Ravana's Nephew Shambuka Seeks the Suryahasa Sword and Dies by Lakshmana's Hand

When the rains ended and autumn came, Lakshmana, with his elder brother's leave, wandered alone through the forest and was struck by a wondrous fragrance, not of trees nor of his own body, perhaps of Sita or Rama or some god; when King Shrenika asked whose it was, Gautama began with its background. In the Samavasarana (divine assembly hall) of Ajitanatha, the second Tirthankara, the frightened Vidyadhara Meghavahana took refuge, and Mahabhima, Indra of the Rakshasa gods, graciously gave him the city of Lanka in Rakshasa island near Mount Trikutachala and revealed a secret: beneath the earth, south of Bharata-kshetra and north of the Lavana ocean, lies the gem-filled city of Alankarodaya, unknown to land-dwellers, scarcely reachable even by Vidyadharas and impregnable to enemies, called Patala Lanka, where he or his descendants could live without fear if ever threatened by foreign armies.

Gautama explained that these Lanka Vidyadharas, Ravana's ancestors, are called Rakshasas only because they dwell in Rakshasa island, but they are humans of the Kshatriya line and neither gods nor demons; the difference between gods and Vidyadharas is like that between a tilaka mark and a mountain, mud and sandal, or stone and gem, for Vidyadharas are born from the womb and fly by the power of vidyas (magical sciences) only within the two and a half continents, while gods are not womb-born, never blink or age, possess avadhi (clairvoyant) knowledge by nature and take any form they wish. From Ajitanatha's time to Munisuvrata's, many thousands of praiseworthy kings ruled Lanka in this line, some attaining liberation, some the Sarvarthasiddhi heaven, some other heavens and some, sinners, hell, and now Ravana, lord of three khandas (divisions of Bharata), reigns.

Ravana's peerless sister Chandranakha married Kharadushana, crest-jewel of 14,000 kings and a chief of Ravana's army, who lived like a guardian of the quarters in Alankarapura, Patala Lanka, and their two sons, Shambuka and Sunda, were famed as Ravana's nephews. Though his parents forbade it, Shambuka, driven by fate, entered the dreadful forest to master the Suryahasa sword, eating a single grain, celibate and master of his senses, and sat in a bamboo thicket on the north bank of the Krauncharava river in the Dandaka forest, vowing to kill anyone who entered the thicket before his rite was complete; after twelve years the sword appeared, which, if not taken up within seven days, would pass into another's hand and its seeker would be slain.

Chandranakha, who brought her son food daily, saw the sword and joyfully told her husband that Shambuka had mastered the Suryahasa and would return in three days after circling Mount Meru. Meanwhile Lakshmana, drawn by the fragrance of that god-given sword, anointed with divine scents, garlanded with flowers of the wish-granting trees and guarded by thousands of gods, came fearlessly to a level spot filled with golden lotuses amid thickets and hills, the place where Muni Vichitraratha had attained nirvana, and saw the sword hanging over the bamboo thicket, lighting it with its rays; he took it and, to test its sharpness, struck the thicket, which was cut down together with Shambuka, and the thousands of guardian gods hailed Lakshmana as their master and worshipped him.

Worried at Lakshmana's long absence, Rama asked Jatayu to fly up and look, and Sita saw him coming, smeared with saffron, garlanded and bearing a wondrous sword, like a mountain with a lion; Rama embraced him and heard everything. When Chandranakha came with food and found the thicket cut, she first thought her son had foolishly cut it himself, then saw his severed head lying with its earrings like a setting sun, fainted, and on waking lamented that twelve years and four days had passed, so why could three more days not pass, and that with the Suryahasa no foe could have stood before him, just as none stands before her brother Ravana, bearer of the Chandrahasa; she kissed the head in her lap, then, eyes red as coral, ran in fury to find the killer.

Reaching Rama and Lakshmana, she saw how handsome they were, her anger vanished and she was overcome with desire, wishing to marry whichever would take her; she sat weeping piteously under a punnaga tree until Sita, full of compassion, took her hand and brought her to Rama, and when Rama asked who she was, she claimed that her mother had died in her infancy and her father of grief, that she had wandered the Dandaka forest alone hoping to die yet no beast had eaten her, and begged them to accept her before her life ended. The brothers, their minds washed clean by the waters of scripture, looked at each other and stayed silent; sighing, she asked whether she should go, they replied that she might do as she wished, and she left in anger for her husband, while Lakshmana wondered whose daughter she could be, and Gautama observes that the wise, by the light of knowledge, abandon what is improper and do what is right.