Rama's Ring Falls like an Ember from the Ashoka Tree
Sundara Kanda, Doha 12
Doha 12 · Movement 2 of 2
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Hanuman considers the moment within his heart. Speech from an unseen stranger could deepen fear, but Sita has asked the Ashoka tree itself to give her fire.
From the branches he drops Rama's signet ring. It falls through the leaves like the ember she requested, small, bright, and carrying the name of the absent Lord.
Sita rises with joy and takes it in her hands. What she reached for as an ending arrives instead as a token of life, crossing from Hanuman's concealment into the palms that had nearly chosen the pyre.
Sita asks the tree for an ember, and the tree releases the ring of Rama.
Read the passage from the Manas
कपि करि हृदयँ बिचार दीन्हि मुद्रिका डारी तब। जनु असोक अंगार दीन्हि हरषि उठि कर गहेउ।।12।।
The monkey pondered deeply in his heart, then dropped the ring down as a token. As though the Ashoka tree had offered its ember, Sita rose joyfully and grasped it in her hands.