Lord Rama was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and therefore like all humans, his stay on the earth was only for a certain time. When the moment came for him to leave this world and return to the heavens, though, his most faithful servant Hanuman would not let Yama, the lord of Death, come near. Hanuman was not just an ordinary monkey; long ago, he had been blessed by the Sun with special powers, and so Yama was not able to conduct Rama on his destined path.

When Rama understood the situation, he took a ring from his finger and let it fall through a crack in the floor. Then he asked Hanuman to retrieve it for him.

Hanuman was far too large to fit through the crack, and so he transformed himself into a beetle, and then descended into the crack in search of the ring.

Down and down crawled Hanuman, until he came to the land of Vasuki, the great snake deity who had lent himself to be used as a rope in the churning of the vast ocean of milk, from which had come the blessings and the poisons of the world.

Hanuman asked Vasuki about the ring of Lord Rama, and the Snake God showed him a vast dome filled with rings.

“What is the meaning of this?” asked Hanuman.

“These are all the rings of your Master,” Vasuki replied. “So many times he has come, and surely so many more he will come again.”

Then Hanuman understood that he should no longer prevent Lord Yama from his duty, and in this way the death of Lord Rama was accomplished.