| Great Devotees |
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| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
HANUMANTHA |
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| 'Ravana, Think
Over This' Hanumantha had now completed his mission. But he thought it would be a good thing if he could manage to get anestimate of the enemy's strength, kill some of the prominent rakshasas and also give a warning to Ravana. It occurred to him that he put Ravana in a rage, if he destroyed the Ashokavana so dear to him. He set about it and uprooted trees. He pulled from the ground all the creepers bearing beautiful flowers. He trampled upon other plants. Seeing all this, the rakshasas on duty there ran to Ravana in fear. Ravana was furious when he heard the news. But Hanumantha destroyed all the rakshasas he sent in the twinkling of an eye. Ravana then sent his son Indrajithu himself to capture Hanumantha. Indrajithu was a great hero. He fought with Hanumantha for a while and then shot the Brahmasthra. Hanumantha wanted to show respect to the weapon carrying the power of Lord Brahma and allowed himself to be tied up by it for a while. The rakshasas were excited and in great glee. Indrajithu took Hanumantha to Ravana's court. The sight of Hanumantha threw Ravana into a towering rage. The radiance of Ravana's f ace astonished Hanumantha. Even Devendra, the King of Heaven was afraid of Ravana. But Hanumantha was fearless. He told Ravana why he had gone there. He said, "Look, Ravana, it is not proper for you to kidnap Seethadevi and make her suffer like this. You have performed tapas (long prayer and medi- tation). Just think, can you face Rama? You will be destroyed, and your friends, relatives and this city, too, will be des- troyed. Give up this evil way and restore Seetha to Rama." His words were like adding fuel to the fire. Ravana's anger blazed. He ordered the rakshasas to kill Hanumantha. But his brother Vibheeshana intervened; he said that it was not right according to the princi- ples of diplomacy to kill the enemy's messenger. Ravana agreed with him; he said to his servants, "Tails are ornamental to monkeys. So set fire to Hanumantha's tail." At once the rakshasas wrapped some cloth around Hanumantha's tail, poured oil over it and set fire to it. They paraded Hanumantha all over the city. Now Hanumantha was in a high rage. Still he was glad that the rakshasas were showing the whole city to him. He carefully noted the hidden fortresses, the topo- graphy and other useful details. Then all at once he leapt high. He
freed himself from the ropes. He beat up all the rakshasas following him and stood on a
high place. He set fire to all the buildings nearby. The houses of Ravana's ministers |
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