Sundaraa Kandam
Sundaraa Kandam is about Hanuman the Hero who crosses the ocean, finds Sita, and burns Lanka.
Hanuman flew over the ocean with his arms spread out, flying as fast as the wind.
While Hanuman was crossing the ocean, the Gods decided to test him to see if he was really smart and strong. They sent the great serpent, Surasa, to the ocean to test Hanuman.
Surasa saw Hanuman and said, “You are my food for today, come into my mouth.” But Hanuman said, “No. I am in a hurry, I must go to Lanka and find Sita.”
Surasa said, “No, come into my mouth now.” So Hanuman became bigger and bigger in size and Surasa opened her mouth wider and wider to fit him in.
Then suddenly, Hanuman became tiny in size and quickly went through Surasa’s mouth and out again. “I did what you said, now I must keep going,” said Hanuman.
While Hanuman was crossing the ocean, the sea-god asked Mount Mainaka to let Hanuman rest on it. So Mainaka came up out of the ocean and asked Hanuman to take a rest and have some fruit and water.
But Hanuman said, “No, I need to find Sita in Lanka,” and just touched the mountain with his hand and kept on going. A bit further, Hanuman saw a big monster called Simhika. Simhika caught Hanuman’s shadow and made him go slower.
Hanuman thought, “Why am I slowing down,” and he looked down and saw Simhika. Hanuman swooped down to the ocean’s surface and killed Simhika with a kick of his foot and continued towards Lanka.
Soon, Hanuman saw the shores of Lanka. He saw huge walls and wondered how he could get into Lanka.
He saw a great Rakshasi called Lankini protecting the entrance to Lanka. Hanuman made himself tiny and tried to get past Lankini but she saw him and asked angrily, “What are you doing here?”
Then Lankini gave Hanuman a kick, so Hanuman punched Lankini with his left fist, and Lankini fell to the ground. Lankini stood up again and said, “I was told that one day one of Rama’s messengers would come here and I would not be able to destroy him. You are free to go into Lanka if you want.”
Hanuman entered Lanka and found his way to the palace. He looked everywhere for Sita, but he could not find her. Hanuman realised that Sita, the wife of Rama, could not be in the palace so he looked in the gardens. He went to a beautiful garden where there were many Rakshasa women.
There in the middle of the garden, Hanuman saw a beautiful woman with long hair and dirty clothes, sitting under a tree crying, “Rama, Oh Rama.” Hanuman thought to himself that this must be Sita, so he climbed up the tree and hid, waiting to see if he could talk to her.
Just then, Ravana came out of the palace. He said to Sita, “Why are you still thinking about Rama? Can’t you think about me? Rama is nothing, not even a king, living in that wild forest. But look what a great king I am. I can give you everything.”
“Stop thinking about that Rama, and only think of me. I am better than him and you are too beautiful to be with anyone except for me.”
Then Sita got angry and said, “Oh you horrible fellow! Go away. Because you were afraid you took me away when Rama and Lakshmana were not there. Rama and Lakshmana will come here to destroy you.”
Ravana called the Rakshasa women who were guarding Sita. “Make Sita understand that Rama is nothing. I am giving her two months to change her mind and come to me. Otherwise I will kill her and eat her.”
The Rakshasa women went to Sita and started scaring her. They said, “Ravana will kill Rama in one shot. Then you will have no one.”
Sita started crying even more and the Rakshasa women went away from her. Hanuman, hiding in the tree, started to sing about Rama, and Sita heard him.
Sita thought she must be imagining things to be hearing about Rama when she couldn’t see who was singing. She said aloud, “If I am not imagining things, if someone is really singing about Rama, come out in front of me.”
Hanuman went in front of Sita and saw her for the first time. Sita saw Hanuman, a monkey small in size, yellow in colour with a red face, and she thought it must be Ravana in disguise coming to trick her.
Hanuman said, “Please don’t be scared of me. I am really a servant of Rama and Rama sent me to look for you. My name is Hanuman and I am the son of the Wind god, and my mother is Anjana.”
“Rama gave me this ring to give you, so that you would have proof that he sent me.” Sita saw the ring and she realised that Hanuman was truly a servant of Rama and she became very happy.
Sita said to Hanuman, “You have seen how miserable I am. Please tell this to Rama and ask him to come and destroy all these Rakshasas. If he doesn’t come before two months is over, this horrible Rakshasa will eat me up.”
Hanuman said, “I will tell this to Rama at once and he and Sugreeva will bring the whole army and destroy all the Rakshasas and Lanka.”
Sita wondered, “How will you all come across the ocean?” Hanuman replied, “Don’t worry about it, we will all figure out how to do it.”
Sita gave Hanuman a special jewel from her hair and said, “Please give this to Rama so he knows that you really met me.” Then Sita said, “How can you, a great servant of Rama, but so small in size, fight against all these terrible Rakshasas?”
Hanuman turned back into his original size, the size of a mountain, and Sita said, “Now I know you can do it!”
Hanuman asked Sita if he could eat some fruit from the garden and Sita gave him permission. Hanuman went away, and he thought, If I am to be a good messenger, then I should do something more than just find Sita and give the message to Rama.
Hanuman thought he should meet Ravana and talk to him, so decided to destroy the Ashoka garden. He started pulling out the trees and destroying the garden, except where Sita was. The Rakshasas tried to stop Hanuman and fight him, but he killed all of them.
Ravana’s son Aksha Kumara came to fight Hanuman, but Hanuman killed him. When Ravana heard the news, he was very angry, and sent his son Indrajit to capture Hanuman.
Indrajit fought Hanuman and when Indrajit tried to tie Hanuman up with a rope, Hanuman let himself be caught. Indrajit took Hanuman through the streets of Lanka to show the people of Lanka that the monkey had been caught. Hanuman also got a chance to see all the roads and streets of Lanka.
Ravana saw Hanuman in the palace, but he did not offer him a seat. Hanuman decided to make his own seat by growing his tail into a big coil. Sitting on his own tail, Hanuman said, “I am a messenger of Rama, and my name is Hanuman. You stole away Rama’s wife like a sneaky dog.”
Hanuman said, “It is not too late even now. Give Sita back to Rama, otherwise Rama will come here with his army and kill you.”
But Ravana was not scared, and said, “Stop talking about this Rama! I have heard enough nonsense about Rama.” He ordered his Rakshasas to kill the monkey but his brother Vibheeshana said, “Don’t kill him, he is only a messenger. It would be wrong to kill a messenger.”
Ravana decided that they should burn Hanuman’s tail instead, so the Rakshasas started to wrap Hanuman’s tail in oil cloth. But Hanuman’s tail kept growing longer and soon enough there was no more cloth left in Lanka, so they set the tail on fire anyway.
Suddenly Hanuman freed himself from the ropes and jumped all around Lanka, setting the whole city on fire. All of Lanka was burning except for the place where Sita was, and then Hanuman jumped to the ocean where he dipped his tail in the water to put the fire out.
Hanuman told Sita he was leaving and then he jumped back over the ocean, back to the seashore where his friends were waiting for him. They went back to Sugreeva quickly and met with Rama. Hanuman told Rama about finding Sita, and all the things that had happened in Lanka. Hanuman also told Rama that Sita was waiting for him to come with his army.