Maricha
(the golden deer)
Maricha
was a rakshasa who played a small but
very important part. He was thrown into
a remote island by the arrow of Lord Rama
when he tried to interrupt Sage Vishwamitrasyaga.
After that he became very afraid of the
very mention of the name Rama. (Rama is
described as Maareechaadini paataka
Ram in the Nama Ramayana,
a Sanskrit verse eulogising Rama )
Later in the epic,
Ravana wants to kidnap Sita and so asks
for Maricha's help, who then turns himself
into a golden deer. The golden lustre
of the deer lures Sita so much that she
wishes to have the deer for herself. While
Rama understands that the deer is unnatural,
and hence potentially dangerous, Sita
insists on having it. Rama asks Lakshmana
to take care of Sita while he goes for
hunting the deer. |
