around Hanuman's tail, oil is poured, and it is set alight. He is led through the streets, and the women guarding Sita run to tell her what is happening.

**

Listen to what Sita does. She does not wail or curse. She turns to **Agni**, the lord of fire, and prays. If I have served my husband faithfully, if I have any merit of tapas, then, O Agni, be cool to Hanuman.

And the fire does not burn him. Hanuman feels it on his tail, burning bright but cool, and he understands that this is the grace of Sita and of Rama.

Then he slips free of his bonds, leaps onto the rooftops, and with his burning tail sets the great houses of Lanka alight, one after another. Valmiki describes the fire rising over the golden city. We will say only this: Hanuman made sure that Ravana would never again think Rama's side was weak.

**

And then, in the middle of it all, a sudden fear grips him. What have I done? What if the fire has reached the Ashoka grove? What if Sita has come to harm because of my anger? Valmiki shows Hanuman scolding himself, full of remorse, as any of us would.

Just then he hears the **Charanas**, heavenly singers, saying that Sita is untouched. Relief floods through him. Still, he goes back to the grove to see her with his own eyes. He bows to her once more, promises that Rama will come soon, and takes his leave.

**

Hanuman climbs the mountain **Arishta** on the Lanka shore and leaps back across the sea. His friends are waiting on the northern shore: Angada, Jambavan, and the whole search party, who have been sitting there for days, hoping and worrying.

They hear his great roar from far away, and they know from the sound of it that the news is good. When he lands among them, Hanuman does not begin with the story of his leap, or the grove, or the fire. He says two words first.

**dṛṣṭā devī**

"The Devi has been seen." "I have seen Sita."

The tradition loves this detail. Hanuman put the most important word first, so that not one heart among his friends would have to wait in fear, even for a moment. There is a lesson in it for every one of us who has ever had to carry news to someone who is anxious. Say the thing they are waiting to hear first. The rest can follow.

**

The vanaras are so happy that, on the way back, they wander into **Madhuvana**, King Sugriva's own honey grove, and feast on the honey without asking anyone. Its old keeper, **Dadhimukha**, runs to complain to Sugriva. And Sugriva, who knows his vanaras, simply smiles. If they have dared to do this, he says, they must have found Sita.

Then they come before Rama. Hanuman bows first towards the south, towards Sita, and then to Rama. He tells everything: her tears, her strength, her refusal, her words for Rama. He places the chudamani in Rama's hand.

Rama holds the jewel and weeps. It had been given to Sita at their wedding. For a long time he cannot speak.

And then Rama says something very simple. You have done what no one else could have done, Hanuman. I have nothing to give you in return that would be worthy of it. And he takes Hanuman into his arms and holds him. This embrace, Rama says, is all I have, and I give it to you.

**

So let us gather what we heard today. Hanuman allowed himself to be brought before Ravana, saw the king's greatness, and still asked him to choose dharma. Vibhishana spoke up for the rule that a messenger is never put to death. Sita's prayer made the fire cool for Hanuman. And when he came home, Hanuman said "I have seen Sita" before anything else.

**One thing to take with you.** The next time someone is waiting anxiously for news from you, a test result, a reply, a decision, tell them the most important thing first, in the first breath. It is a small kindness, and it was Hanuman's way.

In the next episode, the army reaches the edge of the sea, Vibhishana makes a hard choice, and Rama makes a promise about refuge that devotees have held on to ever since.

**Credits (read out):** Written by the DharmikStudio team from the Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kanda and the opening of the Yuddha Kanda. Narrated with an AI voice. If you hear a mistake, please use "Report a mistake" on this episode.

Keep going

• Listen: "I have seen Sita"
• Previous: In the Ashoka grove
• Next: The bridge and the refuge
• हिन्दी में पढ़ें
• All episodes of Ramayana: Valmiki's story, told gently