Sundara Kanda, Sarga 4

Meaning

Having subdued by dint of his superior prowess Laṅkā, the ogress presiding over that most excellent city, able to take any form at will, the jewel among the monkeys, Hanumān, who was endowed with extraordinary energy and great virility, leapt over the defensive wall without passing through the gate; and the elephant-like monkey, endowed as he was with exceptional courage, entered Laṅkā by night. (1-2)

Meaning

Nay, having penetrated deep into the city of Laṅkā, Hanumān, who was in the habit of doing acts of service to Sugrīva, the king of monkeys, thereby actually placed his left foot, as it were, on the head of his foes. (3)

Meaning

Taking the main road, which looked bright with flowers strewn along it, now that he had definitely made good his entry into the city by night, the said monkey, for his part, who was an offspring of the wind-god and was full of courage, then headed towards that lovely city of Laṅkā. The delightful city looked charming with its excellent houses, which resounded with exquisite peals of laughter preceded by the sound of musical instruments, were marked with figures of thunderbolts and goads and adorned with lattice—windows of diamonds, even as the sky looks charming with clouds. (4—6)

Meaning

Laṅkā shone brightly at that time with the magnificent and wonderful mansions belonging to the hosts of ogres, and resembling white clouds and of designs known by the name of Padma* and Swastika and also of the pattern called Vardhamāna, all of which were profusely decorated on all sides. Ranging in the interest of Śrī Rāma, a scion of Raghu, Hanumān, the glorious one, who was wont to do a good turn to Sugriva, the ruler of monkeys, surveyed that city decorated with wonderful wreaths and jewels and rejoiced. Going from house to house, the elephant-like monkey, Hanumān, beheld on every side buildings of various shapes and forms and heard melodious songs embellished by notes of higher, medium and lower pitches (uttered from the three different centres viz., the cerebrum, the throat and the heart, respectively). (7—10)

Meaning

He also heard the tinkling of ornaments with tiny bells worn round the waist as well as the jingling sound of anklets of women stung with love, who vied with celestial nymphs, as also the footfalls of those going upstairs and downstairs in the houses of high-minded ogres, nay, the sound of clapping of arms by way of challenge prior to or during a wrestling bout and the roar of heroes competing in a duel everywhere. (11-12)

Meaning

He actually heard there the sound of those muttering sacred formulas in the dwellings of the ogres and also observed Yātudhānas (a class of ogres) engaged in the study of the Vedas. (13)

Meaning

He further saw ogres united for the purpose of glorifying Rāvaṇa and roaring, and a large crowd of ogres which stood blocking the road on all sides. (14)

Meaning

In the central zone of the city he perceived numerous spies of the ogre Rāvaṇa, some of whom were disguised as householders initiated into yogic practices, others as anchorites wearing matted locks on their head, still others as recluses with shaven heads and others as ascetics wearing the hide of cows or deerskin or stark naked having no covering other than space. (15)

Meaning

He saw them carrying a handful of the sacred Kuṣa grass as a weapon to ward off evil spirits, or a fire-vessel for pouring oblations into it to invoke malevolent spirits, also as a weapon for protection against enemies, or bearing hammers and clubs and also holding staffs as weapons. (16)

Meaning

He beheld spies who were one-eyed or had a multi-coloured complexion, were pot-bellied or with pendent breasts, were hideous with crooked faces, fierce or dwarfish. (17)

Meaning

He saw them armed with a bow or sword, Śataghni or pestle, carrying an excellent Parigha (a club tipped with iron) or effulgent in curious armour. (18)

Meaning

He found some of them neither very stout nor too lean, neither very tall nor very short-statured, neither very fair nor very dark-complexioned, neither very humpbacked nor dwarfish. (19)

Meaning

He also found them ugly or able to assume many forms, with a comely form or endowed with great brilliance, carrying banners or pennons or bearing all kinds of weapons. (20)

Meaning

That great monkey, Hanuman, saw them carrying a javelin or a tree for a weapon or bearing a Pattisa (a kind of spear with a sharp edge) or thunderbolt and holding a sling or a noose in their hand. (21)

Meaning

He also saw many wearing a garland and smeared with sandal-paste, adorned with excellent jewels and dressed in various garbs and ranging about at will. (22)

Meaning

He further saw them carrying sharp edged pikes, armed with thunderbolt and endowed with extraordinary might. Hanumān also saw the central garrison, one hundred thousand strong, lodged in a huge building in front of the royal gynaeceum as directed by Rāvaṇa, the suzerain lord of ogres. Having seen on that occasion the aforesaid building in which the garrison was housed with large golden archways, that mighty Hanumān beheld the well-known palace of Rāvaṇa, the lord of ogres, erected on the summit of Mount Trikūṭa, girded by a number of moats adorned with white lotuses. Hanumān approached the wonderful and well-protected gynaeceum of Rāvaṇa, the suzerain lord of ogres, which resembled paradise and was resonant with marvellous sounds, which was rendered noisy with the neighing of horses and the tinkling of ornaments, whose portals looked charming with the presence of chariots and other conveyances such as palanquins as well as with aerial cars such as Puṣpaka, as also with beautiful horses and elephants, nay, with four-tusked elephants decked with jewels and resembling masses of white clouds as well as with birds and deer in heat, and which was guarded by thousands of exceptionally powerful Yatudhānas. (23—29)

Meaning

The celebrated Hanumān finally entered the gynaeceum of Rāvaṇa, which was encircled with walls of refined gold and pure gold (so-called because it was found in the olden days in the bed of the Jambu river, now known by the name of Jammu); whose inside was embellished with pearls and gems of great value and which was daily sprinkled with water containing superb agallocum and sandalwood. (30)