Our story begins at a dark beginning of the great adventure. Lord Rama has been expelled from his rightful kingdom of Ayodhya, due to a political manipulation of the wife of King Dasaratha, who favored the rule of her own son, King Bharata, over the rightful rule of the brother he loved, Lord Ramachandra. To avoid offense to his mother and to obey her wishes, Lord Rama agreed to live in exile, taking his consort, Srimati Sitadevi, and Lord Laksmana with Him.
The entire Kingdom of Ayodhya followed Lord Rama into exile, including King Bharata, who did not want to continue life without the presence of Lord Rama, but Rama tricked them into returning home, and King Bharata agreed only on the condition that he not sit on the throne, rather have the sandals of Rama rule the kingdom. As Rama gave up his royal dress, and wrapped himself in bark and simple cloth of the feral humans of the forest, the males of Ayodhya did the same. The women, however, continued to dress in fine cloth, as Sitadevi continued to do so as well.
As the three forged deeper into the forest, the glorious metropolis of Ayodhya became a distant memory. The branches of the rain forest hid the sun so completely that it seemed that Suryadeva Himself had given up his life in separation. As Rama and Laksmana hacked away at the dense growth, they heard strange cries that were not from any animal. Out of nowhere, a tiny, well formed man appeared before them like a comet falling from the sky.
His skin was like molten gold, his green hair hung loose in mats, weaved with beautiful flowers, wooden beads amd hardened forest nuts. He wore garlands of tiger and jackal teeth, precious gems and other articles. His upper body had many tattoos of various design, and for clothing, he only wore a loincloth. He was heavily armed with many weapons, arrows, spears, long bows, and other very sharp throwing darts.
Shiny white teeth greeted them, as the little man roared, "The sons of my friend King Dasaratha have finally come to visit me. I have not seen you since you were infants. Have you finally educated yourselves sufficiently to know that the big city is nothing but ignorance and pain for all beings? How may I be of service to you?"
Lord Rama smiled and greeted him warmly. "My friend Guha the Hunter, we have not seen you since the leaders of our society kicked you out for good. I remember that you used to visit us, bringing us forest trinkets and funny little musical instruments you could make on the spot. We remember that you loved our Father, but had very little use of anyone else, always getting into trouble for your uncivilized ways."
Guha replied, "I was a soldier for King Dasaratha for tens of thousands of years, and we fought many battles together. Soldiers always understand each other, but those who we die for never can understand. Who is that hiding behind you, Laksmana? She is unable to hide from a hunter king, because she is like the rising of ten- thousand suns at once. She can be none other than the goddess of fortune."
Srimati Sitadevi showed Herself, bowing gently to Her host. Guha was so happy to be graced by the three exiles that he made them a home in his forest. Taking Sitadevi by the hand, he led them to a wonderful forest hut made from grasses which kept the living space both cool and warm, depending on the comfort desire of the Three Exiles. He at once by mystic powers made his kingdom appear out of nowhere, cooks, storytellers, artisans and musicians all created an immediate festive scene. He personally prepared them a feast of forest foods, nuts, juices, legumes, all very wonderfully spiced. The exiles lived in guhas kingdom for over a year, and their happiness was greatly enhanced by Guhas brash sense of humor, his disdain for society, his political outspokenness, and of course, his music abilities.
One evening, the subject of religion came up in their campfire discussion, and Guha told him of how Lord Siva personally appeared to him, asking him to take whatever gift he wanted from the Ascetic God above all other gods. His story went like this:
"They say that the brahmana class is perfect and favored by God, but I find them to be great hypocrites. They expect all this service while they go around thinking that all others are sub-human. Well, I certainly dont care for them or their gods. A bunch of them were worshipping this statue in a clearing in My jungle, and when I asked them to at least ask permission of the owner, they threatened to curse me to become a jackal. I walked away from them, not caring for their attitude, but I was not going to let them get away with that."
"So they had this statue, and they carefully placed beautiful flowers each day and sang "om Sivaya Namah" over and over again, while I watched them from a tree. Each night when they left, I not only messed up their altar, I kicked their Lord Siva in the head. For three hundred years I did this, generation after generation of these brahmanas did their religious duty, and I did my duty as well, and kicked the statue as I left ."
One year, the monsoon hit very hard, and their temple with their statue became submerged, and the river changed its course. These brahmanas finally left my kingdom, and my people were greatly relieved. But my duty was still going on. Each evening, I grabbed a long, hollow reed, wore a garland of heavy stones, and walked under the raging river to kick the God in the head. I did this without fail for the next three huindred years, and, lo and behold, one night, the statue was gone. I felt a bit disturbed, and I felt something missing from my life, so I sat aside the river, somewhat dejected. I was soon startled by another hunter, a very tall man with ashes all over him, the moon and stars were coming from the crown of his matted hair. He wore a garland of human skulls, and his throat was purple. He rode up to me on a Bull, dismounted, and bowed to me, asking me to take from him whatever I wanted."
"I told him I already have everything, but someone removed the statue that I loved to kick in the head. With a grave voice, he responded, "I am known as Nataraja, the dancer. Those who think they know how to worship me have abandoned me, all but one. Never have I experianced such steadfast devotion as you have shown me. Your determination is beyond anything in the three worlds, and I have decided that I should be your servant. Since you ask for nothing but continued devotion, I shall satisfy this desire. You will surpass all imaginary brahmanical qualifications and attain much more than religion can even promise.""
Guha finished the story by singing about the great wars fought in the company of great generals such as King Dasaratha, Jatayu, Mucukunda and other earthly beings always called on by the gods when the demons seem to overtake them.
One day, Laksmana, and Lord Rama and Srimati Sitadevi were compelled to leave. They had felt that their promise of exile was jeopardized by living so lavishly in Guha's kingdom. Guha was very sad to see them go, but was relieved when they promised to return. He presented many beautiful silken threads and beads, bracelets, jewel garlands and trinkets to Srimati Sitadevi, who was the saddest of all to be leaving such a devoted friend.
These gifts to Srimati Sitadevi are the greatest gifts to Lord Rama, for later, while she was being whisked away by the heinous ravanasura, she was covertly dropping these beads and trinkets to leave a trail for Rama and Laksmana to follow, to the kingdom of Lanka of the Waves. Two of these bracelets were retrieved by Sri Hanumana and Angira, and allowed them to see where she was imprisoned in the grove of the demon king's palace.
return to Jatayu