Please note that there are different versions of this folktale and that it also exists in other cultural mythologies.

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THE MERMAID PRINCESS / SUVANNAMACCHA

When Sita is kidnapped, Rama, her husband, asks Hanuman to help rescue her. Hanuman learns that Sita is being held captive on Lanka, an island. He tells Rama, who orders him to build a causeway from India to Sri Lanka so Rama's army can attack.

Hanuman collects the Vanaras and they begin throwing boulders into the sea to make the foundation for the causeway. After a few days, they notice something is amiss and they call Hanuman to report this issue. They inform him that every day they throw rocks into the sea, they disappear the following day.

Hanuman begins asking for volunteers to join him while he instructs others to continue throwing rocks into the sea. Several volunteers step forward and Hanuman leads them into the waves. They find there is a large number of mermaids underwater. They watch a new rock being tossed in and then the mermaids take the rocks and carry them away. Hanuman searches for their leader.

He finds a beautiful mermaid instructing the others, and swim towards her, but she evades him. Every time he begins an attack, it comes to nothing. Hanuman soon finds himself falling in love with the mermaid leader. He changes his tactics and decides to woo her. She responds to him, and they find themselves together at the bottom of the sea. Soon after, Hanuman asks the mermaid why she's stealing rocks. She says she's Suvannamaccha, a daughter of Ravana (the demon who abducted Sita). When Ravana saw the Vanaras building the causeway, he told Suvannamaccha to stop it. Hanuman proceeds to explain why he's building the causeway.

Suvannamaccha, now in love with Hanuman, said she would no longer prevent Hanuman from completing his task. Her mermaids returned all the stolen rocks to the causeway and while they parted as lovers, it wasn't the end for them as Suvannamaccha would later give birth to their son, Macchanu.

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