Rama and Sita are the leads of one of the most popular and enduring literary creations of humankind, the epic Ramayana. The climax of the main narrative is Rama's defeat of the rakshasa king Ravana (who had abducted Rama's wife Sita) with the help of an army of vanaras, who can best be described as a race of anthropomorphic tailed primates. This story has been told and retold over millennia across national borders in multiple languages, and most authors have extolled the flawless physical beauty and the impeccable character of each half of the couple. However, if we are to believe the following two verses, the female denizens of the vanara kingdom did discover a shortcoming in each of them that they found quite distressing.
Rama's defect:
Devanagari text:
Rama's defect:
Devanagari text:
रामोऽयमस्माकमतीवमोदनः कपिप्रियाणां गुणरूपचेष्टितैः|
हृद्यैरतुल्यातिशयैः सहानुजः किन्त्वस्य नास्मान्सुखयत्यपुच्छता||
हृद्यैरतुल्यातिशयैः सहानुजः किन्त्वस्य नास्मान्सुखयत्यपुच्छता||
Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:
ramo*yamasmAkamatIvamodanaH kapipriyANAM guNarUpaceSTitaiH|
hRdyairatulyAtizayaiH sahAnujaH kintvasya nAsmAnsukhayatyapucchatA||
– Anonymous
Loose translation: This Rama, accompanied by his younger brother, immensely delights us, the wives of simians, with his good qualities, handsome features, and conduct, which are heart-touching and beyond compare; what does not impress us at all is his lack of a tail.
Source: Quoted as an example of comical poetry in Kavyakaustubha, "the magical gem of poetry", an 18th century treatise on rhetoric by Baladeva Vidyabhushana, a prominent figure in Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
या एव सीतां ददृशुस्तदानीं रूपं मनोज्ञं प्रशशंसुरस्याः|
पश्चात् सुपुच्छं त्वनवेक्ष्य जग्मुः परं विषादं कपियोषितस्ताः||
पश्चात् सुपुच्छं त्वनवेक्ष्य जग्मुः परं विषादं कपियोषितस्ताः||
Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:
yA eva sItAM dadRzustadAnIM rUpaM manojJaM prazazaMsurasyAH|
pazcAt supucchaM tvanavekSya jagmuH paraM viSAdaM kapiyoSitastAH||
– Anonymous
Loose translation: Every simian female who saw Sita, immediately started singing praises of her enchanting appearance; but, before long, they noticed that she did not have a beautiful tail, and all sank into profound sadness.
Source: Kavivacanasudha verse 214.
Notes: Of course these are imaginings of relatively modern poets trying to put a humorous twist on a familiar tale; the vanaris in almost all versions of the Ramayana are far too wise to view the absence of a caudal appendage on a human body as a deformity.
Pandit Tarakumar Kabiratna, the compiler of Kavivacanasudha, gives some context to the episode described in the second couplet: It happened after Sita was rescued from captivity and introduced to the wives of the monkey chieftains at Kishkindha. Here is his simple Bengali rendering:
সীতারে উদ্ধারি যবে শ্রীরাম আনিল,
যতেক বানরী তারে দেখিতে আইল;
জানকীর রূপ গুণ যে যে নিরখিল,
শতমুখে সকলেই প্রশংসা করিল;
সুন্দর লাঙ্গুল কিন্তু নাহি হেরি তায়,
যতেক বানরী শেষে করে হায় হায়।
জানকীর রূপ গুণ যে যে নিরখিল,
শতমুখে সকলেই প্রশংসা করিল;
সুন্দর লাঙ্গুল কিন্তু নাহি হেরি তায়,
যতেক বানরী শেষে করে হায় হায়।
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