One day Rama, Lakshmana and Sita were returning to Ayodhya from Sri Lanka on a flying chariot. When they were flying over Kiskindhya, a beautiful land at the foothills of a huge mountain range, they received an invitation from Hanuman, a citizen of Kiskindhya, to make a stopover. They did not require a passport or visa. The pilot told them everything indicated an easy landing: visibility was good, the flying chariot was in excellent condition and the runway was clear. So Rama gave the green signal to land.

According to protocol, some people greeted Sita, others greeted Lakshmana. Hanuman’s mother, Aiṋjaná, accompanied Sita as she disembarked and introduced her to the female monkeys. Although these monkeys were delighted to meet Sita, they found her behaviour rather odd. “How strange,” they thought, “Sita doesn’t say ‘hoop, hoop’ like us but says ‘how, how’.⁽¹⁾ She’s very uncultured.” They were actually quite offended, but were obliged by the rules of protocol to wear a sweet smile on their charcoal-coloured faces.

Aiṋjaná said, “How lucky we are that Sita, the most beautiful woman in the world, has honoured us with her gracious presence today.” The female monkeys offered her fresh leaves and unwashed fruit. Instead of eating them Sita smiled and touched them lightly. This also offended the monkeys but they were bound by protocol to hide their feelings. They merely smiled, displaying fine sets of teeth.

“Dear monkeys,” asked Aiṋjaná, “don’t you agree that Sita is exceedingly beautiful?” “There’s no doubt that Sita is strikingly beautiful,” replied the female monkeys, “But we’ve noticed a slight imperfection in her beauty.”

“You monkeys have the bad habit of finding fault with everything,” said Aiṋjaná. “‘Even in a handsome body, flies find a home in open sores’ – it appears this proverb is talking about you.”

Aiṋjaná continued, “I’ve noticed that human ladies are better than you in many respects. You have three striking defects which overshadow all your qualities. Your first defect is jealousy. You become extremely jealous whenever others are praised. Human ladies are just the opposite they are always eager to praise others. Then you get angry whenever anyone calls you an old monkey, even if you are old. Human ladies are completely different. When they age after carrying out the household chores year after year, they say, ‘Well, youth has abandoned me and death approaches. Nevertheless, I must continue to march in the tread mill of domestic duty.’ What a straightforward acceptance of their domestic life. Your third defect is your constant endeavour to hide your real age. The other day I asked my grandmother, ‘How old are you, granny?’ She uttered her reply though a toothless mouth. ‘You want to know my age? Well, I’m only fourteen years old, although I may be a little younger because one of my aunts said she’s twelve or thirteen and another aunt said she’s even younger.’ I pointed out to granny that this is impossible because her granddaughter’s twenty. Sucking thoughtfully on a lozenge she said, ‘Don’t you know? I was born six years after my granddaughter.’”

“Female monkeys, I strongly advise you to give up this bad habit of hiding your age. The only time I’ve seen you increase your age is when you apply for a government job. Human ladies don’t lie about their age like you.”

“Sister Aiṋjaná,” said the female monkeys, “what you say is true. Even the judges will agree with you. But the fact remains that Sita’s beauty is not perfect.”

“Even after agreeing with me you continue to criticize her,” said Aiṋjaná in disbelief.

“But anyone with two eyes can see that Sita doesn’t have a nice long tail or handsome nose like us,” concluded the monkeys.

Footnotes

(1) As in, “How do you do?” –Trans.