Sundara Kanda, Sarga 2

Meaning

Standing at ease on a slope of the Trikūṭa mountain, on having negotiated the inviolable sea, Hanumān, who was endowed with extraordinary might, surveyed Laṅkā: so the tradition goes. (1)

Meaning

Covered all over by a shower of blossoms discharged by the trees on all sides, the powerful monkey, Hanumān, looked as if consisting of flowers only. (2)

Meaning

Even on having covered a hundred Yojanas (eight hundred miles), the glorious Hanumān, who was endowed with prowess of the first magnitude, did not gasp for breath nor did he experience any fatigue. (3)

Meaning

He said to himself: ‘I am able to journey many hundreds of miles, to say nothing of reaching the opposite shore of a sea, which has been calculated as being at a distance of a hundred Yojanas only.’ (4)

Meaning

Having negotiated the vast sea, Hanumān, for his part, who was the foremost of powerful beings and a jewel among the monkeys, and was full of energy, reached Laṅkā. (5)

Meaning

He passed through dark green meadows and groves full of fragrance, nay, full of trees and full of honey too. (6)

Meaning

The glorious Hanumān, the foremost of monkeys, further coursed through mountains covered with trees and groves laden with blossom. (7)

Meaning

Stationed on that mountain, he saw forests and groves. That son of the wind-god, Hanumān, also beheld Laṅkā perched on the top of the mountain. (8)

Meaning

Hanumān, an elephant among the monkeys, further saw Saralas (a species of pine trees), and Karnikaras, as also date-palms in full blossom, Priyalas and muculindas (a species of oranges), Kūṭajas, also Ketakas and fragrant Priyangus (trees yielding long pepper as their fruit), Nipas (a species of Kadamba trees) as well as Saptacchadas, Asanas, Kovidaras and Karaviras in blossom as also trees adorned with a load of flowers as well as those bearing buds only, and which were crowded with birds and whose crests were being shaken by the wind, ponds abounding in swans and Karandavas (a species of duck) and carpeted with lotuses and water-lilies, lovely pleasure-groves of every description and lovely ponds of various kinds overspread by trees of every species, bearing fruit and flower in all seasons as also delightful gardens. (9—13)

Meaning

Duly arriving at the great and lovely city of Laṅkā, which was protected by Rāvaṇa, nay, was fringed with moats full of lotuses and water-lilies and was strongly guarded, ever since Sītā had been abducted and placed there, by the selfsame Rāvaṇa, as well as by other ogres armed with formidable bows ranging on every side; which was enclosed with a golden boundary wall and crowded with buildings lofty as mountains and resembling autumnal clouds; which was hemmed in with white-plastered and elevated roads, was crowded with hundreds of mansions and decorated with flags and pennons and was distinguished by wonderful golden archways adorned with rows of climbers—the glorious Hanumān surveyed Laṅkā even as a god would look at the city of gods. (14—18)

Meaning

That illustrious Hanumān saw Laṅkā perched on the summit of a mountain and distinguished by its sparkling white mansions as though it were a city moving in the airspace. (19)

Meaning

Nay, Hanumān beheld the city constructed by Viśwakarmā, the architect of gods, and protected by Rāvaṇa, the king of the ogres, as though it was sailing in the sky. (20)

Meaning

He further conceived Laṅkā, the city built by Viśwakarmā, as a woman evolved with his mind, with its buttress and enclosure as her hip and loins, the vast sea and the woods encircling the city for her raiment, the Śataghnīs* and Śūlas (spikes) for her locks and the mansions for her earrings. Reaching the northern gate, which looked like the gateway of the city of Alakā, the capital of Kubera, the god of riches, perched on Mount Kailāśa, the abode of Lord Śiva, which scraped the sky, as it were, by means of its tall mansions and supported the firmament, as it were, on its housetops, Hanumān fell abrooding. (21—23)

Meaning

Observing the city—which was overfull with fierce ogres as Bhogavatī, the capital of Pātāla, with Nāgas—was beyond conception and well-constructed, was clearly visible and had been occupied by Kubera in the past and was guarded by numerous gallant and terrible ogres distinguished by tusks and carrying spikes and Pattisas (a kind of sharp-edged spear) in their hands, even as a cavern by venomous serpents—as well as its mighty defences, as also the sea encircling it and thinking the formidable adversary in the form of Rāvaṇa, Hanumān reflected as follows : (24—26)

Meaning

‘The monkeys will prove of no avail even on coming here; for Laṅkā cannot be conquered in any case through warfare even by the gods. (27)

Meaning

‘What will Śrī Rāma, a scion of Raghu, of highly mighty arms do even on actually reaching this Laṅkā, which is surpassingly rugged and difficult of access and is protected by Rāvaṇa? (28)

Meaning

‘No possibility at all is perceived of winning over ogres through persuasion or gift nor of bringing them to their knees by sowing dissension among them nor again of reducing them to submission through warfare. (29)

Meaning

‘Only four agile monkeys, can actually reach this place, viz., Aṅgada (the son of Vāli), Nīla, the sagacious king Sugrīva and myself. (30)

Meaning

‘Meanwhile, I shall find out whether Sītā, a princess of the Videha territory, is alive or not. Having seen that daughter of King Janaka, I shall consider other points only then.’ (31)

Meaning

Stationed on that mountain peak, that elephant among the monkeys, Hanumān, pondered for a while the means of discovering Sītā in which lay the welfare of Śrī Rāma. (32)

Meaning

He said to Himself: ‘Laṅkā, the city of ogres, guarded as it is by ferocious and mighty ogres, cannot be entered by me in this form. (33)

Meaning

‘All the ogres, who are endowed with extraordinary energy and extraordinary prowess and are full of might, must be blindfolded by me while I continue to look about for Sītā, the daughter of Janaka. (34)

Meaning

‘In order to accomplish this great task it is advisable for me to enter the city of Laṅkā during the night in a form which cannot be directly perceived, but whose existence could be inferred by its exploits.’ (35)

Meaning

Beholding that city to be of the kind mentioned above and difficult to overcome even for gods and demons, and sighing again and again, Hanumān reflected as follows : (36)

Meaning

‘Through what device shall I be able to behold Sītā, daughter of King Janaka and a princess of Mithilā, myself remaining unperceived by the evil-minded Rāvaṇa, the ruler of the ogres? (37)

Meaning

‘How shall I be able to see the daughter of Janaka alone in secret with none else beside me, so that the cause of Śrī Rāma, the knower of the Self, may not be altogether lost? (38)

Meaning

‘Nay, even as darkness disappears at sunrise, objects which are all but accomplished are completely lost at the hands of a timid or thoughtless messenger when they are set in opposition to time and place. (39)

Meaning

‘Even a decision duly arrived at by a ruler in consultation with his ministers regarding what should be done and what should be refrained from, does not yield good results when implemented by a thoughtless messenger. Messengers fancying themselves clever, but really not so, bring to nought all undertakings on such occasions. (40)

Meaning

‘How should I act to ensure that the purpose may not be frustrated? How should I guard against thoughtlessness? And how, I wonder, should I ensure that my leaping across the sea does not go in vain? (41)

Meaning

‘If I am detected by the ogres, this project (in the shape of my being sent to Laṅkā) of Śrī Rāma, who is a knower of the Self, and who seeks the overthrow of Rāvaṇa, will miscarry. (42)

Meaning

‘It is not possible at this place for anyone to remain anywhere unknown by the ogres even in the disguise of an ogre, much less in any other form. (43)

Meaning

‘My belief is that even the wind cannot circulate here undetected. Certainly nothing here is unknown to the ogres of terrible deeds. (44)

Meaning

‘If I remain here in my native form, I shall certainly meet with destruction and the cause of my master will suffer. (45)

Meaning

‘Therefore, reduced to a small size, I shall penetrate into Laṅkā by night in my own form for carrying through the purpose of my master: (46)

Meaning

‘Entering by night the capital of Rāvaṇa, which is most difficult of access, and penetrating through every dwelling, I shall find out Janaka’s daughter.’ (47)

Meaning

Having resolved thus, Hanumān, the heroic monkey, who was eager to discover Sītā, a princess of the Videha territory, then longed for the sunset. (48)

Meaning

Nay, contracting his body at night, when the sun had actually set, the son of the wind-god assumed the size of a cat, strange to behold. (49)

Meaning

Springing up quickly at eventide, the powerful Hanumān proceeded to penetrate deep into the lovely city, whose highways had been symmetrically aligned, which was filled with rows of mansions, and with its golden pillars and golden lattice windows, it looked like the city of the Gandharvas. (50-51)

Meaning

He saw the great city from where he stood as distinguished by seven-storeyed and eight-storeyed mansions. Those dwellings of the ogres in this city shone brightly with their respective floors inlaid with crystal and gold, nay, studded with cat’s-eye gems and decorated with strings of pearls. (52-53)

Meaning

Wonderful archways of gold, erected by the ogres, also illumined Laṅkā, decorated on all sides. (54)

Meaning

Beholding Laṅkā, which was beyond all imagination and strange to look at, Hanumān, the great monkey, felt despondent and delighted too at the prospect of finding out Sītā, eager as he was to see Sītā, a princess of the Videha territory. (55)

Meaning

Presently he entered the glorious city, which was arrayed with rows of white interlaced seven-storeyed mansions, and conspicuous with gold—latticed archways of great value, nay, which was protected by Rāvaṇa and fully guarded by ogres of terrific might. (56)

Meaning

Rendering aid, as it were, to him and shining brightly with hosts of stars in their midst, nay, overspreading the worlds with the canopy of its light, the moon with its myriad rays made its appearance on the horizon. (57)

Meaning

That great hero among the monkeys gazed on the rising moon white as milk or a lotus-fibre, which was shining brightly with the splendour of a conch-shell and resembled a swan swimming in a lake. (58)