Trijatā the Rākṣasī
Trijatā is a rākṣasī (a female rākṣasa) who served as a guard in the Aśoka Vāṭikā, the garden in Laṅkā where Sītā Devī was held captive. Most of the rākṣasīs there threatened and tormented Sītā. Trijatā was different. She was righteous by nature, devoted to Bhagavān Rāma, and gifted with prophetic sight. She was the protector of Sītā inside the hostile camp of the household of Rāvaṇa.
Her best known act in the Sundara Kāṇḍa is the telling of her dream. In it she saw the victory of Bhagavān Rāma, the fall of Rāvaṇa and the crowning of Vibhīṣaṇa. She told it to the rākṣasīs to stop their threats against Sītā and to give Sītā hope of her rescue.
This Trijatā is a different person from the one of the same name who appears in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa.
Her place in the Aśoka Vāṭikā
The rākṣasīs given the task of guarding Sītā were mostly hostile. They mocked her, threatened her life if she would not give in to Rāvaṇa, and kept up constant pressure on her mind. Trijatā was one of them but stood apart. She defended Sītā when the others grew violent in their threats. She could also see beyond the present moment and understand where events were going. Her words carried weight among the rākṣasīs, and when she spoke, they listened.
The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 26.
The prophetic dream
The threats of the rākṣasīs drove Sītā to the edge of despair, and she thought of ending her life. Then Trijatā woke from a very clear dream and silenced the gathering. She told in full detail what she had seen:
- Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa came to Laṅkā in a great white chariot drawn by swans.
- Rāma wore white clothes and rode a huge white elephant. He shone and was victorious.
- Sītā was dressed in white and was joined again with Rāma.
- Rāvaṇa fell. His body was blackened, his heads were shaved and his limbs were covered in oil. He was dragged southward on a donkey cart, going down toward the realm of Yama.
- Laṅkā was burning.
- Vibhīṣaṇa was crowned king of Laṅkā.
She explained every part of the dream with certainty. It was not an ordinary dream. It was a prophetic vision of events that must happen. Rāma would come. Laṅkā would fall. Sītā would be rescued. The rākṣasas who threatened Sītā should know that hurting her would only bring their own destruction sooner.
The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 27.
Trijatā in the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa
In the Laṅkā Kāṇḍa of Tulsīdāsa’s Rāmacaritamānas, Trijatā goes on protecting Sītā during the war itself. While the battle between Rāma and Rāvaṇa raged, she came to Sītā at night and explained how the war was going.
Sītā was in anguish because the severed heads of Rāvaṇa kept growing back. She feared that some terrible divine power was guarding him. Trijatā comforted her with warmth and wisdom.
She explained that Rāma held back from striking the heart of Rāvaṇa out of compassion. Sītā herself was held in the heart of Rāvaṇa by the force of his obsession, and Rāma feared that a blow to his heart might harm all the worlds that it held. But Rāvaṇa could not last. The cutting of his heads again and again was wearing down his attention and disturbing his thoughts of Sītā. When his mind was thus pulled away, the arrow of Rāma would find its true mark.
That night, good signs appeared on the left side of Sītā’s body. They showed that the meeting she longed for was near.
The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa tells this in the Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, in the section where Trijatā comforts Sītā.
Sources
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 26–27
- Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, Trijatā comforts Sītā section