Ravana Returns to His Palace, Leaving Nightmares around Sita
Sundara Kanda, Doha 10
Doha 10 · Movement 2 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
The ten-headed king leaves the Ashoka grove and returns to his palace through the night. His sword has been stayed, but the month-long threat remains suspended above Sita.
Around her gather hordes of demonesses charged with breaking what Ravana could not bend. Their bodies begin to change into many cruel and hideous forms.
The beautiful garden fills with manufactured terror. Fang, limb, face, and shadow become weapons meant to enter Sita's mind. Hanuman remains unseen among the leaves while the solitary captive is encircled by nightmares given flesh.
Ravana leaves, and the grove itself becomes a ring of monstrous forms around Sita.
Read the passage from the Manas
भवन गयउ दसकंधर इहाँ पिसाचिनि बृंद। सीतहि त्रास देखावहि धरहिं रूप बहु मंद।।10।।
Thus speaking, ten-headed Ravana departed for his palace. Here, hordes of demonesses took on many hideous forms to terrorize Sita.