The Story of Balikhilya

Near Nalakuvara, Lakshmana went to a lake for water, where a handsome young ‘prince’ who ruled the city had come on a fine elephant to amuse himself; enchanted, the prince sent a servant to invite him, took his hand, led him into a cloth pavilion and seated him on the same seat. Told that Lakshmana must first see to his elder brother, the prince had a feast prepared, rice, dal and many dishes with fresh ghee and camphor, milk, curd, drinks, sweet laddus and puris, with clothes, ornaments and garlands, and sent his doorkeeper to invite Rama and Sita into the cool shade of the pavilion.

Rama came with Sita like the moon with moonlight; the young ruler rose to meet them, performed arati (waving of lamps), offered argha (water of welcome) and, after they had bathed and eaten, sent everyone away, saying the guests had brought secret news from his father and posting vassals at the door with orders to kill any intruder. Alone with Rama, Lakshmana and Sita, the ‘prince’ cast off the disguise and stood revealed as a radiant princess, like a goddess or a Nagakumari, who bowed at Sita's feet and sat beside her, and Lakshmana was smitten.

Asked by Rama, she told her story: her father Balikhilya, king of this city, a compassionate householder with vows and a vassal of Simhodara, was captured in a great war with the lord of the mlecchas while his queen Prithvi was carrying her; Simhodara decreed that if a son were born he would rule, so when a daughter came the minister Subuddhi proclaimed her a son, named her Kalyanamala and held a great birth festival, and only her mother and the minister knew the truth. Her father still languished as a captive, the mlecchas took all the kingdom's revenue, Simhodara could not free him and her mother burned in grief; as she wept, Sita took her on her lap and washed her face, and Lakshmana promised that if she kept ruling in disguise she would soon see the mleccha captured and her father free.

After three days as honoured guests, Rama, Lakshmana and Sita slipped away by night; Kalyanamala woke to find them gone, lamented that they had stolen her heart while she slept, and rode back to the city on her elephant, still dressed as a man. Pleased by her courtesy, the exiles crossed the Mekala river and many lands to reach the Vindhya forest, ablaze with a forest fire, ignoring cowherds who warned that it was no place for them.

Sita read the omens, a crow on a thorny tree to the left foretelling strife and another on a milky tree foretelling victory, so they waited a muhurta (a short while) and then met the mleccha army, which fled in all directions; armoured mlecchas who came back were beaten as if in play, and when the meat-eating Kakonada mlecchas, invincible even to kings, swept in like dark clouds, the mere sight of Lakshmana's drawn bow sent them stumbling into the woods like the blind. Their fearsome chief came down from his chariot and fell at the brothers' feet, saying he was Raudrabhuta, son of the fire-priest Vishvanala and his wife Pratisankhya of Kaushambi, a gambler and cruel thief from boyhood who, saved from impalement by a merciful man, had fled and by his karma become lord of the mlecchas, unbeaten by great kings until he saw them, and he offered them the rich Vindhya country to rule as his masters.

Rama bade him rise without fear, release Balikhilya at once, serve him as an obedient minister, give up mleccha ways and sin and protect the land; Raudrabhuta freed Balikhilya, son of Maharatha, massaged, bathed, fed and adorned him and set him in a chariot, and Balikhilya, fearing he was being readied as someone's offering, rejoiced to find Rama and Lakshmana and bowed to them. Sent home by Rama, he returned to his city with Raudrabhuta; Kalyanamala came out in great splendour to meet him, he embraced his ‘son’, his queen's wasted body bloomed again, Simhodara and all his well-wishers rejoiced, and everyone marvelled that a princess had ruled so long as a man.

Gautama tells Shrenika that by Rama's power Raudrabhuta, once the thorn of many lands, became Balikhilya's obedient servant, and that with the mleccha lands now under Balikhilya, even Simhodara grew wary and treated him with affection and honour. Balikhilya shone like the autumn sun and enjoyed royal pleasures with his queen, knowing that merit and the company of great men had freed him from his enemies and restored his kingdom.