Lord Kodom was the ruler of Saged kingdom. He didn't have a Son to be Heir to the throne, and his daughter was rather disinterested and bored with the idea of power and posessions. Thus, the lord Kodom ordained as a Ruesi Hermit sage and journeyed out into the forest, where he remained practising austerities, and keeping precepts for many years. So long did he stay there, that his beard became extremely long and unruly; tangled like a bale of straw, and his ability in Jhana meditation became very advanced.
One day, a pair of birds (Nok Grajaab), came and made their nest in the Ruesi Kodom's tangled beard. One day, the female bird laid eggs in the nest, and the male bird flewout to hunt for prey, and spent the whole day pecking at lotuses to eat the pollen. As he was pecking inside one of the flowers, the sun went down, and the lotus closed on the bird, imprisoning him until dawn. When dawn came, the lotu flower opened to recieve the sunlight, and the bird was able to fly up and away home. As he arrived, the female bird accued him of being unfaithful and that she thought he had spent the night with another bird. The male bird denied the accusation, and told the truth of the matter; that he had been trapped inside a lotus flower all night. But the female bird did not believe him, so to assure her, the male bird said that if he was lying, then he should recieve all the bad karma of the past actions of the Ruesi Kodom as his own.
The Ruesi heard this being said by the bird, and thus commented; "You are prepared to take on the results of my Karma? Then you think i should have some bad karma sticking to me do you?" The bird replied "Yes! you have bad Karma, because you are the ruler of a Kingdom with no Heir, and ran away to become a hermit Ruesi, leaving the Kingdom to be without a ruler in future". Upon hearing this, Lord Kodom saw the truth of the matter, and thus cut off his beard and long hair, burning it in a fire. He then sat in meditation of Jhana absorbtion and cast a Kata (mantra) incantation, chanting it one thousand times; A beautiful maiden was born from the flames of the fire, and the Lord Kodom named her Kala Acana. Kala Acana then remained with the Ruesi until a child was born from them. The child was a daughter named "Swaha" (Nang Swaha was later to become the Mother of Hanuman).
Some years later, The Lord Indra (Phra Intr) became aware that the Yaksa Nontuk had been reborn on Earth as the demon Totsagan, and that Phra Narayn (Vishnu) was about to be reborn as Phra Ram (Rama). So he thought of incarnating too in the form of a soldier, in order to help Phra Ram defeat Totsagan. As he made this decision, the Ruesi Kodom was gathering fruits in the forest and at a distance from his wife Nang Kala Acana, so Phra Intr flew down and snatched her, taking her as his consort for a while and consummating to inseminate her. After 10 months, a baby boy was born, green skinned like his father Phra Intr.
After some time "Phra Atidt" (Phra Atidt means "Sun" in Thai, but is also a deity in the Ramakian), got the same idea as Phra Intr, and decided to incarnate a part of his self to become a soldier in aid of Phra Ram to help defeat Totsagan. So once more, as the Ruesi Kodom was gathering fruits in the forest and at a distance from his wife Nang Kala Acana, Phra Atidt flew down and snatched her, taking her as his consort for a while and consummating to inseminate her. After 10 months, a baby boy was born, red skinned like his father Phra Atidt.
Some years later, the Ruesi Kodom took his wife and children to bathe in the riverbank to coll off from the heat; he carried his youngest son under his right arm,and his daughter walked holding his lef hand. His oldest son was allowed to ride on his back. His daughter, Nang Swaha exclaimed in protest "Father! Why do you love the children of another?" "What do you mean my love?", asked the Ruesi, confused. "As you were in the forest, there were two men came and stayed in the Kuti (shed) with mother".
The Ruesi Kodom thus desired to know for sure which of the children were his real children, and which were born of another father, so he performed a divination ceremony, along with the casting of a spell; "Let my real child be able to swim across the river and return to me, but let those who are not born of my seed be unable to swim across, and also be turned into monkeys and remain in the forest!". As he cast the spell, he threw the three children across the river into the water at the far shore.Nang Swaha was able to swim back, but the two boys were unable to make it, and transformed into monkeys, fleeing into the forest. Phra Intr and Phra Atidt saw the Ruesi Kodom curse their children to suffer as monkeys in the forest, and thus created a city for them to rule in. This city was called "Kheed Khin"; Phra Intr's son was named "Kaakaas" (Other sources say it was "Pali") and was the ruler, and Phra Atidt's son was named "Sukreep" and was the the general, ruling over the cohorts of Vanora soldiers, who were great in numbers.
Sukreep later played an important role in the battle against the Yaksa king Totsagan on the side of Phra Ram, alongside Hanuman.
When the Ruesi Kodom returned to the Guti, he was so angry with Nang Kala Acana, that he cursed her and turned her into stone - sending her to remain under the ocean.After a long time, Phra Narayn came down to Earth from Heaven, and took the stone from under the Ocean and placed it along the road that crossed to Langka. Nang Kala Acana was thus released from her curse.Nang Kala Acana was so infuriated with her daughter Nang Swaha for telling her father Ruesi Kodom about her infidelity, that she subsequently cursed her to stand on one leg like a tree branch in the forest, with her mouth wide open and consume only air. Only when she should give birth to a child that was a monkey should she be released.
Go to Part Two of Ruesi Kodom (The Fathering of Hanuman)
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