Lanka Dahan: Hanuman Burns Lanka

After finding Sita

Having leapt the ocean and found Sita captive in the Ashoka grove of Lanka, Hanuman gave her Rama’s ring and comforted her. But before returning, he chose to test the strength of Ravana‘s city and to deliver a warning. This episode of the Ramayana, the Lanka Dahan or burning of Lanka, is among its most dramatic.

Captured in Ravana’s court

Hanuman destroyed the grove and slew many warriors, including Ravana’s son Aksha, until Indrajit bound him with the Brahmastra. Brought before Ravana, Hanuman fearlessly warned him to return Sita or face Rama’s wrath. Enraged, Ravana ordered him killed; but on Vibhishana’s counsel that an envoy must not be slain, Ravana instead had Hanuman’s tail wrapped in cloth, soaked in oil, and set alight — to shame him.

The city in flames

As the fire was lit, Hanuman shrank small, slipped his bonds, and grew huge again. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop with his blazing tail, he set the golden city of Lanka ablaze — palace after palace catching fire — sparing only the Ashoka grove where Sita sat, and Vibhishana’s house. Then he quenched his burning tail in the sea and leapt back across the ocean to bring Rama news of Sita.

The meaning

Lanka Dahan is a turning point: the mission to find Sita accomplished, and a fearsome warning delivered. The fire meant to humiliate Hanuman became, by his wit and power, the fire that consumed Ravana’s pride and foreshadowed the fall of Lanka itself. It is a favourite image of devotion turning even an enemy’s cruelty into the Lord’s purpose.