Ramayana · Vol 1
The Golden Deer
Volume 4 of 9Start from Volume 1 →
In the Dandaka forest, the ascetics ask Rama to protect them from the rakshasas, and Rama gives his promise. His wife, Sita, warns him against killing anyone who has shown him no enmity, but Rama would sooner lose Sita than break that promise.
- Series
- Ramayana
- Contents
- 16 chapters, 27,331 words
- Transparency
- SI-assisted work
About this work
Rama, the exiled prince of Ayodhya, enters the Dandaka forest with his wife, Sita, and his brother Lakshmana. In a clearing the rakshasa Viradha seizes Sita and hoists her against his hip. Then he carries the two princes off into the forest on his shoulders, and Sita runs after him screaming for him to take her and let them go. Afterward the ascetics show Rama the bones of sages slaughtered by rakshasas, and Rama vows to kill their enemies. Sita watches her husband's hand on the bow and holds back one sentence for days. On the bank of a river she finally speaks. She reminds Rama that killing without enmity is a sin, and that weapons change the mind of the one who carries them. Rama answers that he cannot break his promise, even if it costs him Sita and Lakshmana. This novel retells the Aranya Kanda of Valmiki's Ramayana, in the Indian version.
