Pañcavaṭī means the grove of five vaṭa (fig) trees. It was a forest āśrama on the banks of the Godāvarī river, where Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa settled on the direction of Agastya Muni. It is a place of great natural beauty, among five great vaṭa trees, near the sacred Godāvarī, with a pleasant and sheltered setting. Lakshmaṇa built their forest home here. Jaṭāyu met them here, and Śūrpaṇakhā came here. Most of all, Sītā was carried away by Rāvaṇa from here, after both Rāma and Lakshmaṇa had been drawn away. Pañcavaṭī is one of the most sacred places in the Rāmāyaṇa pilgrimage tradition. It is identified with a place in the Nashik region of Maharashtra.

Agastya’s direction

Rāma received the divine weapons from Agastya Muni at his āśrama. Then he asked the great ṛshi where he should make his forest home. Agastya sent him to Pañcavaṭī, which he called auspicious, beautiful and well suited to forest life. It lay not far to the north of Agastya’s āśrama, on the banks of the Godāvarī. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, chapter 13.

The setting

Pañcavaṭī was a grove marked by five great vaṭa trees, and it took its name from them. The Godāvarī flowed close by. Its sacred water was there for daily bathing, for ritual offerings and for the plain needs of forest life. The land was beautiful, with flowering trees, the song of birds and water near at hand. In this grove Lakshmaṇa built a leaf-roofed āśrama, a well-made forest home with rooms for all three, fit for the dignity of Rāma and Sītā even in exile. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, chapter 15.

Jaṭāyu meets Rāma

At Pañcavaṭī the great eagle Jaṭāyu first met Rāma. He came before them and told them who he was: son of Aruṇa, grandson of Vinatā and great-grandson of Kaśyapa. He said he was a friend of Daśaratha and offered to guard Sītā. Rāma received him with the love of a son and with joy. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, chapter 14.

The main events at Pañcavaṭī

All the events that turned Rāma’s exile from a quiet life in the forest into the crisis of the Rāmāyaṇa took place here:

Śūrpaṇakhā came, and her nose and ears were cut off.
Mārīca was sent as the golden deer from near this place.
Sītā was drawn to the golden deer, and Rāma went after it.
Sītā made Lakshmaṇa go.
Rāvaṇa came dressed as a bhikshu (a wandering beggar).
Sītā was carried away from this āśrama.

Afterwards Rāma came back and found Sītā gone. He wept in grief, a viraha-vilāpa (the lament of separation), in these places he knew so well and which were now empty. The closeness of the place made his grief sharper. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, chapters 15 to 64.

Pañcavaṭī in the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa

The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, in its Araṇya Kāṇḍa, tells of several events at Pañcavaṭī.

Meeting Jaṭāyu. Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa came to Pañcavaṭī on Agastya’s direction and met Jaṭāyu there. Jaṭāyu named himself as Daśaratha’s dear friend and offered to guard Sītā. Rāma received him with the love of a son for a father.

Lakshmaṇa’s questions on māyā. After the āśrama was built, Lakshmaṇa came to Rāma one day and asked about the nature of māyā: what is vidyā, what is avidyā, what is jñāna and what is vairāgya. Rāma gave a full teaching at Pañcavaṭī. He taught māyā as ahaṃkāra and mamakāra (the sense of “I” and “mine”), vidyā and avidyā, the bond between the jīva and Brahma as that of a reflection (pratibimba) to its source, the nature of jñāna and vairāgya, and bhakti as the crown of them all.

Navadhā bhakti at Pañcavaṭī. In this same teaching, or in a separate one at Pañcavaṭī, Rāma gave Lakshmaṇa the teaching on navadhā bhakti, the nine modes of devotion by which a devotee comes near to Bhagavān Rāma. This is the first time the navadhā bhakti teaching is given in the Araṇya Kāṇḍa. Rāma gives it a second time to Śabarī at the Mataṅga āśrama.

The Sītā-Chāyā arrangement. The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa tells of a secret arrangement made at Pañcavaṭī before the abduction. Rāma privately told the real Sītā to enter Agni and leave behind only her chāyā-rūpa (shadow form). Even Lakshmaṇa did not know this. So the Sītā who dealt with the golden deer, who met Rāvaṇa and who was carried to Laṅkā was the shadow form, and not Devī Sītā herself.

A sacred place today

Pañcavaṭī is identified with a place in the Nashik region of Maharashtra, on the Godāvarī. It remains one of the chief sacred places of the Rāmāyaṇa. Pilgrims come to honour the memory of the years that Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa spent there.

Sources

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, chapters 13–15, and the main events of the Kāṇḍa generally (chapters 15–64)
Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇya Kāṇḍa