Cūḍāmaṇi Pradānam

When Hanumān came back to Kishkindhā and stood before Bhagavān Rāma, he gave him Sītā’s Cūḍāmaṇi. This was one of the most charged moments of the Sundara Kāṇḍa. The Cūḍāmaṇi is the crest-jewel worn on the head. It was a sign that Sītā was alive and that Hanumān had met her. Bhagavān Rāma took it and was filled with grief and joy together. He praised Hanumān and said that no gift in return could equal what Hanumān had given him.

The jewel’s history

The Cūḍāmaṇi was not an ordinary ornament. Indra had given it to Janaka as a mark of honour. Janaka gave it to Sītā at her marriage to Bhagavān Rāma and placed it on her head at that holy time. Sītā had worn it every day since then. So the jewel carried the blessings of Indra, her father’s love and the memory of her wedding day. To bring it to Bhagavān Rāma was to bring him the closest sign of Sītā herself.

The presentation

The joy of the vānaras (the forest-dwellers of Kishkindhā) had settled, and the full reunion at Mahendra had been celebrated. Then Hanumān went to Kishkindhā with the search party. He stood before Bhagavān Rāma and Lakshmaṇa and told them the account of his mission. At the right moment he took out the Cūḍāmaṇi and placed it in Bhagavān Rāma’s hands. He gave Sītā’s words with it. She had sent the jewel as proof and as a message: she was alive, she remembered, and she waited.

Rāma’s grief and joy

The moment the jewel touched his hands, Bhagavān Rāma lost his calm. He held the Cūḍāmaṇi to his chest and wept. He said to Sugrīva:

“Her father Janaka gave this jewel to Sītā. When I see it, I feel that I am seeing Janaka himself, and Sītā’s mother, and Sītā on her wedding day. It was always on Sītā’s head. I cannot bear to hold it in my hands without Sītā. And yet I know that she is alive and that Hanumān has seen her, and I cannot hold back my joy. I feel both at once, and one does not cancel the other.”

Bhagavān Rāma praised Hanumān in very full words. He said that nothing one could think of could repay what Hanumān had done: not the three worlds, not all wealth, not any kingdom. Hanumān had given back to him the knowledge that Sītā lived. The only gift that could weigh the same was Hanumān’s own life. So Bhagavān Rāma embraced him instead.

The need to return

Even in the middle of this grief and joy, Bhagavān Rāma’s mind turned at once to action. The jewel was a comfort, and it was also a call. Sītā had sent a message of urgency with it. Bhagavān Rāma asked Hanumān to tell him everything: how Sītā’s health was, what she said, what was in her mind and how she spent her days. He needed every detail before he could plan her rescue.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 66