Udutha Sahaayam (The Squirrel's help)

 

The first Telugu adaptation of Ramayana was by the famous poet Ranganatha - also known as Gona Budda Reddy - between 1300 and 1310 AD; Ranganatha Ramayana,  is famous for introducing the fabled squirrel incident. In Andhra Pradesh, even today people use the phrase “Udutha sahaayam”(Squirrel’s assistance) and  “Udutha Bhakti”(Squirrel’s devotion) to denote a small effort,  which makes a difference because it has been done with sincerity and so helps in achieving a big cause.

 

Sri Ram needed the help of Lakshmana, Hanuman, Sugriva and the entire Vanara Sena (the monkey army) to rescue Sita from Raavana. To reach Lanka; they had to cross eighty miles of sea in The Indian Ocean.  On the command of their leader Sugriva, Vanara Sena began to build a bridge across the ocean.Thousands of Vanaras or monkeys worked very hard to complete the bridge. The monkeys dug out huge rocks and heavy stones from the mountains, carried them to the sea and dropped them in the ocean with great difficulty and with great diligence went about the task of building Rama Sethu or Rama’s bridge from Dhanushakodi to the North-Western coast of Sri Lanka. 

One day, Ram noticed a small brown squirrel, which was picking up pebbles in his mouth on the seashore and dropping them between the rocks that the vanaras were dropping in the sea. The squirrel would then go back to the beach and roll in the sand so that it stuck to his wet body, come back on to the bridge and shake out the sand on the stones that were being put in place by the monkeys. He did this again and again.

While doing this, the squirrel came in the way of a great monkey, who was carrying a large heavy stone on his back and caused the vanara to stumble.

The monkey jumped back. “Hey, you little creature!” shouted the monkey in a voice like thunder, “You’re in my way, I nearly fell!  I stepped back so you’re alive now. What are you doing here?”

“Brother Monkey, I apologize for coming in your way but Brother, you should also take care to look where you are going.  I am only trying to help Lord Rama build his bridge, I feel very sad for him,” said the Squirrel in a soft voice.

“You, what?” shouted the monkey and laughed aloud. “Did you hear that!” he said to the other monkeys. “This squirrel is building a bridge with his pebbles. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I’ve never heard anything funnier in my life.” The other monkeys laughed too.

The squirrel was not amused and said, “Look, my heart cries out for Ram and I am doing what I can for Him. I can’t carry mountains or rocks because God gave me only little strength. I can only carry pebbles and sand but I want to help.”

The monkeys said, “Don’t be foolish! Do you think you can help Ram? Do you think you can build a bridge with pebbles? He has a big army to help him. Go home and don’t get in our way!”

“But I too want to do what little I can,” said the squirrel and refused to go. He carried the pebbles again and again from the shore to the sea. The monkeys were angry and one of them picked up the squirrel by his tail and flung him high into the air. 

The squirrel, crying out the name of Ram, fell into Ram’s hands. Ram held the squirrel tenderly in the palms of his hands and said to the monkeys, “It is wrong to tease the weak and the small! One’s actions and one’s prowess are not as significant as one’s love. This little squirrel has a magnanimous heart filled with love and compassion.”

“O Vanaras, you are valiant and physically powerful! You are indeed completing a brilliant task carrying all these huge boulders and stones from far and dropping them in the ocean. But can you not see that it is the tiny pebbles and stones brought by this small squirrel which are filling the small gaps between the huge stones? Do you not realize that sand brought by this squirrel is binding the whole bridge and making it strong? How can you scold this small creature and fling him in anger!”

Hearing this, the Vanaras were ashamed, and bowed down their heads while Lord Ram continued, “Always remember, however small, every task is equally important. Any huge task can never be completed by the most important people alone. Support of all, large and small is needed for any job! So all effort, no matter how small or how negligible, should always be appreciated!”

Ram then turned to the squirrel and said softly, “My dear squirrel, I am sorry my army teased you and hurt you.  Your help is very useful so please continue your work cheerfully.” He gently stroked the back of the squirrel with his fingers and when Lord Ram put the squirrel down there were three white stripes on his back. These were the caress marks of Lord Ram’s fingers. Even today you see these stripes on the backs of the squirrels in India and neighbouring countries.