Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 39

Meaning

Having passed that night on the said Suvela mountain, the valiant monkey generals surveyed the woods and groves of Laṅkā. (1)

Meaning

They were amazed to find them level and free from molestation by beasts of prey, lovely, long, extensive and agreeable to behold. (2)

Meaning

Thick with Campaka, Aśoka, Bakula, sal and palmyra trees, nay, covered with groves of Tamāla trees and surrounded with rows of Nāgakesara trees, Laṅkā looked charming on all sides like the city of Amarāvatī ruled over by Indra, the ruler of gods, with green grassy spots and charming avenues as well as with beautiful trees of various kinds, viz., Hintāla, Arjuna, Nīpa and Saptaparṇa in full blossom, Tilaka, Karṇikāra and Pāṭala whose crests were laden with flowers and which were intertwined with climbers, nay, which were laden with diverse flowers and clothed with red tender leaves. (3—6)

Meaning

The trees in that city bore fragrant and most lovely flowers and fruits in the same way as human beings wear ornaments. (7)

Meaning

Vying with Caitraratha (the garden of Kubera, the god of riches) and resembling Nandana (the garden of Indra, the ruler of gods), the principal garden of Laṅkā—which was lovely and delightful to the mind, green in all seasons and full of bees—looked charming with gallinules, lapwings, herons and dancing peacocks. The warbling of cuckoos was also heard in that garden abounding in cascades. (8-9)

Meaning

Moving from that mountain-top the valiant monkeys, who were able to change their form at will and felt highly rejoiced and thrilled with joy, entered the aforesaid groves and gardens, which were inhabited by birds constantly in heat and frequented by bees, whose clusters of trees were crowded with cuckoos, nay, which were rendered noisy by birds and filled with the music of fork-tailed drongoes and the cries of ospreys, and which resounded with the noise of wagtails and the cries of cranes. As the monkeys, who were all endowed with extraordinary energy, penetrated deep into that grove, a breeze redolent through contact with flowers and gentle as breath, blew. Breaking away from the company of monkey heroes, as permitted by Sugrīva, other well-kṅown monkey leaders, however, the foremost of those capable of roaring sought Laṅkā, dressed with pennons, terrifying the birds, dispiriting the deer and elephants and shaking the aforesaid Laṅkā with their roars, nay, trampling down the earth in their great impetuosity. Nay, the dust raised by their footfalls rose upwards all at once. (10—15)

Meaning

Alarmed by that roar, bears and lions, buffaloes, elephants, deer and birds ran in panic in all the ten directions. (16)

Meaning

There was a lofty peak of the Trikūṭa mountain, which seemed to touch the skies, which was thickly covered with blossom on all sides and sparkled like gold, which extended over an area of one hundred Yojanas (or eight hundred miles), which was stainless, graceful to behold, smooth, splendid and vast too, difficult of access even to birds and hard to scale even in thought, much less in action, for men. Laṅkā, which was ruled over by Rāvaṇa, was situated on this peak of the aforesaid mountain. (17—19)

Meaning

Ten Yojanas (or eighty miles) wide and twenty Yojanas (or one hundred and sixty miles) long*, the said city looked charming with its towering gates, closely resembling white clouds and its gold and silver fortifications. (20)

Meaning

Highly embellished with palaces and seven-storeyed mansions too, Laṅkā looked like the sky (the region covered by the middle or second stride of Lord Viṣṇu in His descent as Trivikrama) graced with clouds at the end of summer, when the monsoon sets in. (21)

Meaning

In that city there existed a palace duly graced with a thousand pillars, which looked like a peak of Mount Kailāsa and appeared to scrape the skies. (22)

Meaning

The aforesaid palace of Rāvaṇa, the king of ogres, which was guarded at all times by a hundred fully armoured ogres, was an ornament of the city. (23)

Meaning

Alongwith the monkeys, who remained with him, the glorious Rāma, the eldest brother of Lakṣmaṇa, beheld that prosperous golden city ruled over by Rāvaṇa, which was delightful to the mind and full of abundant resources, was graced with pleasure-mountains picturesque with various minerals, as well as with gardens, which was rendered noisy by birds of all species, frequented by varieties of deer, richly endowed with flowers of various kinds and inhabited by ogres of all classes. (24—26)

Meaning

The valiant Śrī Rāma, the eldest brother of Lakṣmaṇa, felt amazed to see the city, which was crammed with huge mansions and looked like paradise. (27)

Meaning

Accompanied by his large army, Śrī Rāma contemplated that city full of jewels, abounding in products of creative genius, adorned with its main rows of palaces and endowed with strong gates fitted with huge devices. (28)