Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.139

c9.139

13) *Stay at Pañcavaṭī.* Pañcavaṭī was on the southern bank of the Godāvarī. Five vaṭas (peepal trees) of the same size stood in a circle, and so the place was called Pañcavaṭī. (See under Pañcavaṭī). Śrī Rāma decided to build his āśrama at the centre of those trees. Lakṣmaṇa cut down an ebony tree there to put up a parṇaśālā (hut). At once the log disappeared and the dead body of a Rākṣasa youth was found there. It was the corpse of Śambhukumāra, son of Śūrpaṇakhā. He was performing tapas there to propitiate Śiva when he was overcome by the beauty of Sītā and to look at her from a hidden spot he had assumed the form of the ebony tree. It was him that Lakṣmaṇa had cut down. Śrī Rāma understood the situation and explained to his wife and brother about the trickeries of the Rākṣasas. Then the parṇaśālā was constructed and they lived there. Hearing about the coming of Rāma all the sages of the Daṇḍaka forest visited them. They lived in Pañcavaṭī for thirteen years.