The Tale of King Sugriva and Queen Sutara

Gautama tells King Shrenika the story of Sugriva and Queen Sutara. Sutara, daughter of King Agnishikha of Jyotipura, a very Lakshmi in beauty and virtue, is sought both by Sugriva and by the wicked Sahasagati, son of King Chakranka and Queen Anumati, who has been maddened with desire since he first saw her.

Unsure whom to choose, Agnishikha consults the greatly learned muni Munichandra, who foretells that Sahasagati's life will be short and Sugriva's long, so Sutara is married to Sugriva and they have two sons, Anga and Angada. The shameless Sahasagati does not give up hope and goes to a forbidding cave on Mount Himavant to master the form-changing vidya called Shemushi.

Ravana sets out on his digvijaya (conquest of the directions), subduing the Vidyadhara lords and the people of the intermediate islands and restoring their realms once they accept his command, content with mere submission and loving the great kings like sons. The fierce kings of the Rakshasa and Kapi (Vanara) lines submit, and the kings of Sandhyakara, Suvela, Hemapurna, Suyodhana, Hamsadvipa, Varihalla and other islands come bearing tribute.

Marching to conquer Indra of Rathanupura, Ravana halts near Patala Lanka; woken at night by Chandranakha, his brother-in-law Kharadushana comes out, worships him with an offering of jewels and shows him 14,000 Vidyadharas who can take any form, and Ravana makes him commander of his army. Hidamba, Haihidimba, Vikata, Trijata, Hemakuta, Sujara, Tanka, Sugriva the lord of Kishkindha, Tripura, Malaya, Hemapala, Kola, Vasundara and other kings join him, until the host exceeds a thousand akshauhinis (full army divisions) and grows by the day.

Riding the Pushpaka vimana under a royal umbrella, with Indrajit, Meghanada, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana, Kharadushana, Nikumbha, Kumbha and other famed warriors, Ravana camps by the Vindhya mountains in palaces raised by vidya, and next morning reaches the Narmada, whose swift, slow and swirling currents enchant him.

Upstream, King Sahasrarashmi of Mahishmati, like a sun upon the earth, is sporting in the Narmada with thousands of women, whose sandal paste, saffron, betel and collyrium turn the water white, golden, red and dark. Ravana, having bathed, is worshipping the Arhat on a sand platform by the bank, under a canopy with vaidurya poles and pearl fringes, when the flood from Sahasrarashmi's water-machines sweeps in and disrupts his puja.

Ravana rises holding the sacred image and, told that a pleasure-loving king whose army is mere ornament is sporting there, angrily orders his kings to seize the wicked Sahasrarashmi, while he himself resumes worship with jewelled and golden flowers. As the Vidyadharas attack, voices of the gods in the sky declare it unjust for many Vidyadharas skilled in magic warfare to fight a few bhumigocharis (earth-dwelling men without vidyas), and the honourable Vidyadharas withdraw in shame.

Crowned and armoured, Sahasrarashmi charges in his chariot and drives Ravana's army back a full yojana. Ravana mounts the elephant Trailokyamandana and with a rain of arrows strips him of his chariot; fighting on from an elephant, Sahasrarashmi pierces Ravana's armour and mocks him as an archer who should first find a guru, so Ravana strikes him on the head with a spear and, as he revives from his swoon, leaps across and captures him alive.

Next morning Sahasrarashmi's father Shatabahu, now a muni with jangha-charana riddhi (the power to move through the air), comes to Ravana, who bows to the ground and seats him on a wooden throne. Recognising Ravana as a shalaka purusha (one of the great figures of the age), the muni asks for his son's release, and Ravana explains that Indra of Rathanupura killed his grandfather Mali, that the flood broke his worship and that he means to subdue the proud bhumigocharis before the Vidyadharas, as one climbs steps into a temple; with Indrajit's approval he has his minister Maricha free Sahasrarashmi.

Ravana honours Sahasrarashmi as a fourth brother to the three of them, seeks his help against Indra and offers him Svayamprabha, younger sister of Queen Mandodari. Sahasrarashmi instead condemns kingship and pleasure as fleeting as a rainbow; told that a muni's vows befit the old, he replies that death devours children, youths and the aged alike, gives his kingdom to his son, asks Ravana's forgiveness and takes Jina diksha beside his father.

Sahasrarashmi sends word to his dearest friend, King Anaranya of Ayodhya, for they had agreed that whoever renounced first would tell the other. Anaranya weeps, then praises Ravana, who came as an enemy yet freed his friend from the cage of sovereignty, hails Sahasrarashmi for crossing the ocean of samsara on the ship that was Ravana, gives the kingdom to his younger son and becomes a muni together with his elder son.