Ravana, having been acquainted with this news, imploringly said to Brahmadev, “You see, Indrajit is in difficulty. If you personally go there, you will be able to ensnare the monkey. I therefore beseech you to do this work for me.”

Whereupon Brahmadev went near the cave, when Indrajit hung his head down with shame and said, “Unless you catch hold of the monkey, I cannot venture to come out of the cave.”

Brahmadev then put upon Maruti the Brahma-pasha, a complicated snare. Maruti could have broken it in a minute, but he allowed himself to be caught and carried to the court of Ravana.

Indrajit went and vainly told his father that it was he who had caught the monkey. Maruti made a coil of his tail higher than the throne of Ravana and sat upon it. The demon-king indignantly asked, “Who are you, and what is the name of your master?”

“You are a rogue,” replied Maruti. “Do you know who I am? I am a servant of that prince who once saved your life at the court of Janak and who cut off the nose of your sister. You are a great villain. You have carried off his wife, Sita. I am sent by my master to ascertain whether she is here. My master will shortly invade Lanka and, cutting off your ten faces, will return to Ayodhya with Sita.”

At these words Ravana was greatly insulted and ordered the demons to cut off the tongue, nose, ears, and tail of the monkey. In obedience to the order, the demons brought weapons of various sorts and began to pierce him with them; but nothing could be done to him, as his body was made of vajra — diamond-hard. Ravana was alarmed and did not know what to do.

At last he asked the monkey by what means he would die.

“I am immortal,” replied Maruti, “but if you cover my tail with cloth soaked in oil and set fire to it, I shall be immediately burnt to death. Do not leave any part of my tail uncovered, and if you do so, nothing can be done to me.”

Whereupon Ravana ordered his servants to cover his tail with cloth. All the demons brought innumerable heaps of cloth soaked in oil and began to wrap the monkey’s tail with them; but the more they covered it, the more he lengthened it, and consequently a part of it always remained uncovered. All the cloth in Lanka was finished and all the oil exhausted.

At last Ravana ordered his servants to go to the Asoka forest and fetch the dress of Sita. Then Maruti shortened his tail and allowed it to be entirely covered. The demons began to set fire to the tail, but they failed to light it.

Maruti said, “If Ravana himself blows the fire, it will catch my tail, and I shall be immediately burnt to death.”

Ravana accordingly blew the fire, and the tail of the monkey was lighted. While he was blowing the fire, it caught his beard, and his mustaches on one side were entirely burnt. He covered his face with a handkerchief and retired to his chamber.

Maruti rolled on the ground and burnt the beards and mustaches of the demons and the hair of the demonesses with his flaming tail. He burnt many of them to death, and in a short time one-third of Lanka was on fire.

After burning Lanka, the monkey went to the Asoka forest and assured Sita that her husband would take her away very soon. Thence he returned to Rama at the Pampa Sarovar with her ornament as a token, and with a letter from Brahmadev to the prince stating what the monkey had done in Lanka, and that one-third of the country burnt by him had become gold.

Rama and Lakshman were very glad to read the contents of the letter and expressed their thanks to Maruti for the trouble he had taken for them.

The story of how Lanka became gold is as follows*:

Two Brahmans, who were brothers, always quarrelled about the dakshina — the offerings they received from their patrons. Their father became indignant at their conduct and cursed them, saying that they would become animals, but that the god Krishna would release them from the curse. One brother was transformed into a nakra (crocodile) and the other into a gajendra (elephant). The nakra lived in the water and the gajendra on a mountain.

One day the gajendra accidentally came to the lake where the nakra lived; and while drinking water, the latter dragged him into the lake. A severe fight took place between them. The nakra wounded the gajendra and was about to kill him, when the latter prayed to Krishna for help. The god, listening to his prayer, rode on Garuda and hastened to the lake. Finding that his devotee, the gajendra, was wounded by the nakra, Krishna killed the crocodile and released both from the curse.

After releasing them, Krishna prepared to return to Dwarka, when Garuda said to him, “I am very hungry. Please therefore give me something to eat.”

“I shall postpone my departure for an hour or so,” replied Krishna, “and in the meantime you can eat the corpses of the nakra and gajendra.”

Whereupon Garuda picked up the corpses with his bill and sat on a tree called Jambuvraksha to eat them. But the branch of the tree on which he sat broke under his weight, and he saw that millions of Rishis were seated in meditation upon the leaves of the branch.

To prevent the branch from falling and killing the Rishis, Garuda firmly held it in his bill. Not knowing where to place it, he went to his father, Kasyapa, a Rishi, and informed him of his difficulty. Kasyapa requested the Rishis to come down, and they complied with his request.

He then told Garuda to leave the branch on a mountain at Lanka. Garuda accordingly did so and went away. The branch remained on the mountain and was converted into gold; and when Maruti burnt Lanka, it was melted by the heat of the fire, and the liquid overflowed the part of Lanka which was burnt by the monkey. Until next time, Jai Shree Ram!

|| OM SAI SHRI SAI JAI JAI SAI || 

|| SHRI SATCHIDANANDA SADGURU SAINATH MAHARAJ KI JAI ||

Note: This narration is based on Ramavijaya: The Mythological History of Rama (Bombay, 1891, Dubhashi & Co.), a public domain text shared here for free reading.

*The “tail-fire leading to Lanka’s gold” story is unique to this text — an interpolation blending Gajendra Mokshafrom the Bhagavata Purana with regional cosmology, symbolising divine transmutation through tapas and destruction.