Sita’s eyes flew open in anger. ‘Then why the hell did you ask me to come h …’
‘I couldn’t have come here alone now, could I,’ interrupted Shurpanakha, like she was explaining the most obvious thing in the world. ‘And, I wasn’t about to bring one of the men along. Lord Indra alone knows what they would do if they saw me in this state.’
‘They would drown you, hopefully,’ muttered Sita, under her breath.
‘What did you say?’ snapped Shurpanakha.
‘Nothing. Finish your bath quickly. Your brother wants to leave today.’
‘My brother will leave when I tell him we can leave.’
Sita saw Shurpanakha looking into the forest beyond the banks of the lagoon. Sita followed Shurpanakha’s gaze. Then she shook her head in irritation. ‘Nobody has followed us here. No one can see you. In the name of all that is good and holy, finish your bath!’
Shurpanakha didn’t bother to answer. Casting Sita a contemptuous look, she turned and swam away.
Sita held her fist to her forehead and repeated softly to herself. ‘Breathe. Breathe. She’s leaving today. Just breathe.’
Shurpanakha continued to steal glances at the forest. She couldn’t see anyone. She muttered under her breath, ‘None of these idiots are reliable. I have to do everything myself.’
At the Panchavati camp, Vibhishan had come to speak to Ram.
‘Great one,’ said Vibhishan, ‘you know we are leaving soon. Is it possible to return our weapons to us so that we may get going?’
‘Of course,’ said Ram.
Vibhishan looked at Jatayu and his Malayaputras a short distance away, then in the direction of the Godavari, the great river hidden by the dense foliage. His heart was beating fast.
I hope they have reached.
‘Enough!’ said Sita, in irritation. ‘You’re as clean as you can be. Get out of the water now. We’re leaving.’
Shurpanakha looked once again into the forests.
Sita picked the oars. ‘I’m leaving. You can choose to stay or come along.’
Shurpanakha shrieked in anger, but surrendered.
Sita rowed the boat back in short order. It was a ten-minute uphill walk thereafter to the camp. She waited for Shurpanakha to step out of the boat.
Sita didn’t expect, nor get, any help from Shurpanakha to pull the boat onto the banks so that it could be tied securely to a tree with a hemp rope. Shurpanakha was behind Sita as she bent, wrapped the boat-rope around her right hand, held on to the gunwale of the boat, and began to tug.
Focused as she was on her task, as well as the physical strain of pulling a boat up the bank all by herself, she didn’t notice Shurpanakha reach into her bag, pull out some herbs and creep up on her.
Shurpanakha used a specific kind of soap and perfume that she had carried with her for her bath. It had a distinctive fragrance. Very different from the feral smell of the jungle.
It was this smell that saved Sita.
She reacted almost immediately, letting go off the boat. Just as Shurpanakha jumped at her and tried to stuff the herbs into Sita’s mouth, she turned and hit the Lankan princess hard with her elbow. Shurpanakha fell back, screaming in agony. Sita lunged forward towards the princess of Lanka but the rope wrapped around her wrist made her lose balance. Sensing an opportunity, Shurpanakha pushed Sita into the water. But as Sita fell, she elbowed the princess of Lanka again. Shurpanakha recovered quickly and jumped into the water after Sita, trying again to push the herbs into her mouth.
Sita was taller, tougher and more agile than the posh Shurpanakha. She pushed Shurpanakha hard, flinging her some distance away. She spat out the herbs, quickly pulled out her knife from the scabbard and cut the rope loose. She glanced at the herbs floating in the water, recognising them almost immediately. She pushed through the water to reach Shurpanakha.
Shurpanakha, meanwhile, had recovered. She swam towards Sita and tried to hit her with her fists. Sita grabbed and held both her wrists in her left hand; then yanked hard till the princess of Lanka was forced to turn around. Then Sita wrapped her arm around Shurpanakha’s throat, holding her hard against her own body.
Then Sita brought the knife close to Shurpanakha’s throat. ‘One more move, you spoilt brat, and I will bleed you to death.’
Shurpanakha fell silent and stopped struggling. Sita pushed the knife back in its scabbard. Then used the remnants of the rope around her own wrist to restrain Shurpanakha’s hands. She pulled Shurpanakha’s angvastram and tied it across her mouth.
She reached into Shurpanakha’s bag and found some more of the herbs.
‘I’ll push this into your mouth if you make any more trouble.’
Shurpanakha remained quiet.
Sita started dragging her towards the camp.
A short distance from the camp, the angvastram across Shurpanakha’s mouth came loose and fell away. She immediately began screaming.
‘Stay quiet!’ shouted Sita, dragging her along.
Shurpanakha, though, kept screaming at the top of her voice.
A short while later, they emerged from the woods. Sita tall, regal but dripping wet and furious. Muscles rippling with the strain of dragging Shurpanakha along. The Lankan princess’ hands remained securely tied.
Ram and Lakshman immediately drew their swords, as did everyone else present.
The younger prince of Ayodhya was the first to find his voice. Looking at Vibhishan accusingly, he demanded, ‘What the hell is going on?’
Vibhishan couldn’t take his eyes off the two women. He seemed genuinely shocked, but quickly gathered his wits and replied. ‘What is your sister-in-law doing to my sister? She is the one who has clearly attacked Shurpanakha.’
‘Stop this drama!’ shouted Lakshman. ‘Bhabhi would not do this unless your sister attacked her first.’
Sita walked into the circle of people and let go of Shurpanakha. The Lankan princess was clearly livid and out of control.
Vibhishan immediately rushed to his sister, drew a knife and cut the ropes that bound her. He whispered into her ear. ‘Let me handle this. Stay quiet.’
Shurpanakha glared at Vibhishan. Like this was all his fault.
Sita turned to Ram and gestured towards Shurpanakha. She held out some herbs in the palm of her hand. ‘That pipsqueak Lankan stuffed this in my mouth as she pushed me into the river!’
Ram recognised the herbs. They were normally used to render people unconscious before surgeries. He looked at Vibhishan, his piercing eyes red with anger. ‘What is going on?’
Vibhishan stood up immediately, his manner placatory. ‘There has obviously been some misunderstanding. My sister would never do something like that.’
‘Are you suggesting that I imagined her pushing me into the water?’ asked Sita, aggressively.
Vibhishan stared at Shurpanakha, who had also stood up by now. He seemed to be pleading with her to be quiet. But the entreaty was clearly lost in transmission.
‘That is a lie!’ screeched Shurpanakha. ‘I didn’t do anything like that!’