Hanuman's Search for Sita
--HANUMAN—
Rama and Lakshman fought to save Sugriva’s queen,
Winning back his wife and kingdom as they pledged,
Now we, Sugriva’s loyal soldiers, scour the world
In search of sweetest Sita so she may be saved.
Taking a flying jump, I have crossed the sea
To Ravana’s royal refuge and I look and look, examining
Every hiding place and shadow for Rama’s queen.
(He flies to another level, still stage right, and looks as though into a
building.)
Is she here? These women worn from love
Scented with sweetened liquor sleep
Caressing one another. Above,
Around her instrument to keep
Its music muted, the music maker
Wraps herself around its strings,
And sleeps tonight. May I not wake her.
Golden stitches, gems, luxurious things
Bedeck these sleeping ladies in their rapture.
But where’s the fiend’s most prized and foolish capture?
(HANUMAN scurries to another place, still stage right, and looks.)
And here! More women who lately danced
Still wear the tinkling anklets as they doze.
From some, brocades and silk by chance
Fall away and here am I so close!
There are women!
Women everywhere!
What do I do?
How can I look?
Cover my eyes!
(HANUMAN flies up and across the stage landing near the audience, still stage
right.)
How do I dare
As they sleep
Peek right in?
I have no need to look for trouble
If my body runs faster than my mind.
(HANUMAN flies up to a higher level)
Wait! What am I doing?
(HANUMAN speaks directly to the audience.)
I am part of the search team for Rama’s Queen.
Some went North, and others, East.
Some went West,
(HANUMAN scurries to the edge of whatever platform he is on, teeters over the edge and
points out into the distance as he says: )
but South to the sea we marched
But Ravana’s kingdom was farther still.
Over the ocean on Lanka, across the waves
They said the palace of Ravana stands
Where he has taken many a woeful woman
Seized from sages, kings and soldiers.
(HANUMAN freezes: )
Stop! Why am I here?
As the only one able to leap through the sky,
To be little or big, I was chosen to fly
To Sita who sorrow in Ravana’s thrall
And while I am gone, they are building a tall
Rocky sea bridge from that land to this
So the army of monkeys and bears can assist
Rama and Lakshmana in their campaign
To bring Sita and Rama together again.
But
What if
I were to return
Before I found lost Sita?
Rama would die of a broken heard
And royal Regent Bharat and Lakshman, brothers
And all their wives and two Queen Mothers likewise.
I’d cause the destruction of a royal lineage;
It’s plain I can’t give up
Searching until it’s done
And Sita’s found, and
Home at last
With Rama.
So where do I look?
Where shall I go?
Birds stay with birds, and cows with each other.
Soldiers like soldiers, one mother, another.
Here in Lanka in my search for a Queen.
Of course I will look where the women have been.
(HANUMAN returns to the place where he was looking in the harem windows.)
There are women,
Women everywhere!
No fault have I,
I have to look
For Sita, joy
Of Rama’s mind.
Hooray for Rama!
Rama, Ram (Rahm), hooray!
(HANUMAN looks into the harem again.)
Oh my! Look here! Such beauty you have never seen!
Eyes with lotus-petal shape and smiling lips,
Curling lashes, shining curls around her cheeks,
A jeweled neck, jeweled ears, and arms and wrists,
Soft and curving limbs asleep in a silken bed!
She’s worthy of Rama, but wait!
(HANUMAN pulls back, turn and speaks to the audience.)
Could Sita smile
So sweetly apart from Rama? Would sleep so soundly in silk
Away from Rama? This is another queen asleep.
(HANUMAN shakes his head vigorously the way monkeys do.)
Not a willing prisoner is Sita!
In palace luxury I’ll not find her.
In dungeon or in open air perhaps.
(HANUMAN withdraws into his own thoughts.)
Next to the river her tears could have made
Beneath the blossoms where she hid her smile.
(Spotlight illumines SITA. HANUMAN moves across the stage to her as he speaks,
ending on a platform near SITA.)
Oh look! A woman forlorn! Is it Sita?
Even in velvet night and sorrow
Her face is charming as the moon.
But brighter than any jewels or silk
Is proof of fidelity to Rama.
She takes no comfort from the fiend
Or even food. Her form is wasted.
I want to shout hello to her.
(HANUMAN steps up to a platform above SITA from which he can jump down.)
But wait! I cannot frighten her.
(HANUMAN quietly approaches SITA, crouches and listens to her.)
Copyright 2000 Aikya Param
