One day, Ravana went to meet Mareech and asked him to help him kidnap Sita. But Mareech warned him that Rama, Laxman and Sita were no ordinary humans but the incarnations of the Lord. Ravana got angry at this and threatened to kill Mareech. Mareech thought that it was better to be killed at the hands of Lord Rama. So he agreed to help Ravana and changed into a very beautiful golden deer whose body had many precious stones engraved on it. The deer went near Rama’s cottage. Sita was attracted by the beauty of the deer and asked Rama to hunt it for her as she wanted to make a wall hanging using its skin. Rama instructed Laxman to keep a watch over Sita and went to hunt the deer. He took an arrow as powerful as a Brahmaastra and shot at the deer. It soon turned into fierce Mareech. It cried out, “ O Sita! O Laxman”, imitating Rama’s voice and then died. He reached heaven as he got death at the hands of the Lord. This way, Rama killed another cruel demon Mareech and turned back to return to Sita and inform her of the deer’s truth.
RAMA AND THE GOLDEN DEER
