Bala Kanda, Chapter 17

Brahma orders Gods to spawn forest-rangers, Vanaras

When Vishnu attained the sonship of the great-souled king Dashratha, then Brahma the self-created addressed all of the gods this way.

"Let mighty and guise changing helpmates be procreated to that truth abiding and valorous Vishnu who is the well-wisher of all of us.

"Let monkey-shaped progeny equalling Vishnu's valour be procreated from the physiques of prominent apsara-s and gandharva-s, from the girls of yaksha-s and pannaga-s, and also thus from the bodies of kinnaraa-s, she-vidyaadharaa-s, she-riksha-s and she-monkeys, and they shall be wizards of miracles and audacious ones, in travel they shall have air's speed, bestowed with intellect they shall be the knowers of ideation, and with their divine physique they shall be ineliminable, they shall be endowed with all the assaultive aspects of all missiles, and they shall be untiring in their efforts, like you who thrive on amrita, the ambrosia, unmindful of thirst and hunger.

"I have already created the eminent bear Jambavanta in earlier times, as he suddenly came forth from my yawning face.

When Brahma addressed them thus, those gods have agreed to his order and accordingly started to parent sons in the semblance of monkeys.

The great-souled celestial groups, namely the sages, siddha-s, vidyaadharaa-s, caarana-s have created valiant sons that are forest rangers.

Indra procreated the lord of vanara-s, namely Vali, who by his physique is like Mt. Mahendra, and the highest humidifier among all the humidifiers, namely the Sun, procreated Sugreeva.

Brihaspati, the Jupiter, gave rise to a great monkey named Tara, who is the most important one among all vanara-s, and who excels all by his intelligence.

The brilliant Gandhamaadana is the son of Kubera, while the divine architect Vishvakarma procreated the great monkey called Nala.

The bright son of Fire is Neela whose blaze is like that of fire and who excels other monkeys by his in resplendence, renown and courage.

The Ashwin twin gods whose wealth is their beautiful appearance have personally procreated two vanara-s namely Mainda and Dvivida, blessing them with beautiful appearance.

The Rain-god procreated the vanara named Susheshana, and Thunder-god gave rise to the great mighty Sharabha.

The direct son of Air-god is the marvellous and adventurous Hanumana with an indestructible body, and one identical in the speed of lady Vinata's son, namely Garuda, the divine eagle vehicle of Vishnu, and among all monkey chiefs he is the intelligent and the indefatigable one too.

Thus the gods have procreated many thousands of such valorous and guise changing monkeys who with their immeasurable strength and bravery are manifest for the elimination of the decahedral demon Ravana.

And they with their elephantine, mountainous and prodigious bodies quickly took birth in bears, monkeys, sacred langoors.

Those that are procreated have attained the shape, getup and valour of the god that has fathered them, and thus the monkey race is procreated separately and individually.

Some of the vanara-s endowed with superior valour are born to female langoors, and like that some more to female bears and kinnaraa-s.

Several of the gods, great-sages, gandharva-s, eagles, yaksha-s, and the celebrated reptiles, kimpusha-s, siddha-s, vidyaadharaa-s, uraga-s and caarana-s and even the prominent maidens of apsara-s, she-vidyaadharaa-s, naaga, gandharva-s then gladly procreated all of the thousands of forest-ranging and valiant vanara sons from their bodies that are forest rangers.

They are endowed with guise changing faculties, with bodily might and by their pride and might are identical to lions and tigers, and they are born-free in their movement in forests.

All of them are the assaulters with stones, and all are the attackers with trees, and all have their nails and claws as their weapons, yet all are experts in missiles.

They can rock greatest mountains, rip firm rooted trees, and with their speed they can agitate the of lord of rivers, namely the ocean.

They can shatter the ground with their two feet, leap and cross over great oceans, and they can seize the clouds entering arch of heaven.

They can catch ruttish elephants that tumultuously move in forests, and just with the sound of their blare they make sky flying birds to fall.

Thus the gods and others have procreated millions of such noble souled Vaanaras as the chiefs of warriors who can change their guise at their wish.

Those vanara generals who took birth thus became the prominent generals among the principle battalions of monkeys, and they have also procreated brave monkeys on their own.

Some thousands of them stayed on the ridges of Mt. Riskshavat while others reached many kinds of other mountains and forests.

All of the monkeys stood by the brothers, namely the son of Indra Vali, and the son of sun Sugreeva, and even with the monkey generals like Nala, Neela and Hanumana et al.

All of those who are well-versed in warfare and endowed with the might of divine eagle Garuda, used to thwart the pride of lions, tigers and great snakes just by their own prideful subjugation while they move about the forests.

He who is adroit, extremely mighty, and highly indomitable, that Vali protected bears, langoors, and monkeys just by the strength of his arms.

The earth with its mountains, forests and oceanward places is overspread with those brave ones that possess diverse physiques and peculiar indication marks of their stock.

The earth is thus suffused with those mighty army generals of Vanara race whose physiques resembled the clusters of clouds and peaks of mountains, and who have emerged for the reason of helping Rama.