Week 11 Story: Hanuman and Macchanu

Maiyarap Goes to War

The war against Rama was going badly for Ravana, so he sent word to his cousin Maiyarap, King of the Underworld. "Kidnap Rama," said the message, "so that I can defeat his monkey army in battle."

Maiyarap

Maiyarap was eager to join in the war, but his sister Pirakuan rushed into the throne room, begging him to reconsider. "Do not go, my brother! This Rama is the god Narayan in human form, and you should not fight him."

Maiyarap was enraged. "You'll learn what it means to defy me!" Then he shouted to his guards, "Have that no-good nephew of mine Waijawik arrested."

Pirakuan burst into tears. "No, my brother, not Waijawik! Arrest me instead! My son has nothing to do with this."

Yes, thought Maiyarap, he had been right: the best way to punish his sister was to punish her son. He would kill Waijawik together with Rama, two birds with one stone. "Now get out, all of you!" he commanded. "I have work to do."

For the rest of that day and all through the night, Maiyarap engaged in magic rituals to prepare a sleeping powder he could use to subdue Rama's allies.

Rama and his Allies

Seeing this, the gods sent Rama a prophetic dream, warning him of Maiyarap's plot.

The next morning, Rama told the dream to the wise Vibhishana, who realized its meaning. "A dangerous enemy will attack tonight, and we must all keep watch. No one is to sleep, nor even to close their eyes, until tomorrow dawns."

Hanuman then enlarged himself to an enormous size, wrapping his tail around the army camp like a giant wall, while Rama and Lakshmana hid inside his mouth. Night fell, but no one slept; they all kept watch as Vibhishana had ordered.

(Hanuman)

Yet there was nothing they could do to overcome Maiyarap's magical powder: the demon flew back and forth over the camp that night, casting the powder upon them. Soon they were all asleep, even Hanuman, whose mouth gaped open as he snored loudly. Maiyarap crept inside, grabbed Rama, and fled back to his underworld kingdom. There he locked Rama in a cage, together with his nephew Waijawik, vowing to kill them both the next day.

Hanuman to the Rescue

Rama's allies despaired when they awoke the next morning and saw that Rama was gone. Vibhishana warned Lakshmana that this might signal a new assault by Ravana, so Lakshmana sent Hanuman alone to rescue Rama, while he stayed behind to lead their forces for battle. Vibhishana then told Hanuman to look for the nine-petaled lotus that Rama had seen in his dream. "That lotus will lead you to Maiyarap," he promised. And with that, Hanuman flew off on his quest.

(lotus)

He soared through the sky until he saw it: a nine-petaled lotus floating in a pond. He descended, grabbed hold of the lotus, and pulled. Yet there was nothing to pull against; the lotus had no stem. "What mystery is this?" Hanuman wondered as he plunged into the pond. He found the stem half-buried in the mud, and then he shrank himself smaller and smaller until he could slither down inside.

Maiyarap's Kingdom

This was indeed the way into Maiyarap's underworld kingdom, and Hanuman was soon crawling not down, but up, emerging from the stem into the waters of another pond, a pond in the underworld. He leaped to the shore and found himself facing an armed warrior.

A monkey warrior.

A  monkey … with the tail of a fish.

Macchanu

As Hanuman stared in amazement, the strange warrior shouted, "Halt! The guardian of Maiyarap's pond commands you to yield." And with those words, he brandished a club tipped with a lotus flower.

"Surely you jest, little monkey," shouted Hanuman as he summoned his backbone trident. "I yield to no one!"

The Two Monkey-Warriors

And then they fought. The warrior matched Hanuman move for move on the land, and then they tumbled into the water, grappling with one another in the depths of the pond.

Hanuman and Macchanu

Hanuman leaped out of the water and shouted to his opponent, "Tell me who you are, warrior! And why is a valiant monkey like yourself in the service of a demon like Maiyarap?"

The monkey with the fish's tail rose up in the pond and replied, "I am Macchanu, son of Suvannamaccha, queen of the mermaids. My father is Hanuman, and Maiyarap is my foster-father. Who are you?"

Hanuman's heart filled with pride. "But I am Hanuman," he shouted. "And you are my son!"

Macchanu snorted. "That cannot be! My mother told me that Hanuman was a cosmic creature, a monkey-god able to breathe forth moons and stars."

And then Hanuman opened his mouth in a wide smile, breathing forth moons and stars which rose up into the strange sky of the underworld, adding their brightness to its subterranean twilight.

Father and Son

Macchanu stared, dumbfounded, and then looked back at Hanuman, bowing his head. "Father, I am yours to command."

"Just tell me where I can find Maiyarap's prisoner, Lord Rama," said Hanuman.

"Look for the well beside the banyan tree," Macchanu replied, "and wait for a woman to come draw water there; her eyes are green. That is Pirakuan, Maiyarap's sister, and she will help you get inside the stronghold. It is in fact Pirakuran whom I serve; she is a noble lady with a harsh husband. Tell her that I have sent you."

"Thank you, my son," replied Hanuman. "There is more to say, but now is not the time. I will be back, I promise."

"I will await you, my father," answered Macchanu. "But now go! You will find the well that way," and he pointed. Hanuman nodded in thanks and raced away, headed towards the banyan tree in the distance.

"My son," he thought to himself as he ran. "My son…"

[to be continued]

Author's Note. I thought I would be able to finish this story here, but it has turned into a two-parter. In the next part you will learn how Hanuman defeats Maiyarap and rescues Rama. I'm not sure what else I will include next time, but a reunion with Suvannamaccha might be possible! I wrote about her in this story: Hanuman and the Mermaid. As for Hanuman's backbone trident and breathing out stars, you can find out about that there: The Birth of Hanuman.

I did a lot of research into the story of Mahiravana/Maiyarap to get ready to write this, and you can find all those details here: Research for Maiyarap. I made some changes here, especially in shifting the quarrel from Maiyarap's mother to his sister Pirakuan since she is part of the story later. I've used the familiar Sanskrit names from the Ramayana, but the Thai names for the characters of the underworld: Maiyarap, Pirakuan, and his son Waijawik. Pirakuan's green eyes were something I threw in just for fun; I might change that to some other recognition token when I write the second part. Maybe Macchanu needs to give Hanuman a ring, like Rama gave Hanuman a ring as a token for Sita. I also made up the nine-petaled lotus being a sign from the dream, but traveling through the lotus stem was part of the traditional story.

The quarrel in the original has a great moment where Maiyarap smashes his lion-drawn chariot and kills his lions because he is so angry! There are also some wild details in the original about how the gods try to disrupt his magic ceremonies in addition to sending the premonitory dream to Rama, and there is a great way that Maiyarap tricks Rama's monkeys into thinking it is already dawn, but I couldn't find a way to squeeze that in. Maiyarap also has a dream about Waijawik usurping him; I might try to find a way to work that prophecy into it since his hatred of Waijawik has become part of the story too. I'll figure that out when I add the finale next time.

Bibliography. My main source for this story is The Ramakien: A prose translation of the Thai Ramayana by Ray Olsson (published in Bangkok in 1968). Online at Chulalongkorn University Library.