THE GOLDEN DEER

Ravana made a plan to abduct Sita from the forest. He knew that Rama would certainly come to save his wife, and then he would kill Rama.

Too sure of his power, Ravana thought that a petty man likes Rama would never be able to free his wife, and that would be a matter of great humiliation for Rama.

Ravana went to Mareech and asked for his help. This Mareech was the same demon whom Rama had defeated when he had come to disturb the Vedic ritual of Sage Vishwamitra. Mareech could change to any desired form of human, bird or animal.

On Ravana's request, Mareech transformed himself into an alluring golden deer and ran past Rama's hut.

On seeing the Golden deer, Sita asked Rama to catch it for her. Before going after the deer, he asked Lakshmana to gaurd Sita in his absence. Leaving Sita with Lakshmana, Rama went after the golden deer.

Mareech lured Rama far away far away from his hut. Rama realised that he wouldn't be able to catch the deer alive, so he shot an arrow at the deer.

Shot by Rama's arrows, the golden deer cried out in pain. But he cried out imitating Rama's voice.

Rama realized that he had been tricked, so he rushed back towards his hut. But as he had gone too far, it took him a long time to reach his hut.

When Sita and Lakshamana were sure that no one could harm Rama, Sita was in danger.

Although Lakshmana was that no one could harm Rama, Sita was in panic. She forced Lakshmana to immediately go for Rama's help. But Rama had asked him to guard Sita. He didn't want to disobey his brother, but sita forced him to go after Rama. Before going, Lakshmana drew a line around the hut and asked sita not to cross it. 

He said, "Please don't cross this line. Till you are inside this Lakshmana Rekha, no one will be able to harm you. No outsider will be able to cross it."

Lakshmana then went out to look for Rama while Sita stayed alone in the hut.

All this while, Ravana had been hiding behind a tree. He had seen that his plan had worked well.