Siṃhikā

Siṃhikā was a great rākṣasī (a female rākṣasa) who lived in the ocean. She is met by Hanumān during his crossing from Bhārata to Laṅkā. Her way of hunting was terrible. She seized the shadows of beings that flew over the ocean, and through the shadow she dragged the creature down into the water and ate it.

She seized the shadow of Hanumān as he flew high above. He felt his speed stop suddenly, looked down and knew her. He grew to a huge size, then shrank to the size of a thumb, dived into her open mouth, tore out her vital organs from inside and killed her. The siddhas (perfected beings) watching from the sky praised Hanumān.

Nature and method

Siṃhikā was a being of great size and power. She could seize the shadow that a flying being cast on the surface of the ocean. Through that shadow she pulled the being down with a force it could not resist, whatever its own movement. Because of this, no flying being could see her danger until the moment she caught it. She had eaten countless beings that crossed the sea above her.

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 1.

The meeting with Hanumān

Hanumān was flying over the middle of the ocean when his forward motion was suddenly stopped, as if the sky itself had caught him. He looked in all directions and then downward. He saw Siṃhikā in the water below him, with her huge mouth open and reaching toward the sky. He knew her at once from what the siddhas, who know the secrets of the ocean, had told of her.

He thought quickly. Against a being who works through the shadow and its grip, the way to win had to be unusual. He made his body vast, so that Siṃhikā had a vast shadow to hold. She opened her mouth wider to take a meal as big as that form. Then Hanumān shrank to the size of a thumb and dived straight into her open mouth. Inside, he tore out her heart and her vital organs with his nails and burst out through her side. Siṃhikā fell dead into the ocean.

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 1.

The praise of the siddhas

Right after Siṃhikā died, the siddhas and the cāraṇas (celestial singers) who had seen the fight from the sky came down and praised Hanumān. They said:

“Great vānara, you have killed a being of huge and terrible power. One who joins four qualities cannot be beaten in any task: prajñā (wisdom), dṛṣṭi (foresight), dhṛti (steadiness) and kārya-sādhana (skill in getting the work done). You have all four. Go and finish what you set out to do.”

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 1.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 1