Ramayana, Book IV, Canto 39: The Vánar Hostकिष्किन्धाकाण्डम्

Ralph T. H. Griffith’s English verse (1870–74), beside the Sanskrit of sarga 4.39.

39Sanskrit sarga 4.39 · Sanskrit source · English source

Sanskrit

इति ब्रुवाणं सुग्रीवं रामो धर्मभृतां वरः।
बाहुभ्यां सम्परिष्वज्य प्रत्युवाच कृताञ्जलिम्॥ १॥
यदिन्द्रो वर्षते वर्षं न तच्चित्रं भविष्यति।
आदित्योऽसौ सहस्रांशुः कुर्याद् वितिमिरं नभः॥ २॥
चन्द्रमा रजनीं कुर्यात् प्रभया सौम्य निर्मलाम्।
त्वद्विधो वापि मित्राणां प्रीतिं कुर्यात् परंतप॥ ३॥
एवं त्वयि न तच्चित्रं भवेद् यत् सौम्य शोभनम्।
जानाम्यहं त्वां सुग्रीव सततं प्रियवादिनम्॥ ४॥
त्वत्सनाथः सखे संख्ये जेतास्मि सकलानरीन्।
त्वमेव मे सुहृन्मित्रं साहाय्यं कर्तुमर्हसि॥ ५॥
जहारात्मविनाशाय मैथिलीं राक्षसाधमः।
वञ्चयित्वा तु पौलोमीमनुह्लादो यथा शचीम्॥ ६॥
नचिरात् तं वधिष्यामि रावणं निशितैः शरैः।
पौलोम्याः पितरं दृप्तं शतक्रतुरिवारिहा॥ ७॥
एतस्मिन्नन्तरे चैव रजः समभिवर्तत।
उष्णतीव्रां सहस्रांशोश्छादयद् गगने प्रभाम्॥ ८॥
दिशः पर्याकुलाश्चासंस्तमसा तेन दूषिताः।
चचाल च मही सर्वा सशैलवनकानना॥ ८॥
ततो नगेन्द्रसंकाशैस्तीक्ष्णदंष्ट्रैर्महाबलैः।
कृत्स्ना संछादिता भूमिरसंख्येयैः प्लवंगमैः॥ १०॥
निमेषान्तरमात्रेण ततस्तैर्हरियूथपैः।
कोटीशतपरीवारैर्वानरैर्हरियूथपैः॥ ११॥
नादेयैः पार्वतेयैश्च सामुद्रैश्च महाबलैः।
हरिभिर्मेघनिर्ह्रादैरन्यैश्च वनवासिभिः॥ १२॥
तरुणादित्यवर्णैश्च शशिगौरैश्च वानरैः।
पद्मकेसरवर्णैश्च श्वेतैर्हेमकृतालयैः॥ १३॥
कोटीसहस्रैर्दशभिः श्रीमान् परिवृतस्तदा।
वीरः शतबलिर्नाम वानरः प्रत्यदृश्यत॥ १४॥
ततः काञ्चनशैलाभस्ताराया वीर्यवान् पिता।
अनेकैर्बहुसाहस्रैः कोटिभिः प्रत्यदृश्यत॥ १५॥
तथापरेण कोटीनां सहस्रेण समन्वितः।
पिता रुमायाः सम्प्राप्तः सुग्रीवश्वशुरो विभुः॥ १६॥
पद्मकेसरसंकाशस्तरुणार्कनिभाननः।
बुद्धिमान् वानरश्रेष्ठः सर्ववानरसत्तमः॥ १७॥
अनेकैर्बहुसाहस्त्रैर्वानराणां समन्वितः।
पिता हनुमतः श्रीमान् केसरी प्रत्यदृश्यत॥ १८॥
गोलाङ्गूलमहाराजो गवाक्षो भीमविक्रमः।
वृतः कोटिसहस्रेण वानराणामदृश्यत॥ १९॥
ऋक्षाणां भीमवेगानां धूम्रः शत्रुनिबर्हणः।
वृतः कोटिसहस्राभ्यां द्वाभ्यां समभिवर्तत॥ २०॥
महाचलनिभैर्घोरैः पनसो नाम यूथपः।
आजगाम महावीर्यस्तिसृभिः कोटिभिर्वृतः॥ २१॥
नीलाञ्जनचयाकारो नीलो नामैष यूथपः।
अदृश्यत महाकायः कोटिभिर्दशभिर्वृतः॥ २२॥
ततः काञ्चनशैलाभो गवयो नाम यूथपः।
आजगाम महावीर्यः कोटिभिः पञ्चभिर्वृतः॥ २३॥
दरीमुखश्च बलवान् यूथपोऽभ्याययौ तदा।
वृतः कोटिसहस्रेण सुग्रीवं समवस्थितः॥ २४॥
मैन्दश्च द्विविदश्चोभावश्विपुत्रौ महाबलौ।
कोटिकोटिसहस्रेण वानराणामदृश्यताम्॥ २५॥
गजश्च बलवान् वीरस्तिसृभिः कोटिभिर्वृतः।
आजगाम महातेजाः सुग्रीवस्य समीपतः॥ २६॥
ऋक्षराजो महातेजा जाम्बवान्नाम नामतः।
कोटिभिर्दशभिर्व्याप्तः सुग्रीवस्य वशे स्थितः॥ २७॥
रुमणो नाम तेजस्वी विक्रान्तैर्वानरैर्वृतः।
आगतो बलवांस्तूर्णं कोटीशतसमावृतः॥ २८॥
ततः कोटिसहस्राणां सहस्रेण शतेन च।
पृष्ठतोऽनुगतः प्राप्तो हरिभिर्गन्धमादनः॥ २९॥
ततः पद्मसहस्रेण वृतः शङ्कुशतेन च।
युवराजोऽङ्गदः प्राप्तः पितुस्तुल्यपराक्रमः॥ ३०॥
ततस्ताराद्युतिस्तारो हरिभिर्भीमविक्रमैः।
पञ्चभिर्हरिकोटीभिर्दूरतः पर्यदृश्यत॥ ३१॥
इन्द्रजानुः कविर्वीरो यूथपः प्रत्यदृश्यत।
एकादशानां कोटीनामीश्वरस्तैश्च संवृतः॥ ३२॥
ततो रम्भस्त्वनुप्राप्तस्तरुणादित्यसंनिभः।
अयुतेन वृतश्चैव सहस्रेण शतेन च॥ ३३॥
ततो यूथपतिर्वीरो दुर्मुखो नाम वानरः।
प्रत्यदृश्यत कोटीभ्यां द्वाभ्यां परिवृतो बली॥ ३४॥
कैलासशिखराकारैर्वानरैर्भीमविक्रमैः।
वृतः कोटिसहस्रेण हनुमान् प्रत्यदृश्यत॥ ३५॥
नलश्चापि महावीर्यः संवृतो द्रुमवासिभिः।
कोटीशतेन सम्प्राप्तः सहस्रेण शतेन च॥ ३६॥
ततो दधिमुखः श्रीमान् कोटिभिर्दशभिर्वृतः।
सम्प्राप्तोऽभिनदंस्तस्य सुग्रीवस्य महात्मनः॥ ३७॥
शरभः कुमुदो वह्निर्वानरो रंह एव च।
एते चान्ये च बहवो वानराः कामरूपिणः॥ ३८॥
आवृत्य पृथिवीं सर्वां पर्वतांश्च वनानि च।
यूथपाः समनुप्राप्ता येषां संख्या न विद्यते॥ ३९॥
आगताश्च निविष्टाश्च पृथिव्यां सर्ववानराः।
आप्लवन्तः प्लवन्तश्च गर्जन्तश्च प्लवंगमाः।
अभ्यवर्तन्त सुग्रीवं सूर्यमभ्रगणा इव॥ ४०॥
कुर्वाणा बहुशब्दांश्च प्रकृष्टा बाहुशालिनः।
शिरोभिर्वानरेन्द्राय सुग्रीवाय न्यवेदयन्॥ ४१॥
अपरे वानरश्रेष्ठाः संगम्य च यथोचितम्।
सुग्रीवेण समागम्य स्थिताः प्राञ्जलयस्तदा॥ ४२॥
सुग्रीवस्त्वरितो रामे सर्वांस्तान् वानरर्षभान्।
निवेदयित्वा धर्मज्ञः स्थितः प्राञ्जलिरब्रवीत्॥ ४३॥
यथासुखं पर्वतनिर्झरेषु
वनेषु सर्वेषु च वानरेन्द्राः।
निवेशयित्वा विधिवद् बलानि
बलं बलज्ञः प्रतिपत्तुमीष्टे॥ ४४॥

English Griffith

Then Ráma, best of all who guide
Their steps by duty, thus replied:
“What marvel if Lord Indra send
The kindly rain, O faithful friend?
If, thousand-rayed, the God of Day
Drive every darksome cloud away?
Or, rising high, the Lord of Night
Flood the broad heaven with silver light?
What marvel, King, that one like thee
The glory of his friends should be?
No marvel, O my lord, that thou
Hast shown thy noble nature now.
Thy heart, Sugríva, well I know:
Naught from thy lips but truth may flow,
With thee for friend and champion all
My foes beneath my arm will fall.
The Rákshas, when my queen he stole,
Brought sure destruction on his soul,
Like Anuhláda⁶⁵¹ who beguiled
Queen Śachí called Puloma’s child.
Yes, near, Sugríva, is the day
When I my demon foe shall slay,
As conquering Indra in his ire
Slew Queen Paulomí’s haughty sire.”⁶⁵²
He ceased: thick clouds of dust rose high
To every quarter of the sky:
The very sun grew faint and pale
Behind the darkly-gathering veil.
The mighty clouds that hung o’erhead
From east to west thick darkness spread,
And earth to her foundations shook
With hill and forest, lake and brook.
Then hidden was the ground beneath
Fierce warriors armed with fearful teeth,
Hosts numberless, each lord in size
A match for him who rules the skies:
From many a sea and distant hill,
From rock and river, lake and rill.
Some like the morning sun were bright,
Some, like the moon, were silver white:
These green as lotus fibres, those
White-coated from their native snows.⁶⁵³
Then Śatabali came in view
Girt by a countless retinue.
Like some gold mountain high in air
Tárá’s illustrious sire⁶⁵⁴ was there.
There Rumá‘s father,⁶⁵⁵ far-renowned,
With tens of thousands ranged around.
There, tinted like the tender green
Of lotus filaments, was seen,
Compassed by countless legions, one
Whose face was as the morning sun,
Hanúmán’s father good and great,
Kesarí,⁶⁵⁶ wisest in debate.
There the proud king Gaváksha, feared
For his strong warrior arm, appeared.
There Dhúmra, mighty lord, the dread
Of foes, his ursine legions led.
There Panas, first for warlike fame,
With twenty million warriors came.
There glorious Níla, dark of hue,
Arrayed his countless troops in view.
There moved lord Gavaya brave and bold,
Resplendent like a hill of gold,
And near him Darímukha stood
With millions from the hill and wood
And Dwivid famed for strength and speed,
And Mamda, both of Aśvin seed.
There Gaja, strong and glorious, led
The countless troops around him spread,
And Jámbaván⁶⁵⁷ the king whose sway
The bears delighted to obey,
With swarming myriads onward pressed
True to his lord Sugríva’s hest;
And princely Ruman, dear to fame,
Led millions whom no hosts could tame,
All these and many a chief beside⁶⁵⁸
Came onward fierce in warlike pride.
They covered all the plain, and still
Pressed forward over wood and hill.
In rows for many a league around
They rested on the grassy ground;
Or to Sugríva made their way,
Like clouds about the Lord of Day,
And to the king their proud heads bent
In power and might preeminent.
Sugríva then to Ráma sped,
And raised his reverent hands, and said
That every chief from coast to coast
Was present with his warrior host.

Griffith’s notes (8)

Anuhláda or Anuhráda is one of the four sons of the mighty Hiraṇyakaśipu, an Asur or a Daitya son of Kaśyapa and Diti and killed by Vishṇu in his incarnation of the Man-Lion Narasinha. According to the Bhágavata Puráṇa the Daitya or Asur Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyáksha his brother, both killed by Vishṇu, were born again as Rávaṇ and Kumbhakarṇa his brother.
Puloma, a demon, was the father-in-law of Indra who destroyed him in order to avert an imprecation. Paulomí is a patronymic denoting Śachí the daughter of Puloma.
“Observe the variety of colours which the poem attributes to all these inhabitants of the different mountainous regions, some white, others yellow, &c. Such different colours were perhaps peculiar and distinctive characteristics of those various races.” GORRESSIO.
Susheṇ.
Tára.
Kesarí was the husband of Hanúmán’s mother, and is here called his father.
“I here unite under one heading two animals of very diverse nature and race, but which from some gross resemblances, probably helped by an equivoque in the language, are closely affiliated in the Hindoo myth … a reddish colour of the skin, want of symmetry and ungainliness of form, strength in hugging with the fore paws or arms, the faculty of climbing, shortness of tail(?), sensuality, capacity of instruction in dancing and in music, are all characteristics which more or less distinguish and meet in bears as well as in monkeys. In the Rámáyaṇam, the wise Jámnavant, the Odysseus of the expedition of Lanká, is called now king of the bears (rikshaparthivah), now great monkey (Mahákapih).” DE GUBERNATIS: Zoological Mythology, Vol. II. p. 97.
Gandhamádana, Angad, Tára, Indrajánu, Rambha, Durmukha, Hanumán, Nala, Da mukha, Śarabha, Kumuda, Vahni.