Trijaṭā Svapna
The Trijaṭā Svapna is the dream of Trijaṭā, an elder rākshasī (female rākshasa) who guarded Sītā in Rāvaṇa’s Aśoka Vaṭikā in Laṅkā. It comes in the Sundara Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, at the time when Sītā’s captivity was hardest. Svapna means dream.
In the dream Trijaṭā saw Śrī Rāma arrive in glory, Laṅkā burn, Rāvaṇa fall and Vibhīshaṇa become king. She told the other guards that the dream was true. It gave Sītā her first real comfort in captivity.
The threats of the rākshasīs
Rāvaṇa had given Sītā his ultimatum and had left. The rākshasī women who guarded her then saw their chance to be cruel. They crowded around her. Each looked more terrible than the one before. The text names Ekajaṭā, Harijaṭā, Praghasā, Vikaṭā and others.
They described in horrible words how they would divide Sītā’s body among themselves and eat it. Some said they would tear her limb from limb. Others spoke of the spices they would use to season her. This was meant to break her spirit by terror that never stopped.
Trijaṭā speaks
Before the threats could grow worse, Trijaṭā spoke. She was an elder among the rākshasīs, and she was not like the others. She was good by nature and had some wisdom to see clearly.
She told the guards to stop. They were threatening a woman who could not be harmed, she said, one whose cause was guarded by dharma and by the power of a great husband. She told them she had just had a dream, and that the dream showed her everything.
The dream
Trijaṭā then told the dream in full.
- She saw Śrī Rāma arrive in great splendour. He rode a white elephant, wore white clothes and was decorated with divine ornaments. Sītā was with him.
- She saw Rāma and Sītā together again. They rose in a divine flying vehicle (vimāna) towards the north (uttara).
- She saw Laṅkā burning, with its towers and walls falling in the fire.
- She saw Rāvaṇa fallen. His head was shaved and his body was smeared with oil. He rode in a vehicle that was pulled towards the south, which is the direction of Yama.
- She saw Rāvaṇa’s sons and ministers destroyed in the same way.
- Most of all, she saw Vibhīshaṇa crowned as king of Laṅkā. He wore white clothes and a garland. He sat on Rāvaṇa’s throne with full honour.
What the dream means
Trijaṭā read the dream without any doubt. White clothes and white elephants, she said, mean victory, glory and righteousness. Smearing with oil, and a journey to the south, mean death and the road to Yama’s world. The burning of Laṅkā in the dream was not a bad dream but a warning.
She said to the rākshasīs: “Rāma is coming. What I have seen in this dream is true. We have been threatening a woman who will soon be joined again with a husband who can destroy this whole city. We should ask for her protection. We should not torment her any more.”
The rākshasīs were stunned by her words and fell silent.
Sītā hears the dream
When Sītā heard the dream, she felt a short but real relief. It was perhaps the only comfort she found in the first part of her captivity, before Hanumān showed himself to her. The dream showed Rāma coming in glory and dharma set right again. It gave her strength to go on enduring. It also matched what she had never stopped feeling inside, that Rāma would come.
Trijaṭā is the one rākshasī whose goodness stays whole. She lived among those who followed adharma, yet she could still see dharma and speak for it.
Sources
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 27