Shabari

The ashram of Matanga

After Jatayu’s death, Rama and Lakshmana searched the forest for Sita. There they met a strange being named Kabandha, who was freed from a curse when the brothers fought him and cremated his body. He had once been a shining being, and his frightening form was the result of that curse. Before rising to heaven, Kabandha told Rama to go to Lake Pampa, make friends with the vanara Sugriva and visit the ashram of Matanga on the way.

Kabandha described that ashram. The disciples of the sage Matanga had lived there. When they carried loads of forest produce for their teacher, drops of sweat fell from their bodies to the ground, and by the power of their penance those drops became flowers that never fade. The sages had long since gone, but one woman of their ashram still lived there: the ascetic Shabari.

Kabandha said that Shabari was devoted to dharma and that after seeing Rama she would go to heaven. He also described the beauty of Lake Pampa, with its clear water, lotuses and many birds. Rama and Lakshmana set out at once for the western shore of Pampa.

Years of waiting

Shabari had served the sages of Matanga’s ashram for many years. She lived simply, wearing bark garments and a deerskin, her hair matted like a hermit’s. She looked after her teachers with devotion, and through her service and penance she became a siddha, a perfected soul. Even after her teachers had gone, she stayed on alone, keeping their ashram holy.

When Rama was living at Chitrakuta, her teachers rose to the heavenly worlds in shining chariots. Before leaving they told her, “Rama will come to this holy ashram. Welcome him and Lakshmana as your guests. When you have seen him, you will go to the imperishable worlds.” From that day Shabari waited for Rama, and she gathered many kinds of forest fruits growing on the shores of Pampa to offer him.

Rama comes

At last Rama and Lakshmana reached the lovely ashram. When Shabari saw them, she rose at once with folded hands and touched the feet of Rama and of wise Lakshmana. She offered them water to wash their feet and to sip, and welcomed them in the proper way, as her teachers had taught her. Her long wait had come to an end.

Rama spoke to her kindly, asking about her life as one asks a respected sage. “Have you overcome every obstacle? Does your penance grow? Have you kept control over anger and food? Have your vows been kept, and is your mind at peace? Has your service to your teachers borne fruit?”

Shabari replied, “Today, by seeing you, my penance is fulfilled. Today my birth has borne fruit and my service to my teachers is complete. By your grace I will go to the higher worlds.” Then she told him of her teachers’ promise and offered him the forest fruits she had gathered for him. They were simple gifts, but they had been gathered with love and kept ready through her long wait.

The holy forest of her teachers

Rama said, “I have heard from Kabandha about the greatness of your teachers. If you agree, I would like to see it with my own eyes.” Shabari happily led the brothers through Matanga’s forest. She showed them the altar where her teachers, in their old age, had made their offerings with trembling hands, which still shone with the power of their penance.

She showed them another wonder: the seven seas, which the sages had called to that place by the power of their minds when they had grown too weak from fasting to go out and bathe. The bark garments they had washed still hung on the trees, not yet dry, and the lotus garlands they had offered to the gods had not faded.

Then Shabari said, “You have seen this whole forest. Now, with your permission, I wish to leave this body and go to those great souls whom I served.” Rama, deeply pleased, said, “You have honoured me. Go happily wherever you wish.”

Her journey to the higher worlds

With Rama’s permission, Shabari, in her matted hair, bark garments and deerskin, offered herself into the sacred fire. She rose from it in a shining heavenly form, dressed in divine clothes, ornaments and garlands, lighting up the whole place like a flash of lightning. Then she went to the holy world where her great teachers lived.

Rama was filled with wonder. He told Lakshmana that they had seen a holy and wonderful place, and that now they should go to Pampa, for Sugriva lived nearby on Rishyamuka mountain. It was the curse of this same sage Matanga that kept Vali away from Rishyamuka and made it a safe home for Sugriva. Their meeting with Shabari was the last step before Rama found the friends who would help him find Sita.

Character and qualities

Shabari had no kingdom, no army and no wealth. What she had was faithful service, a simple life and a heart that never stopped waiting for Rama. Rama, a prince, treated her with great respect, asked about her penance as he would ask a great sage, and accepted her welcome with love.

Valmiki calls her a siddha, a perfected one. Her story shows that in Rama’s eyes true greatness lies in devotion, purity and service, not in birth, riches or position. Rama did not ask about her family or her birth; he asked only about her penance and her vows.