Three Striped Palm Squirrel (also known as Indian Palm Squirrel) is a small rodent found abundantly to the south of Vindhyas. If the legend is true, it is during the Ramayana days that the squirrel acquired its trademark three stripes. The story goes like this.
Prior to the war, the vanara-sena consisting of monkeys and bears were busy building the bridge to Lanka. The construction was heavy-duty work. Some monkeys noticed a squirrel running back and forth in the construction site. They got curious and tried to observe what the squirrel was up to. The little brown squirrel dipped in the sea and rolled on the sands till its body was fully covered with sand. It then ran to the site of construction and shook the sand off its body and ran back to get the next ‘load’ of sand. Another version of the story says that it carried little pebbles in the mouth. In any case, the impact of its work was minimal; but the little squirrel went about the routine in full earnest. The monkeys found it amusing and started to mock the squirrel and the bears soon joined them in the act. The squirrel was quite upset in being teased and ran straight to Rama to complain. It had to stand tall on its little feet and shout to make itself heard to Rama – quite tall compared to the rodent. Rama heard the squirrel and his heart melted seeing tears in its eyes. He acknowledged the contribution of the squirrel, however small it was, in his efforts to bring Sita back. Rama ran his fingers on the back of the animal as a gesture of acknowledgement. That movement of Rama’s fingers earned the squirrel its stripes, which are carried even today by the three striped palm squirrels.
This story which highlights the importance of recognising the contribution of everyone in an endeavour, however big or small the impact may be, does not appear in the Valmiki Ramayanam. Its source is believed to be one of the South Indian versions of Ramayana.
Prior to the war, the vanara-sena consisting of monkeys and bears were busy building the bridge to Lanka. The construction was heavy-duty work. Some monkeys noticed a squirrel running back and forth in the construction site. They got curious and tried to observe what the squirrel was up to. The little brown squirrel dipped in the sea and rolled on the sands till its body was fully covered with sand. It then ran to the site of construction and shook the sand off its body and ran back to get the next ‘load’ of sand. Another version of the story says that it carried little pebbles in the mouth. In any case, the impact of its work was minimal; but the little squirrel went about the routine in full earnest. The monkeys found it amusing and started to mock the squirrel and the bears soon joined them in the act. The squirrel was quite upset in being teased and ran straight to Rama to complain. It had to stand tall on its little feet and shout to make itself heard to Rama – quite tall compared to the rodent. Rama heard the squirrel and his heart melted seeing tears in its eyes. He acknowledged the contribution of the squirrel, however small it was, in his efforts to bring Sita back. Rama ran his fingers on the back of the animal as a gesture of acknowledgement. That movement of Rama’s fingers earned the squirrel its stripes, which are carried even today by the three striped palm squirrels.
This story which highlights the importance of recognising the contribution of everyone in an endeavour, however big or small the impact may be, does not appear in the Valmiki Ramayanam. Its source is believed to be one of the South Indian versions of Ramayana.
