2. THATAKA’S STORY

The woman I speak of was the daughter of Suketha, a

yaksha, a demigod of great valour, might, and purity. She

was beautiful and full of wild energy. When she grew up she

was married to a chieftain named Sunda. Two sons wereborn to them—Mareecha and Subahu—who were endowed

with enormous supernatural powers in addition to physical

strength; and in their conceit and exuberance they laid waste

their surroundings. Their father, delighted at their pranks and

infected by their mood, joined in their activities. He pulled out

ancient trees by their roots and flung them about, and he

slaughtered all creatures that came his way. This

depredation came to the notice of the great savant Agasthya

(the diminutive saint who once, when certain demoniac

beings hid themselves at the bottom of the sea and Indra

appealed for his help to track them, had sipped off the

waters of the ocean). Agasthya had his hermitage in this

forest, and when he noticed the destruction around, he

cursed the perpetrator of this deed and Sunda fell dead.

When his wife learnt of his death, she and her sons stormed

in, roaring revenge on the saint. He met their challenge by

cursing them. "Since you are destroyers of life, may you

become asuras and dwell in the nether worlds." (Till now they

had been demigods. Now they were degraded to

demonhood.) The three at once underwent a transformation;

their features and stature became forbidding, and their

natures changed to match. The sons left to seek the

company of superdemons. The mother was left alone and

lives on here, breathing fire and wishing everything ill.

Nothing flourishes here; only heat and sand remain. She is a

scorcher. She carries a trident with spikes; a cobra entwined

on her arm is her armlet. The name of this fearsome creatureis Thataka. Just as the presence of a little loba (meanness)

dries up and disfigures a whole human personality, so does

the presence of this monster turn into desert a region which

was once fertile. In her restlessness she constantly harasses

the hermits at their prayers; she gobbles up anything that

moves and sends it down her entrails.

Touching the bow slung on his shoulder, Rama asked,

"Where is she to be found?"

Before Viswamithra could answer, she arrived, the ground

rocking under her feet and a storm preceding her. She

loomed over them with her eyes spitting fire, her fangs

bared, her lips parted revealing a cavernous mouth; and her

brows twitching in rage. She raised her trident and roared,

"In this my kingdom, I have crushed out the minutest womb of

life and you have been sent down so that I may not remain

hungry."

Rama hesitated; for all her evil, she was still a woman.

How could he kill her? Reading his thoughts, Viswamithra

said, "You shall not consider her a woman at all. Such a

monster must receive no consideration. Her strength,

ruthlessness, appearance, rule her out of that category.

Formerly God Vishnu himself killed Kyathi, the wife of Brigu,

who harboured the asuras fleeing his wrath, when she

refused to yield them. Mandorai, a woman bent upon

destroying all the worlds, was vanquished by Indra and heearned the gratitude of humanity. These are but two

instances. A woman of demoniac tendencies loses all

consideration to be treated as a woman. This Thataka is

more dreadful than Yama, the god of death, who takes a life

only when the time is ripe. But this monster, at the very scent

of a living creature, craves to kill and eat. Do not picture her

as a woman at all. You must rid this world of her. It is your

duty."

Rama said, "I will carry out your wish."

Thataka threw her three-pronged spear at Rama. As it

came flaming, Rama strung his bow and sent an arrow which

broke it into fragments. Next she raised a hail of stones

under which to crush her adversaries. Rama sent up his

arrows, which shielded them from the attack. Finally Rama's

arrow pierced her throat and ended her career; thereby also

inaugurating Rama's life's mission of destroying evil and

demonry in this world. The gods assembled in the sky and

expressed their joy and relief and enjoined Viswamithra,

"Oh, adept and master of weapons, impart without any

reserve all your knowledge and powers to this lad. He is a

saviour." Viswamithra obeyed this injunction and taught

Rama all the esoteric techniques in weaponry. Thereafter the

presiding deities of various weapons, asthras, appeared

before Rama submissively and declared, "Now we are

yours; command us night or day."When they reached a mist-covered wood on a mountain,

Viswamithra told another story.