Ram, Lakshman and Sita lived a blissful life in their Parnkuti. One day, when Ram and Lakshman were busy talking, Ravan’s sister, Rakshasi Shroopnakha, came there all of a sudden. She gawped at Ram’s celestial presence. A lustrousface, long arms, eyes big and beautiful like the petals of a blooming lotus, and a head crowned with matted hair, made Ram look handsomer than Kamdev and grander than Lord Indra himself. His body had a dusky lustre, his stance was royal and he walked with the leisurely gait of an elephant.
Shroopnakha fell for Ram’s manly charms. Ram’s face was charming; Shroopnakha was ugliness personified. His was youth in its prime, she was crumpled with dire age. Rakshasi she was; so, driven by desire, she transformed herself into an alluring young woman:
Ruchir rupdhari Prabhu pahinjaai/bolibachan bahut musukai//
Tumhsampurushnamosamnari/Yeh sanjogbidhirachaabichari//
Assuming a beautiful form she drew near the Lord (Ram) and said (to him) with a big smile, “Neither is there any man like you, nor a woman like me! Destiny has ordained this coupling (of ours) with great thought.
Ramcharitmanas/Aranya Kand/16(iv)
She asked Ram what he was doing in the domain of rakshasas in the garb of a hermit. He courteously gave her his father’s name and his own and went on to introduce to her his spouse, Sita, as well as his younger brother, Lakshman. “I am here to observe my dharma,” he told her, “honouring the command of my father, Maharaja Dashrath and my (step-) mother Kaikeyi.”.
On Ram’s asking, Shoorpnakha told him who she was, proudly making a mention of her brothers – the brave Ravan, the ever-sleeping Kumbhkaran, the pious Vibhishan who “never (followed) the conduct of rakshasas”, as also of Khar and Dushan who were known for their valour in battle-field. Then she asserted in a boastful manner –
“Shri Ram! In strength and zeal I excel all my brothers. At the very first look I have become attracted towards you. That is the reason I have come with great love for the best of men like you to take you as my husband.
“I am rich in passion and power and can travel at will to all the regions, then become my husband for a long duration. What will you do with this Sita, who is a weakling?”
Balmiki Ramayan, Aranya Kand, Canto 17 (xxv)
Calling Sita an ugly, shallow, deformed and sunken-bellied human being,Shoorpnakha said she would devour her (that is, Sita) along with Ram’s brother. Then, she said, Ram would be free to roam with her in Dandkaranya, enjoying the beauty of mountain peaks and forests of different kinds. Ram spluttered into laughter at the rakshasi’s words. He told her that his beloved wife was with him and it would be painful for a woman like Shoorpnakha to pull along with a co-wife. Ram tried to shake her off, suggesting in good humour that she should pursue Lakshman who was a well-cultured, adorable and brave young warrior. If Lakshman had any desire for a woman, she could live with him as a wife without any hassle of a co-wife.
The dissolute Shoorpnakha then went over to Lakshman. He too happened to be in a comical mood. Making fun of her, he said –
“O Big-eyed Beauty! My elder brother has all the luxuries at his disposal. Become his junior wife. All your wishes will be fulfilled and you will remain happy always. Only he deserves a woman of your looks. Discarding that ‘ugly, shallow, deformed and sunken-bellied old wife’ he would readily accept you.”
– Ibid, Canto 18(x-xi)
Befuddled with lust, Shoorpnakha failed to see that the young prince was only making fun of her. She rushed back to Ram; only to find him sitting close to Sita. This rouse her to intense anger and she pounced at Sita as if a meteor had hit the Rohini Nakshatra. Ram stopped her with an angry outburst. Telling Lakshman that humour has no place when dealing with such cruel people, he commanded him to disfigure that ‘ugly, lewd, mad rakshasi of an extended belly’.
Lakshman promptly carried out Ram’s command. With well-aimed blows of his sword, he cut off Shroopnakha’s nose and ears.
Drippingwith her own blood, her arms raised in agony and screaming as loud as the thunder of lightening, the dreadful rakshasi ran to her brother Khar and fell down before him with a great thud.
Khar was aghast at the sight his sister made. “You are in your own right no less than Yamraj – the Lord of Death – to other creatures. Capable are you of going anywhere at will and change shapes at will. Then who has put you in such miserable condition?” He asked her.
Between her fits of unconsciousness, Shroopnakha told him about the arrival of two young men in the guise of hermits and a woman who accompanied them. It was because of the woman that she was mutilated so severely.
Khar ordered fourteen of his fiercest rakshasas first to kill the two men and then slay the woman as well because his sister wanted to drink the blood of all three of them.
The fourteen assassins arrived at the Parnkuti almost instantly and apprised Ram of why they were there. Ram told them that they all were themselves guilty of killing rishi-munis and he would have to kill them if they did not go away. A fight ensued between Ram on one side and the would-be assassins on the other. Struck by fourteen arrows shot by Ram, they lay dead like fallen trees bathed in their own blood.
Shroopnakha, who had witnessed the annihilation of her brother Khar’s detachment went back hollering to him to incite him for revenge. The seed for Ram-Ravan war had been planted.
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