Reading Notes: The Ramayana Part C

Statue of Hanuman

Source

1: The brothers run into Hanuman, the messenger of the virtuous monkey Sugriva. Hanuman asked why the boys were wandering, and Lakshmana told him the story so far. Hanuman explains that Sugriva is in a similar situation, and that he will help, and he takes them to Sugriva.
2: Sugriva explained his story and how his brother, Vali, hated him. Sugriva thought his brother died, so he basically buried him alive, but his brother didn't believe that Sugriva thought he died, he thought Sugriva was just a terrible brother. Vali took Sugriva's wife. Rama asked Sugriva to challenge Vali to battle.
3: Tara, Vali's wife tells her husband how powerful Rama is and advises him to avoid the battle. Vali doesn't listen and prepares to battle.
4: Rama hides from the battle, and ambushes Vali and kills him.
5: Tara, Sugriva, and the counselors of the monkey kingdom all mourn the death of the king. Sugriva is named the new king
6: Sugriva holds up his end of the bargain, but they can't find Sita until the wet season passes. Rama can't enter a city because of his exile, so he is stuck in the jungle still. He grows impatient and basically suicidal, but knows he must find Sita before he dies.
7: Rama was getting angered, as Sugriva was spending the wet season enjoying being king, and not assembling his armies to find Sita like he promised. Lakshmana visits Sugriva and threatens to kill him unless he starts upholding his end of the deal. Sugriva yields and sends 4 armies in each direction to find Sita.
8: A month later the armies return with no sign of Sita. But the army who went south found Jatayu's brother, Sampati, who told them that he saw Sita be carried away towards Lanka by Ravana.
9: Sampati recalls his childhood and how his wings became burned.
10: The party brainstorms how to get into Lanka, but luckily Hanuman is the child of Indra, so he does a massive leap to Lanka. A rakshasi tries to eat him, but he was able to get away and land on the shores of Lanka
11: Hanuman sneaks into Lanka at night and finds the palace. He checks every room for Sita, and eventually makes his way towards Ravana's bedroom. He sees Ravana and his many wives sleeping, and mistakes Mandodari, Ravana's head queen, for Sita. He tries to get her attention but realizes that it's not Sita so he leaves to explore the rest of the palace and city.
12: Hanuman finds the grove where Sita is, but she is guarded by many demons.
13: Ravana wakes up and walks to the grove, and Sita trembled at the site of him. He tried seducing her, but Sita ignored him and told him that Rama would kill him. Ravana told her that if she does not choose him in 2 months, he would have her tortured and killed. Sita hides at the base of the tree where Hanuman is hiding.
14: Sita first thought that Hanuman was Ravana in disguise, but he showed her the ring that Rama gave him so she knew he was an ally. Hanuman offered to take her back to Rama, but she refused to touch any man that wasn't Rama. She instead gave Hanuman a jewel from her hair to give to Rama, and explained that she needed to be saved in 2 months.
15: Hanuman was trashing the palace, and when Ravana heard, he sent Jambumali, son of a very powerful demon, to kill the monkey. He injured Hanuman, but was crushed by a bolt that Hanuman threw at him. Hanuman continued to kill the demons that tried to attack him, until one demon realized that the monkey was unharmed by weapons, so he captured him and he fell to Earth. Hanuman was dragged to Ravana, but that's exactly where he wanted to be. He had loose restraints but made no effort to escape.
16: While being questioned, Hanuman told Ravana that the best thing for him would to be surrender before Rama killed him. Ravana could't kill the monkey because the monkey claimed that he came to Lanka to serve Ravana and Ravana couldn't justify killing a servant. So, he set the monkey's tail on fire instead.
17: Hanuman asked to be taken about the city while he tail was on fire. Sita heard of this and prayed to the fire that it would not harm Hanuman. This prayer was answered, and Hanuman thought it was Rama's doing. Hanuman, though on fire, felt no pain, so he escaped from his bonds and ran around Lanka, burning things as he roamed. Worried that the fire that burned down half of Lanka killed Sita in the process, Hanuman put his tail in water to douse it and went back to the grove where he greeted Sita. Hanuman left Lanka and was praised upon he returning home.
18: Sugriva gave the order to attack Lanka while Hanuman told Rama what he had saw. The monkey and bear army traveled and set up camp on the shore. Rama summoned a council to plan.
19: Ravana has his council too, and they agree to go to war.
20:  Ravana's younger brother, Vibhishana, tells Ravana to return Sita, but Ravana bans his brother from Lanka. He immediately crosses the sea to see Rama.

Bibliography:
Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition
http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/ramayana-online-public-domain-edition.html