Danda Forest

Agastya said - In the land of Vidarbha, was a king called Shweta. The king meditated in a forest. There were no animals in that forest which surprised the king. Listen to the reason for this. There was a king in Vidharbha, called Nala, who ruled that land. He had a son called Ikshvaku, who took over the kingdom after his father. It was this king who started the solar dynasty, in whose clan you were born, Rama.

His kingdom was taken over forcibly, by his younger brother, Danda. He was a cruel person.

One day he went to the house of the sage Shukra. Abja, the daughter of Shukra had gone to pluck flowers. Shukra was not there when Abja returned with the flowers. 

Danda was smitten by her and grabbed her hand. Abja said she was the daughter of his Guru and it was not proper that he behave in that manner. Danda did not listen. and said he would have her by force.

Abja said that would mean the death of the king.

The king then raped Abja and left. Abja started crying out to her father. 

Shukra coming to know this cursed the king to die.

Fire showers began in the kingdom and Danda and his entire family was burnt to death. The kingdom got transformed into a forest and became known as the Dandaka forest.

This is the forest where we are now.

Rama stayed that day with Agastya. They prayed together in the evening. Rama stayed there that night and in the next day morning he took leave of Agastya. 

Rama in the ashrama of Agastya

Rama then went to the ashrama of Agastya. Agastya gave gifts to Rama, but Rama said as a kshatriya, he could accept gifts from a brahmana. It was the duty of a kshatriya to look after the subjects and give gifts.
Agastya said Rama, You are Vishnu, born on this planet and I have the right to give gifts to that God.
Saying this, Agastya gave many gems and jewels to Rama.
Rama asked the sage where he got these.
Agastya said In the Satya Yuga, I used to pray in the forests on the banks of a lake. One day, when the sun was up, I got up to go and have a bath in the lake. I was surprised to see a dead body lying on the bank. The body had not decayed and looked fresh. When I was there, I saw a celestial being descend there, on a chariot, from the skies. There were many apsaras with that being. They all had a bath in the lake and then they devoured the dead body and started to leave.
I asked them why they had come from the heaven to eat a dead body.
The being said I am Daitya, the son of a king called Swarga. When my father died, I became the king. I gave the kingdom to my younger brother and retired to the forest to meditate. I attained heaven but I was very hungry and thirty. I saw Brahma why this was happening.
Brahma said You did not feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty. From now you will be eating your own body and drinking your own blood. The body will not decay and will come whole again when you are gone.
I asked Brahma when I will be relieved of this.
Brahma said Agastya, the sage will meet you. When you give him gifts, you will be relieved.
Today I am glad to see you. I am free now.
Please accepts gifts from me, that will be my salvation.
Saying this, the celestial being gave me all the valuables that he had on his body.
When he did that, the dead body decayed and vanished.
Rama, these are those jewels. Please accept these.

Rama said Do tell me more.

Owl and Vulture

Rama was ruling in Ayodhya. He decided to visit the sage Agastya. There he heard the screams of birds. A vulture and an owl were fighting. The vulture was telling the Owl that it had occupied its next and wanted it to leave. The owl was saying it had been staying there for many days had seen no sign of the vulture. How could the vulture claim the nest as its own?
Seeing Rama, the birds approached him for justice.
Rama asked the vulture since when it had been living there. The vulture said it was there since the beginning of creation.The owl said it was living there since the day the tree, on which the nest was, came there.
Rama said the vulture was to be punished. When the world was created, there was nothing but water. From that, came Brahma, seated on the navel, which rose from the navel of Vishnu. At that time there were no trees. Trees were created after living beings. Thus the vulture was lying.
The Gods said this was not an ordinary vulture. This is a cursed being who would be relieved when killed by you.
Rama touched the vulture which relieved from its curse went heaven wards. 

Shudra Tapasvi - the low caste mendicant

Rama ruled and there were no untimely deaths in his kingdom. One day a brahman came to Rama with the body of his dead son. The boy was five years old. The brahmana said he had never sinned so why this fate.
Rama said he would do something about this. He asked his courtiers what could be the cause of this?
Narada, who was present there , said - In the Satya Yuga it was the right of only the brahmans to renounce all and go for meditation. In the age of Treta, Kshatriyas could also do this. In Dwapara Yuga the business class could also do that, in the age of Kali, everyone else could. There is a low caste person who has renounced all and has gone to the forest for meditation. This is the reason for the untimely death of the son of the brahmana.

Rama asked the brahmana to preserve the body in medicated oil. He asked them to wait till he returned. Saying this, Rama left. Looking everywhere, Rama found a low caste person performing meditation in the forests.

Rama asked the person who he was. The person said he was a low caste person, performing austerities to attain heaven. Hearing this, Rama cut off the head of the person.

The Gods came to Rama and said what He had done was correct as this was not the rule of the time. Rama said If the Gods were pleased, then the son of the brahmana should come alive.

Rama went back to his kingdom and saw the boy alive with his parents. Blessing Rama, the brahmana left. 

Killing of Lavanasura

One day Lakshmana came to Rama and said the sage Bhargava wanted to meet him. Rama asked for the sage to be brought in immediately and Lakshmana brought the sage and his disciples inside.
Rama bowed down and touched the feet of the sage.
The sage said he had come to express his grief. Rama wanted to know what was the trouble.

The sage said You have killed a might Ravana but there is one who is equal to Ravana. Earlier there was a daitya called Madhu who was a great devotee of Shiva. Shiva had given Madhu a weapon. If Madhu had the weapon in his hand, no one could defeat him. Madhu's son, born of Ravana's sister, Kumbhanashi, inherited the weapon. The son, Lavanasura, is tormenting everyone. Help us by killing him. If Lavanasura has the weapon in his hand, no one will be able to defeat him. Let me tell you more. The king Mandhata, king of Ayodhya, in the olden days wanted to take over the heaven, Seeing him come, Indra fled. The Gods asked Mandhata to take half the ocean and rule over it, to which Mandhata refused saying he wanted the whole heaven. The Gods decided to teach him a lesson. They said Mandhata needed to first conquer earth before approaching heaven. There was a rakshasa called Lavana. If Lavana was defeated then Mandhata could come and talk about conquering heaven.
Mandhata first sent a messenger to Lavanasura but the messenger was driven away. Seeing this, Mandhata attacked Mathura, the kingdom of Lavanasura. Lavanasura attacked Mandhata with the weapon of Shiva and Mandhata was killed.
This is the Lavanasura who had killed an ancestor of yours. Please kill him and help us.

The three brothers stood near Rama. Shatrughna said to Rama - You and Lakshmana have fought many battles. Please permit me to go and kill Lavana. Rama agreed. He said Killing Lavana, claim the kingdom of Mathura as yours and become the king of Mathura.

Shatrughna started on his journey. On the way, he stopped at the ashrama of the sage Valmiki and bowed down to the sage. At that time, Sita gave birth to two twin sons. He asked his disciples to keep it a secret and Shatrughna should not get to know about this. After Shtrughna left, the sage asked the sons to kept on salt and kusha grass. Seeing the boys, the sage named them Lava and Kusha. The boys began growing up in the ashrama.

Going back to Shatrughna, he reached the ashrama of the sage Bhargava and wanted to know how to kill Lavana. The sage said Lavana goes hunting in the morning and leaves the weapon of Shiva at home, That is the time to kill him.

Shatrughna and his army waited for Lavana. They saw the rakshasa return with his kill. Shatrughna attacked Lavana. Lavana tried to go and bring his weapon but Shatrughna taunted him saying Lavana wanted to run away. Hearing this, Lavana decided to fight. Using a arrow of Vishnu, Shatrughna killed Lavana. As soon as Lavana died, the weapon of Shiva vanished.

Shatrughna then setup the kingdom of Mathura.

After that he started on his way back. He again stopped at the ashrama of Valmiki. There he heard two boys singing the song of Ramayana. Shatrughna wanted to know who these boys were. Valmiki said they were his disciples and he was teaching them the song.

Shatrughna then left for Ayodhya. He went and told Rama about the killing of Lavana. Rama was very happy to hear that. 

The Dog and the sage

Lakshmana said to a grieving Rama - It has been seven days and you have been ignoring your kingdom. You will have to suffer hell for this. You will then go the way that king Mriga went.

Long ago the land of Pushkar was ruled by a king called Mrigeshwar. 

The king went to the pilgrim site of Prabhas and there he distributed cows to the brahmans. Among the cows was a cow that belonged to a brahman called Agnivesh. The brahman was meditating and realized that his cow had been given away. He went to the king and saw his cow among the herd of cows. He called out to his cow and cow recognizing him, responded back and came to him. 

The person who had been gifted the cow came running and said the brahman was stealing his cow.

An argument started among the two and the king got to know this. he realized he had unknowling given away a cow which was not his. Not knowing what to do, the king went in hiding.

The two people who were quarreling waited for the king to come. When the king never came, they brahmans cursed the king to turn into an animal.

Rama decided to return back and took over the reigns of the kingdom. The sages came to see Rama and meet him. At that instance, a dog also appeared. The dog was white in color and had been starving. It was limping having hurt a leg and had wounds on its body. Lakshmana asked the dog why it had come there. The dog said It wanted to meet Rama and tell him about his trouble. 

Lakshmana went inside and told Rama about the dog. Rama agreed to see the dog.

The Dog said You are the Lord of the three worlds. 

Rama said You are praising me. Why do you come here, to me?

The dog said it had been beaten by a sage, for no fault of his. Why had the sage struck him?

Rama said justice would be given and ordered the sage to be brought there. 

Rama asked the sage why after having renounced everything, had he hit an animal. 

The sage said The whole day I prayed and in the evening I begged for food. Whatever I got I used to get that to my hut. On the way was this dog who was not leaving my path, so I had to hit it to move it. 

Rama asked the court if they could give justice. The people said the dog was to be punished as the road belonged to no one. 

Rama said he would punish the sage but stopping him from going to the river for his bath. The dog said No, it would be better to give him the kingdom of Kalinja and make him the king.

Everyone laughed listening to this. 

Rama said You wanted justice and needed the sage punished. 

The dog said In my earlier birth I was the king of Kalinja. I was a devotee of Shiva and used to worship a blue Shiva Linga regularly. There was a curse there, and the king when he died would be born as a dog. You think the sage will prosper, but when he dies he will become a dog too. I am relieved as I have seen you. 

Saying this the dog left and then fasted to death, having seen Rama. 

Golden Sita

Lakshmana leaving Sita, left. Sita was alone. This was a forest and Sita could hear the growls of animals close by. She was scared. She started shouting for help, and hearing her voice, Valmiki came there with his disciples.
Having written Ramayana, Valmiki knew this was going to happen. He approached Sita and said he knew who she was. Lovingly he took her inside his ashrama.
The women were very happy to have her. Sita said she was someone who had been forsaken by her husband. The women consoled her and kept her as their own.

Lakshmana had been hiding and seeing what was happening. Glad that Sita was in safe hands, Lakshmana left for Ayodhya. On their way back, the charioteer, Sumantra, said he remembered some old tales. Before the princes were born, Dashratha had invited sages for a grand sacrifice, to have sons. There Valmiki had come and spoken about the Ramayana. There it was told that Vishnu would be born as four sons of Dashratha. Rama would go to the forest. Seeing an empty house, Sita would be taken away by Ravana. Rama would kill Ravana and rescue Sita. Coming back, Sita would be exiled. Durvasa would then come and then Rama would forsake you. I do not know more than this and I had been told not to mention this ever.

In Ayodhya, with tears. Lakshmana went and told Rama that Sita was in the ashrama of Valmiki. Rama was anxious about Sita's well being. Lakshmana said - You are the one who got rid of Sita. Why do you now think thus? Sita is safe. Do not worry. If you want, I will get Sita back for you tonight.

Rama said He would not be able to live without Sita. He ordered for a golden replica of Sita to be made. Vishwakarma make a replica of Sita. It was exactly like her, except it did not breathe and talk.

People asked Rama to get married again, but Rama refused. He said he would spend the rest of his days with the Golden Sita.