Ram Charit Manas: The Divine Story of Lord Ram-Canto 3, Aranya Kand (ePub)

This Canto no. 3 of the Book 'Ram Charit Manas: The Divine Story of Lord Ram' is called the Aranya Kand. Here we continue reading the Story from where we have left it in the previous Canto no. 2.

One day at Chitrakoot, Indra's son Jayant assumed the form of a crow to prick Sita's feet in an attempt to test Lord Ram's abilities and powers. Lord Ram punished him by blinding him in one eye. After this incident, the Lord left Chitrakoot to move ahead in his journey through the forest. Lord Ram first met sage Atri and was blessed by him.

As the Lord entered the deeper parts of the forest, he encountered a demon named Viradh whom the Lord granted deliverance. Further on, the Lord visited sage Sarbhanga and blessed him. Meanwhile, a large number of sages accompanied Lord Ram in his journey through the forest. A little while later, the Lord met sage Sutikshan and blessed him too. Accompanied by Sutikshan, Lord Ram arrived at the hermitage of sage Agastya, who affectionately welcomed the Lord. On the sage's advice, the Lord went to Panchavati. On the way he met & established a cordial relationship with Jatau, the king of vultures.

While at Panchavati, Lord Ram teaches Laxman on certain metaphysical and spiritual principles. It was here that the female demon named Supernakha, a sister of Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, tried to tempt Lord Ram, and the Lord punished her by getting her nose and ears cut off. She asked the demon commanders Khar and Dushan to take revenge, and in the ensuing battle, they and the demon army were eliminated.

Then Supernakha went to instigate Ravana who approached his trusted aide named Marich to force the latter to become a golden deer so that Sita could be abducted by Ravana to settle scores with Lord Ram for having insulted his sister; Lord Ram confides with Sita and tells her of the necessity of concealing her real identity by taking shelter with the Fire God and leave only her shadow behind so that the Lord can accomplish his mission of eliminating the demons; Marich is finally killed by Lord Ram.

Meanwhile, Ravana assumed the form of a mendicant to abduct Sita; he was intercepted by Jatau, the vulture, who fought valiantly with him. Jatau fell down wounded when Ravana cut off his wings. Lord Ram returns to his hermitage to find Sita missing. The two brothers then start their long search for her. Lord Ram meets the wounded Jatau who tells the Lord about Ravana abducting Sita; Jatau dies in the lap of Lord Ram, and attains salvation.

Moving ahead, Lord Ram is confronted by the demon Kabandha whom the Lord provided deliverance from this mortal world. Lord Ram arrives at the hermitage of Sabari; the conversation between the two; Lord Ram outlines the nine forms of Bhakti to her; Sabari attains salvation and beatitude by dying in the presence of the Lord. On the advice of Sabari, Lord Ram and Laxman move towards lake Pampa where they are to meet Sugriv, the prince of the monkey kingdom of Kishkindha; he would assist the Lord in finding and freeing Sita from the clutches of the demons; the Lord arrives on the banks of lake Pampa to take some rest and refresh himself

Sage Narad comes to pay his obeisance to Lord Ram; the conversation between the two during which the Lord answers Narad's question as to why the Lord did not allow him to marry, and then the Lord goes on to enumerate the virtues of saints.

With this we come to the end of Canto 3, i.e. Aranya Kand of the Book 'Ram Charit Manas: The Divine Story of Lord Ram'.

We shall continue with this magnificent Story in the next Book, i.e. Canto 4, called the Kishkindha Kand, to read what happened after that.