Sita looked longingly at the mesmeric charm of the beast. She called out to Rama and Lakshmana. Lakshmana came, he saw and he knew it to be Maricha! "This animal is no deer" he said. "Unique and exotic, it is an illusion born out of the magic of the rakshasa known as Maricha. Many are his guises and many the royal hunters who have been beguiled and slain by him. Nowhere on earth does a fawn like this exist. Myriad are the beautiful creatures that roam these woods, but I have yet to see one so bewitching. This matchless creature surpasses the beauty of them all". Sita seemed oblivious of what Lakshmana had said. She gazed like one hypnotized at a vision that had stolen her heart. Real or unreal, she wanted to possess it. "What beauty! What radiance! What splendor!" she exclaimed, "This nimble animal, with its graceful limbs fascinates me. If you can capture it alive, it will be an object of great wonder here at the hermitage, and when the exile ends it will adorn the palace of the queens at Ayodhya. Even if it cannot be captured alive, its skin will suffice. I do crave pardon for my wanton demand, as it does not befit a lady to ask so freely of her lord. Such eagerness may not be decorous." The phantom deer seemed to capture even Rama's attention for he looked at it with wonder and fell into the trap that destiny had lain. "Look Lakshmana" he said, "Look at this marvel that Sita craves. We may never find another like this again. Neither Indra's Nandanavana nor Kubera's Chaitraratha can boast of one like this, much less the earth. But if this is the magic of Maricha it is all the more imperative that I kill him, for many have suffered his merciless torment. Defying me if Maricha still wants to war he shall perish like Vatapi. Guard Sita expecting trouble and danger at all times from all directions," warned Rama repeatedly before leaving in pursuit of the elusive animal. A captive of the mysterious deer that stood so tantalizingly before her, Sita did not know then, how well Ravana's ploy had worked!
Summary
Sita looked longingly at the mesmeric charm of the beast. She called out to Rama and Lakshmana. Lakshmana came, he saw and he knew it to be Maricha! "This animal is no deer" he said. "Unique and exotic, it is an illusion born out of the magic of the rakshasa known as Maricha. Many are his guises and many the royal hunters who have been beguiled and slain by him. Nowhere on earth does a fawn like this exist. Myriad are the beautiful creatures that roam these woods, but I have yet to see one so bewitching. This matchless creature surpasses the beauty of them all". Sita seemed oblivious of what Lakshmana had said. She gazed like one hypnotized at a vision that had stolen her heart. Real or unreal, she wanted to possess it. "What beauty! What radiance! What splendor!" she exclaimed, "This nimble animal, with its graceful limbs fascinates me. If you can capture it alive, it will be an object of great wonder here at the hermitage, and when the exile ends it will adorn the palace of the queens at Ayodhya. Even if it cannot be captured alive, its skin will suffice. I do crave pardon for my wanton demand, as it does not befit a lady to ask so freely of her lord. Such eagerness may not be decorous." The phantom deer seemed to capture even Rama's attention for he looked at it with wonder and fell into the trap that destiny had lain. "Look Lakshmana" he said, "Look at this marvel that Sita craves. We may never find another like this again. Neither Indra's Nandanavana nor Kubera's Chaitraratha can boast of one like this, much less the earth. But if this is the magic of Maricha it is all the more imperative that I kill him, for many have suffered his merciless torment. Defying me if Maricha still wants to war he shall perish like Vatapi. Guard Sita expecting trouble and danger at all times from all directions," warned Rama repeatedly before leaving in pursuit of the elusive animal. A captive of the mysterious deer that stood so tantalizingly before her, Sita did not know then, how well Ravana's ploy had worked!