Māyā Sītā Vadha (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa)

During the Laṅkā war, Indrājit, the son of Rāvaṇa, made a perfect false image of Sītā by māyā (illusion) and seemed to slay her before the eyes of Hanumān and the vānara army. He did this to break the will of the vānaras to fight and to plunge Śrī Rāma into grief. The sight pained Hanumān deeply and left the vānaras in despair. Vibhīshaṇa then showed that it was only māyā.

The making of Māyā Sītā

Indrājit had launched the brahmāstra against Rāma and Lakshmaṇa in his second great fight, and they lay unconscious again. Before he went to Nikumbhilā to do the homa (fire offering) that comes before battle, for his third and last attack, he made a māyā Sītā. He used his skill in rākshasa illusion.

It was a perfect likeness of Sītā. She was covered in dust, wore the same worn clothes, and had the same look of sorrow and longing that Hanumān had seen when he secretly visited Sītā in the Aśoka grove. Indrājit seated this false Sītā in his chariot and rode to the place where Hanumān and the vānara forces stood.

Hanumān’s grief

Hanumān had seen Sītā in Laṅkā on his mission in the Sundara Kāṇḍa. Now he saw the māyā Sītā in Indrājit’s chariot, covered in dust, weeping and calling “Rāma! Rāma!” The likeness was so perfect that even Hanumān was fooled for a moment. He wept. He thought: “This greatest of sādhvīs (virtuous women), away from her home, her handmaids and her husband, alone, and now this rākshasa drags her by the hair!”

He called out in anger to Indrājit: “You were born in the family of brahmarshis, yet your birth is from a rākshasī. Because of this you do a deed that will bring your own end. No man who has killed a woman (strī-hatyā) can escape the narakas. You are already as good as dead!”

The false slaying

Indrājit answered with scorn: “I will kill her here, before your eyes, so that everything Rāma’s army came to win is turned to ash. After I kill this Sītā, I will kill Rāma, Lakshmaṇa, you and Sugrīva.” He seized the māyā Sītā by the hair, drew his sword and cut her down.

The false Sītā fell, seemingly dead. Indrājit laughed loudly and left for Nikumbhilā to do his homa.

Hanumān’s despair

The vānara army fell into panic and ran in every direction. Hanumān was struck with grief and believed that the real Sītā had been killed. He gathered the troops who were left and went back to Śrī Rāma to report. He said: “In front of all of us, Indrājit seized Sītā Devī, the honoured wife of Śrī Rāma, by the hair and slew her. I saw it myself.”

Śrī Rāma heard this and fell to the ground like a felled tree. The vānaras around him rushed to him and sprinkled fragrant water over him. Lakshmaṇa held him and spoke words of comfort and dharma-upadeśa (teaching of dharma): “O Rāghava! Do not grieve. Even if this is true, the cause of dharma does not die. Rāvaṇa can be slain all the same. Let us turn our grief into action.”

Vibhīshaṇa’s revelation

Vibhīshaṇa came to the place and at once understood what had happened. He knew rākshasa māyā and saw through Indrājit’s illusion. He told Rāma and the vānaras with certainty: “This was māyā. The real Sītā has not been harmed. Indrājit cannot kill Sītā. Rāvaṇa would never allow it, and the śāpa-power (the power of a curse) of her pativratā dharma protects her fully. What you saw was a thing made by rākshasa illusion.”

He went on: “Indrājit has gone to Nikumbhilā to finish his homa before battle. This is the moment we have been waiting for. If Lakshmaṇa goes now and breaks the homa before it is finished, Indrājit will be forced to fight in the open, and in open battle he can be defeated. Act now, before the rite is complete.”

What followed

This episode led straight to Indrājit’s final defeat through Vibhīshaṇa’s knowledge of the Nikumbhilā rite. Through it all the real Sītā was safe under the Aśoka tree in the garden of Laṅkā, guarded by rākshasa women and waiting for Rāma. Trijatā, the kind elder rākshasī, comforted Sītā in those hard days and assured her that Rāma would win.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 81 (the making of Māyā Sītā; Hanumān’s grief; the false slaying)
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 83 (Hanumān’s report; Lakshmaṇa’s words; Vibhīshaṇa’s revelation)
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapters 81–83