The Sanjeevani Episode: As described by Valmiki
As most know, there are many versions of the Ramayana. For example, the story of the squirrel is from the 14th century Saint Ranganatha’s Ramayana in Telugu and not part of the original Valmiki’s Ramayana. Similarly, perhaps the most popular of them all, the Lakshmana Rekha is not there in Valmiki’s Ramayana. Another extremely popular story is when Laxmana falls unconscious on account of Indrajit’s weapon, Hanuman goes in search of the Sanjeevani herb, and brings the entire mountain back to save Laxmana. Well, that’s not quite how Valmiki describes it. let me share how it is in the original Ramayana. Indrajit has Brahmastra given to him by Brahma as a boon. When he used it, it continued to inflict damage on the Vanara army for 4 parts of the day, and started to wane during the 5th part which is the evening. Apparently, according to Valmiki, the Brahmastra had killed and injured 67 Koti Vanaras! Among the severely injured were stalwarts like Jambavan, Sugriva, Angada, Nala, Neela,...