Chapter 67 — Rambha's Curse

Ravana's army camped at Kailasa after nightfall. The mountain stood in a cooler light than Lanka: flowering trees, watercourses, and the sound of singers from Vaishravana's domain carried through the air. Moonlight gathered on stone and on the course of the Mandakini. Ravana, who had arrived intent on war against the gods, looked upon that beauty and let desire turn once more into entitlement.

Rambha came along the way, an apsara, a celestial woman of the courts of the gods. She was going to Nalakubara, Vaishravana's son, to whom she was pledged. Ravana stopped her.

Rambha did not conceal either her destination or her refusal. Trembling, she asked him to release her and explained the relationship that should have bound his conduct: Nalakubara was the son of Vaishravana, Ravana's elder half-brother. By the terms she named, she was to be regarded as Ravana's daughter-in-law. Her adornment was for Nalakubara. Her commitment was to Nalakubara. She asked Ravana not to obstruct a union already agreed.

Ravana dismissed the claim. He said that such a relationship could not bind him where a heavenly woman was concerned, then ignored Rambha's plea and assaulted her.

When Rambha was released, she went to Nalakubara shaken and disordered, her garlands and ornaments disturbed. She fell at his feet. He asked what had happened, and she told him: Ravana had stopped her, heard her name the kinship and her refusal, and used force despite both.

Nalakubara listened in anger. He took water according to the rite and spoke a curse against Ravana. Because Ravana had forced himself upon Rambha against her will, Nalakubara declared, if he ever again approached an unwilling woman from desire, his head would split into seven pieces.

The gods rejoiced at the pronouncement; Ravana, hearing of it, was shaken. Thereafter he did not sexually approach women who were unwilling.

That condition did not undo what had happened to Rambha. It did not make captivity harmless, and it did not later spare Sita from coercion, threats, or Ravana's determined claim upon her. It established a limit on one form of his violence, imposed only after Rambha had spoken and Nalakubara had answered.

At Rama's court, Agastya's retrospective did not mistake that limit for a virtue. The story held Rambha's testimony in view: a power that had gone unchecked through many realms had met a consequence it could neither conquer nor transform into praise.