All alone in the forest, Sita broke down in tears and lamented, 'It is fate and the result of sins committed in my previous birth. More than being abandoned, the false stigma hurts me more. The insult is unbearable and I am keen to give up my life, but the progeny in my womb comes in the way!'
She was totally confused and her pitiable condition could even melt steel. Having heard her cry, Mahendra, assumed the form of a buffalo and came near her. Something in the eyes of the buffalo made her follow him. The buffalo lead her to the hermitage of sage Vajmrga, the treasure house of compassion. The heart of the sage melted the same way it had done when the krauncha bird had been pierced by the arrow of a Nishada. (Amazing co-incidence or it was Valmiki with a different name!)
The sage invited her to stay at the ashram as long as she liked. With passage of time she gave birth to a child, her only solace. At the time of delivery, the spouse of Mahendra helped her. The sage named the child Mankuta.
Sita was unable to accept that her son, the splitting image of her husband, was born in the forest. And her husband was not there to fondle his son; there was no music and dance to celebrate the event but only vedic chants. Restraining her sorrow she took out her ring and put it on the finger of her son. The only ornament she had.
She carried her son and left him next to the sage who was deep in meditation and went to the river to bathe. On the way Sita saw female monkeys jumping from one tree to another, holding their young ones on to their bosoms. Worried, Sita asked them how they could do this. There was a danger of the babies falling down. The monkeys laughingly replied that they were more careful as the babies were with them. Not like her, who had left her baby in the care of a sage who was in meditation with his eyes closed.
Sita heard those well-reasoned words from the monkeys and felt ashamed. She immediately went back and picked her son up and went to the river. Later the sage opened his eyes and not seeing the child was worried. He thought that the loss would break her heart and created a new child resembling the previous one. As he was about to give it life, Sita returned with her son.
Surprised he asked her how the baby was with her now, while she had left it under his care. She recounted the story of the monkeys and the reason why she took away the baby from the hut. She asked the sage about the figure of the baby with him and what he wanted to do with it. He told her that he made it for her thinking she would not be able to bear to live separated from her child, especially after being separated from her husband. Now that she was with her baby, he would give up the idea.
Sita requested him to infuse life into the figure as the other boy would become a playmate for her son. Accordingly the sage gave life to the figure and named him Lava. Sita, delighted touched the feet of the sage in reverence and brought them up with care.
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