Sulocanā

Sulocanā was the devoted wife (pativratā) of Indrajit, who is also called Meghānāda. He was the great son of Rāvaṇa and Maṇḍodarī. She is the daughter of Vāsuki, the great king of the nāgas (serpents). Her name means “one with beautiful eyes”. She is shown as a woman of great knowledge (jñāna), purity (sattva) and wifely devotion (pātivratya). The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa and the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa both celebrate her as one of the highest examples of a wife’s devotion to her husband. Her conduct after Indrajit was killed by Lakshmaṇa lifted her to the highest rank among the devoted wives of the Rāmāyaṇa.

After Lakshmaṇa killed her husband, one of his arms fell in Laṅkā and gave her a message. She went to Bhagavān Rāma and asked for her husband’s head. Bhagavān Rāma offered to bring him back to life, and she gently refused. She joined her husband in the funeral fire.

Birth and family

Sulocanā was the daughter of Vāsuki Mahārāja, the lord of the nāgas, the great serpent-king who is the cord around the neck of Bhagavān Śiva. She was given in marriage to Indrajit (Meghānāda), the eldest son of Rāvaṇa and the greatest warrior of the rākshasa line. She lived in Laṅkā as his devoted wife.

Indrajit beat Indra in battle, and so he is called Indrajit, “conqueror of Indra”. He held the Brahmāstra, had the power to become unseen, and could perform strong abhicāra rituals. Her life in Laṅkā was spent in devoted company with this powerful warrior husband.

The account in the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa

The message from the arm

Lakshmaṇa killed Indrajit. One of Indrajit’s cut-off arms, still wearing its golden armlet (keyūra) and holding his bow, fell into Sulocanā’s room. She was filled with grief at the sight. She watched as the arm dipped its fingers in the blood flowing from the wound and wrote a message in blood on the floor.

The message said:

• “Do not grieve, beloved.”
• “I have been killed by the arrow of Śesha (Lakshmaṇa), and death at the hands of Śesha is liberation.”
• “Go to Rāma, bow before him, and ask him for my head.”
• “Rāma will give it.”
• “Perform agni-praveśa (entering the fire) with my cut-off head. You will find me, and we will go together to Vaikuṇṭha.”

At Bhagavān Rāma’s camp

Sulocanā received Rāvaṇa’s leave. Maṇḍodarī dressed her, and she went to Rāma’s camp in a palanquin. The vānaras at first wondered whether she was Sītā. Sulocanā bowed to Bhagavān Rāma and made her request.

Bhagavān Rāma saw her purity and her deep devotion and kindly offered to bring Indrajit back to life. Sulocanā said no. She said that if he were raised, her husband would only have to die again, and that liberation through Śesha’s arrow was too precious to be undone. She asked for the head alone. Bhagavān Rāma was deeply moved and granted it at once. He told the vānaras to bring Indrajit’s head to her.

Agni-praveśa and liberation

Sulocanā went back to Laṅkā. She gathered Indrajit’s arms and head and joined them to his body at Nikumbhilā, the holy grove linked with Indrajit. She carried out the last rites properly. She then entered the funeral fire, so that the two of them performed agni-praveśa together. By the power of her pātivratya and by Bhagavān Rāma’s grace, her divine form rose from the flames. She and Indrajit went together to Vaikuṇṭha.

Her understanding

Sulocanā understood who Lakshmaṇa truly is, Śesha, and she understood liberation through death at the hands of Śesha. She stayed calm and reasoned clearly. She refused even Bhagavān Rāma’s generous offer to bring her husband back to life, and chose liberation instead. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa celebrates her among the great pativratās.

The account in the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa

In the Laṅkā Kāṇḍa of Tulsīdāsa’s Rāmacaritamānas, the story of Sulocanā is told in its own section.

The severed arm

Lakshmaṇa struck Meghānāda down at Nikumbhilā. His severed head fell on the battlefield near the camp of Bhagavān Rāma. His arm flew apart from it and landed in the courtyard of their home in Laṅkā.

Sulocanā saw the arm and was struck by doubt. She said: “My husband cannot be beaten. He was born under the condition of twelve years of celibacy before any danger could come to him, and he is guarded by divine boons. Can this really be his arm?”

She then reasoned: “I have served my husband with purity of body, mind and speech (tri-karaṇa-śuddhi). My own pātivratya will tell me the truth.” A sakhī (woman friend) placed a clean piece of cloth between the severed fingers. In front of everyone, the arm wrote on the cloth in clear letters:

“O Sulocanā! Rāma and Lakshmaṇa are avatāra-purushas (persons who have come down as avatāras). Even Ādiśesha cannot describe their glory. My head is with Śrī Rāma. This arm has been sent to you as proof. This is the truth.”

The writing removed all doubt. Sulocanā fell down in grief, struck the ground and wept aloud.

Her visit to Rāvaṇa

Sulocanā now knew that her husband was dead. She rode in a golden palanquin to the palace of Rāvaṇa and carried the severed arm with her. She spoke to Rāvaṇa directly:

“Māmayya (father-in-law)! Your son Meghānāda has reached vīra-svarga (the heaven of heroes) in battle at the hands of Lakshmaṇa. While you are still alive, your daughter-in-law has become a widow. Please have my husband’s head brought from the camp of Śrī Rāma and given back to me.”

Rāvaṇa was still proud and drunk with his own power. He answered with boasts: “Daughter-in-law! I have held myself back. Now I will go out and destroy these humans and vānaras in a moment.”

Sulocanā saw that more words would be useless while her father-in-law was in this state. She did not argue.

The counsel of Maṇḍodarī

From the court of Rāvaṇa, Sulocanā went to her mother-in-law Maṇḍodarī. Maṇḍodarī could not bear the sight of her widowed daughter-in-law and wept for her. She comforted Sulocanā with wise words:

“O daughter of the family! Your father-in-law is drunk with pride. In his asura arrogance, good advice does not reach his ears. What Nārada declared is now coming true. Go quickly to Śrī Rāma and bring back your husband’s head. No one can avoid the fruit of karma.”

Sulocanā bowed at the feet of Maṇḍodarī, received her blessings and set out for the camp of Bhagavān Rāma.

Before Bhagavān Rāma

Sulocanā got down from her palanquin outside the śibira (camp) of Bhagavān Rāma. She came forward with her sakhīs and bowed full length before Him in sāshṭāṅga (the prostration of eight limbs). When she looked up and saw the divine form of Bhagavān Rāma, her eyes became truly sulocanāḥ, “beautiful eyes”, fulfilled eyes, worthy of their name.

Vibhīshaṇa told Bhagavān Rāma her story. Moved by her devotion to her husband, Bhagavān Rāma spoke with great kindness:

“Suguṇavatī! Sulocanā! I know your character and your virtue. I will bring your husband back to life. Both of you will rule the kingdom of Laṅkā happily for a long time.”

The vānaras nearby were astonished. They whispered to each other that a living Meghānāda would be a new danger.

But Sulocanā gently refused, in clear and noble words:

“O Jagat-pati (Master of the world)! My lord, by the strength of his great arms, planted his victory flag over the fourteen worlds. That mighty warrior gave his prāṇa (life breath) as a gift to a worthy receiver, Lakshmaṇamūrti. It would not be right for me to take back as a vara (a boon) what was already given as a gift. O Deva! I wish to end this life on earth. As great yogīs reach Your presence through samādhi (deep meditation), I wish to reach Your presence through sahagamana, to meet my husband in Your presence. O Jagannātha! I do not think I will find a better moment for this bhava-prāpti (reaching the goal).”

Bhagavān Rāma was pleased by her wisdom and said tathāstu, “so be it”.

Sahagamana

Sugrīva brought the severed head of Meghānāda from the battlefield and placed it in the hands of Sulocanā. When she saw her husband’s head, she wept, wiped his face with the end of her cloth, held him to her heart and cried out in grief. Then she bowed before Bhagavān Rāma and Vibhīshaṇa. Vibhīshaṇa and the others led her to the edge of the camp.

Rāvaṇa, Maṇḍodarī and the gathered rākshasas waited for her at a place where a river meets the sea. The rākshasa warriors built the funeral pyre with sandalwood and sweet-smelling wood.

Sulocanā bowed before her elders in the family and took leave of her relatives with words of courage and comfort. She held her husband’s severed head in her lap, remembered Bhagavān Rāma, and sat on the pyre. In a few moments the flames reached the mahāpativratā (the greatly devoted wife) and burned her body.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 11
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa (Tulsīdāsa’s Rāmacaritamānas), Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, Sulocanā section