The demons barred their way, but Maruti flung them into the sea with his tail. Makardhwaja sprang forward in fury and fought Maruti, but the monkey hurled him down and sat upon his chest. Alarmed, Makardhwaja called for the patron of his cause: “If my father Maruti were here, he would kill you and save my life.”

At the naming, Maruti started, rose from Makardhwaja’s chest and demanded an account of his birth. Makardhwaja answered, “When you burned Lanka you shed sweat into the sea; my mother, a magari (alligator), swallowed it, and from that sweat I was born.” Astonished, Maruti blessed him. The magari then approached and, doubting Maruti’s identity because his form had become small, he assumed his larger form and removed her doubt.

The magari told Maruti that Ahiravana and Mahiravana — two treacherous brothers — had indeed taken Rama and Lakshman to Mahikavati in Pātāla to sacrifice them the next day. She offered to ferry Maruti and his companions in her mouth across thirteen yojans to Mahikavati. Nala, Nila, Angada and Jambavan feared being swallowed and remained; Maruti alone leapt across the sea.

He shrank to the size of an atom and slipped into the goddess’s temple. Seeing the goddess, he hid her in a drain, assumed her form, and sat upon the throne. The demons made offerings of rice, milk and butter; Maruti devoured them and feigned delight. He instructed the demons not to open the inner doors, but to make an opening in the wall and push Rama and Lakshman through so that the goddess could devour them.

Believing the deity pleased, Ahiravana and Mahiravana removed the princes’ trance and pushed them into the temple. Confronted by the goddess, Rama and Lakshman feared for their lives. They invoked, “If Maruti were here, he would save us.” Moved by pity, Maruti revealed himself and fetched their weapons and dhanushabans from Suvela. He fed them butter and the provisions he had kept for them. Then, sitting in the goddess’s place with the princes hidden behind him, he called, “Let Ahiravana come first.”

Ahiravana entered; Maruti trampled him underfoot and killed him instantly. When the demons outside delayed, Maruti burst the doors and slew many with his tail.

Mahiravana then fought fiercely. Rama and Lakshman loosed arrows that struck true, but every drop of Mahiravana’s blood produced another Mahiravana. Thus, the more they slew, the more multiplied. Rama, baffled, sought counsel. Maruti asked the magari, who referred him to Chandraseni, Ahiravana’s wife, for the secret.

Chandraseni agreed to reveal the means only if Rama would promise to marry her. Maruti gave his word. Chandraseni explained that Ahiravana had performed penance to Shiva and was blessed: every drop of Mahiravana’s blood mixed with nectar from the kundas in Pātāla would create another Mahiravana; the Bramahras — mountain-sized winged bees — sprinkled the nectar and perpetuated the demons. Maruti was told to kill the Bramahras in Pātāla.

Maruti plunged into Pātāla and slew all the Bramahras except their chief, who promised future service and was spared. Returning, Maruti told Rama to strike again; the princes extinguished the Mahiravanas at last.

Now Maruti remembered his promise to Chandraseni and feared breaking it. He confided the pledge to Rama. Rama replied, “I will not break my oath to Sita. But I will bless her.” Maruti asked Rama to visit Chandraseni that night and consummate the promise symbolically: if Rama sat on her manchaka and it bore him, the marriage would proceed; if it broke, he would not marry her.

Chandraseni prepared a stout bed. Unbeknownst to her, Maruti sent the Bramahra chief to hollow the manchaka from within so it would collapse. That evening Rama sat and the bed broke. Chandraseni cried, “Ah, monkey! This is your trick — you shall be cursed!” Alarmed, Maruti watched as Rama pacified her, promising that in another incarnation he would marry her and she would be known as Satyabhama.

When the demons were slain, Rama gave Mahikavati to Makardhwaja and returned to Suvela with Maruti and the other monkeys. 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.