RAAMA SLAYS THE MONSTERS

Rama, who listened to this, asked the sage: "You say she is a Yaksha. I have never heard that Yakshas are particularly strong. What is more, how does a woman happen to possess so much strength?"

Viswaamitra replied: "You are asking a very pertinent question. Her strength comes from a boon granted by Brahma. There lived a Yaksha by name Suketu. Having no progeny he performed tapas and won a boon from Brahma thus: 'You will have a beautiful daughter of great strength of body, but you will have no son.' Suketu's daughter, Taataka, beautiful and strong, was married to Sunda, a Yaksha, and their child is Maareecha.

"Sunda at one time incurred Sage Agastya's curse and died. Provoked by this, Taataka and Mapreecha pounced on gastya who cursed them to be monsters living on the carcases of men. So Taataka is now an ugly monster.

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