Ramayana of Valmiki and Kamban Kishkindha kanda

[Guest guest]

9.The search begins

 

The vanaras under Angadha and Hanuman wandered beyond Vindhya

mountain and felt disheartened in not finding Seetha. They felt tired and

thirsty after wandering for a long time when they saw a cave from which a cool wind was blowing and birds

were flying out. They thought that there must be water inside and ventured into

the cave. It was dark and they joined hands and went in carefully and at last

they saw a groove with streams of water and beautiful trees and a city paved

with gold. There sat a female saint in meditation whose effulgence filled their

minds with awe. Hanuman approached her and asked her about the place. She,

named Svayamprbha, said that the city

was built by Maya the architect of asuras and Indra killed Maya when he incurred

the enmity of Indra ,who gave this city to Hema, the friend of Svayamprabha.

 

Then Hanuman told her about their mission and she said that no one

could leave the cave alive and told them to shut their eyes after they all had

eaten the fruits and drunk the water and

she transported them to the shore of the

ocean with her yogic power.

 

The vanaras reached the sea shore but hen not knowing what to do, Angadha said that

he will be killed by Sugriva if he returned without finding Seetha because

Sugriva accepted him and made him the crowned prince only on the insistence of

Rama and would be too glad to get rid of him under some pretext. He said that

his mother also succumbed to Sugriva out of fear for the safety of Angadha and hence said that he was going to fast until

death and hearing him all vanaras followed suit and they sat on the seashore to

fast.

There was an old eagle named Sampaathi, the elder brother of

Jatayu who lost his life fighting with

Ravana to protect Seetha. He was glad on hearing the resolve of the vanaras to

fast until death because he was too old to hunt for his prey and went without

food for a long time. He was happy that he was going to get a lot of food to

last him for a long time when all the vanaras died.

 

Then the vanaras started recapitulating all that happened. They

were saying that because of Dasaratha Rama came to forest and Seetha was

abducted. It was because Jatayu could

not fight longer till rama and Lakshmana returned, he was killed

by Ravana and Rama and Lakshmana

lost Seetha.

 

On hearing about the death of Jatayu, Sampathi came to them and

asked them what happened to his younger brother Jataayu. He told them that when

both he and his younger brother Jatayu were flying towards the Sun and he flew

over Jatayu to protect him from the heat of the Sun as a result of which his

wings were burnt. Hearing about the death of Jatayu he was grieved and as his

eye sight was quite good in spite of his age, he looked and told them that he could see Seetha in Lanka across the sea. Then as he was given the

boon that as soon as he helped the mission of Rama his wings will grow again,

he got back his wings and flew to wards the region where Jatayu was ruling as

the king of birds to take his place.

 

Now the task was to cross the ocean and Angadha asked each one to proclaim

his prowess in jumping over the ocean which was 100 yojanas long. One said he

can do 10, another said 20 and another 30 and thus each one added the number of yojanas they could cross and Angadha

said that he could cross 100 yojanas but doubted whether he could come back the

same distance. Jambavan said that he could cross 90 yojanas only due to his age

but the sea was 100 yojanas long.

 

 

Then

Jambavan looked at Hanuman who was sitting nonchalantly not taking part in the

conversation and knew that he had to be reminded of his power. Hanuman was

created by Vayu in Anjana through mind, and he was all powerful in childhood.

The rshis who were disturbed by his childish pranks but loved him, said that he

will forget his strength unless some on reminds him. Jamabavan reminded him who he was and praised him

saying that he was as powerful as Garuda and his father Vayu and he had been

given the boon by Brahma and the devas that he will not be killed by anyone or

by any divine missile including the brahmastra. This happened when he as a

child flew towards the Sun and Indra suspecting that he was going to attack

heavens struck him with his vajrayudha and he got hurt in his cheek (hanu,

hence the name Hanuman) and fell down unconscious. Then Vayu got angry and hid

himself inside a cave. When the whole

universe was suffocated without the wind, Brahma and the other devas pacified

Vayu and made Hanuman the strongest giving him all the boons. Telling all this

to Hanuman Jambavan told him to assume great size and power and cross the sea. Hanuman got up and started to

grow in size. From now on Hanuman is the hero of the epic and what follows is

Sundarakanda.

 

With

the grace of the Lord Rama and Anjaneya I am going to start the sundarakanda on

this day when Navarathri begins when the chanting of Sundrakanda is supposed to

be auspicious. With the grace of the Lord and the good wishes of all of you, I

should be able to finish the Sundrakanda on Vijayadasami day.