Mūlakāsura Vadha

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells of Mūlakāsura, a powerful asura who rose during Rāmarājya, the reign of Bhagavān Rāma. He was not a leftover of Rāvaṇa’s power. He was a new and separate force of adharma that came to trouble the order of the world even in Rāma’s time. He was not destroyed by Rāma himself but by Chāyā-Sītā, the shadow-form of Sītā, using the Caṇḍikāstra.

Mūlakāsura’s origin

The story of Mūlakāsura begins in Chapter 4 of the Rājya Khaṇḍa, which gives his background.

Nidrā-Devī

Nidrā-Devī, the devī of sleep, appears in Chapter 4 in connection with the events around the asura. Her presence shows higher powers moving even in the household life of Rāmarājya, in the palace at Ayodhyā.

The making of Chāyā-Sītā

When the threat from Mūlakāsura grew pressing, it was decided that Sītā must go to Laṅkā to face the asura. But she could not be away from Ayodhyā without upsetting the dharma of Rāma’s household. The answer was to make Chāyā-Sītā, a shadow-form or māyā-form of Sītā. She would stay in Ayodhyā in Sītā’s place while the real Sītā went secretly to Laṅkā.

Chapter 5 describes Sītā’s deep viraha (longing) and her inner state on this journey. The making of Chāyā-Sītā recalls the Chāyā-Sītā of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa at the time of the abduction. There it protected Sītā from Rāvaṇa’s touch. Here it is a divine arrangement that lets Sītā carry out her own mission of destroying the asura.

The destruction of Mūlakāsura

In Chapter 6, Chāyā-Sītā takes up the Caṇḍikāstra, the weapon of Caṇḍikā, a form of the Devī, and destroys Mūlakāsura. The asura falls before this weapon, which carries the combined śakti (power) of Mahālakshmī and the fierce form of the Devī. In this account Sītā is Mahālakshmī, the Śakti through whom even the most fearful asuric powers are destroyed.

Mūlakāsura is destroyed by the power of the Devī, not by Rāma’s own weapons. Rāma later visits Laṅkā, where the death of the asura is confirmed and Sītā’s supreme power is shown.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Rājya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4 (Mūlakāsura’s background; Nidrā-Devī)
• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Rājya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5 (Sītā’s viraha; the making of Chāyā-Sītā)
• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Rājya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 6 (the destruction of Mūlakāsura by the Caṇḍikāstra)