Dining Out at Lake Pampa: The Shabari Episode in Multiple Ramayanas Philip Lutgendorf, University of Iowa Tasting one after another, he says, "This one's even sweeter!" He gazes at them and gushes, "Here, Lakshmana, take one." The Shabari keeps on handing him ber after ber after ber, and Raghubir keeps singing out for, "Ber, more ber!" - Rasikbihari 1 1. Appetizers (Valmiki and other literary Ramayanas) Near the end of Valmiki's forest book (Aranyakanda), Rama and Lakshmana, wandering in search of Sita, are directed westward by a celestial being whom they have just liberated from a grotesque demonic form. His name, Kabandha or "belly," described him well, for a sage's curse and a god's wrath had reduced him to an enormous stomach equipped only with a mouth and two huge arms with which he grasped and devoured everything within reach. A vestige of this voracious appetite persists even after his arms have been hewn off by the brothers and his body (by his own instruction) immolated in a pit, permitting him to regain his former gandharva shape; for in describing the path ahead, he lingers over its gustatory delights. Noting the many varieties of fruit trees that 1