Ravana Orders Oil-Soaked Cloth Wrapped around Hanuman's Tail
Sundara Kanda, Doha 24
Doha 24 · Movement 2 of 2
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Ravana decides that a monkey's deepest attachment lies in his tail. If the envoy cannot be killed, the court will turn that cherished limb into the site of public humiliation.
The order passes among the demons: bring cloth, soak it thoroughly in oil, bind it around the tail, and prepare the fire.
What is meant to send a mutilated servant back to Rama instead gathers the fuel of Lanka into one place. Cloth, oil, mockery, and flame are summoned by the king himself toward the body of the messenger he could not frighten.
Ravana gathers Lanka's cloth and oil around the very tail that will carry fire across his roofs.
Read the passage from the Manas
कपि कें ममता पूँछ पर सबहि कहउँ समुझाइ। तेल बोरि पट बाँधि पुनि पावक देहु लगाइ।।24।।
"A monkey's dearest possession is his tail. Let me explain this to all of you: Wrap it in oil-soaked cloth, then set it ablaze with fire."