September 6 - Sargas 6 and 7 of Kishkindha Kanda.
A very touching scene is witnessed when Sugriva brings out Sita's ornaments wrapped in her cloth that Sita strategically dropped for the vanaras to retrieve. She was then also crying out for Sri Rama and Lakshmana. She was writhing in the clutches of a rakshasa travelling southward aerially.
Sri Rama is inconsolable with grief. Lakshmana confirms his assessment that they are indeed Sita's ornaments.
Sugriva asks Sri Rama not to succumb to such grief but look ahead. He promises to bring Sita from wherever she may have been hidden away. Sri Rama recovers his composure and promises to do his part without fail - of getting rid of Vali.
***
Sugriva recounts all that he has heard from Hanuman, commiserating with Sri Rama about the sequence of events that led to a rakshasa's abducting Sita. He also narrates that a curious event had occurred when they saw a lady being carried away by force by a terrible looking rakshasa aerially. She was screaming in distress, "Oh Rama, come and save me! Oh Lakshmana, come and save me!" She saw the five vanaras sitting together on top of Rishamukha. She then carefully removed her gold ornaments and wrapped them in her upper silk cloth and dropped them to be picked up by the vanaras. Sugriva has kept the bundle safe and goes inside the cave and brings it out for an anxious Sri Rama to see.
Sri Rama bursts into a torrent of tears and collapses as he hugs and kisses the ornaments and the cloth. He is inconsolable as he keeps sighing Sita's name. Sugriva, Lakshmana and Hanuman are all very distressed to see the effect on Sri Rama of the sight of those ornaments and cloth that belong to Sita.
Sri Rama remarks to Lakshmana that Sita had done such a splendid job of wrapping the ornaments in her cloth and safely dropping the bundle over a patch of soft grass so it will remain undamaged. She made sure that the vanaras noticed her act and would retrieve her ornaments. Perhaps one day Sri Rama would see them.
When Lakshmana is asked by Sri Rama to independently identify the ornaments, he says these famous words:
नाहं जानामि केयूरे नाहं जानामि कुण्डले ।
नूपुरे त्वभिजानामि नित्यं पादाभिवन्दनात् ॥
"Dear brother, I am sorry, I do not recognize the armlets and the earrings of Sita. I never saw them. I did of course notice her anklets as I bowed down to her feet every day. They are indeed hers."
The implication here is that Lakshmana was a model of good behaviour (towards another's wife). He had only total devotion to his elder brother's wife. Therefore he never set his eyes on her person in the thirteen years of the exile! He only saw her feet.
As Sri Rama goes to pieces crying for Sita, between sobs, he also vows that he will destroy the entire rakshasa clan for this terrible act of abducting his beloved wife.
***
Sugriva finds this lamentation a bit alarming. In fact a lot of work is ahead - Vali's destruction, and the search for Sita, and perhaps a big war to be fought with rakshasas. He tells Sri Rama that such grief is unbecoming of a great man like Sri Rama. Even Sugriva has lost his wife but he has held his composure. He also tells Sri Rama pithily:
व्यसने वार्थकृच्छ्रे वा भये वा जीवितान्तगे ।
विमृशंश्च स्वया बुद्ध्या धृतिमान् नावसीदति ॥
बालिशस्तु नरो नित्यं वैक्लव्यं योऽनुवर्तते ।
स मज्जत्यवशः शोके भाराक्रान्तेव नौजले ॥
"Dear Rama, either in great grief, or loss of wealth, or some occasion for extreme fear, or even on the verge of one's death, a man of self-assurance and forbearance applies his intellect and holds himself together, without being destroyed by emotion.
"Indeed, someone who is childish and easily drowns in grief is like an overloaded boat that sinks into the water with no resistance."
Surgiva tempers these words by adding that he is only a monkey and is a nobody to give advice to a wise and noble prince like Rama. But he reminds Sri Rama that even his own wife has been taken away by Vali but he is holding himself together much better.
Sugriva also says with great conviction and confidence that he will go and hunt down the culprit and surely bring back Sita. He says that as yet, he does not know the whereabouts of Ravana but will put in the effort to discover his whereabouts and where he has hidden Sita.
Commentators are at a loss to explain why Sugriva says this, because later on while sending out the vanara army in search of Sita, he displays a deep knowledge of Lanka and Ravana's domain. My own conjecture is that Surgiva did not choose this moment to say all that he knew (remember how Kabandha has praised Sugriva's encyclopedic knowledge of terrains and people around the world).
Sri Rama wipes away his tears with a corner of his upper garment. He thanks Sugriva for his advice and reassurance. He then volunteers that he will keep his promise too, verbatim, as he has never thus far, and nor will, in future, ever tell a lie. In fact, Sri Rama takes a vow.
मया च यदिदं वाक्यमभिमानात् समीरितम् ।
तत्त्वया हरिशार्दूल तत्त्वमित्युपधार्यताम् ॥
"Dear Sugriva, what I have spoken now is not a mere boast or words springing from over-self-confidence. Indeed, please take my words as the essential truth of what is going to be done for you."
Surgiva is very happy within himself that Sri Rama is going to end his troubles.
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
