Ramayana, Book IV, Canto 47: The Returnकिष्किन्धाकाण्डम्

Ralph T. H. Griffith’s English verse (1870–74), beside the Sanskrit of sarga 4.47.

47Sanskrit sarga 4.47 · Sanskrit source · English source

Sanskrit

दर्शनार्थं तु वैदेह्याः सर्वतः कपिकुञ्जराः।
व्यादिष्टाः कपिराजेन यथोक्तं जग्मुरञ्जसा॥ १॥
ते सरांसि सरित्कक्षानाकाशं नगराणि च।
नदीदुर्गांस्तथा देशान् विचिन्वन्ति समन्ततः॥ २॥
सुग्रीवेण समाख्याताः सर्वे वानरयूथपाः।
तत्र देशान् विचिन्वन्ति सशैलवनकाननान्॥ ३॥
विचित्य दिवसं सर्वे सीताधिगमने धृताः।
समायान्ति स्म मेदिन्यां निशाकालेषु वानराः॥ ४॥
सर्वर्तुकांश्च देशेषु वानराः सफलद्रुमान्।
आसाद्य रजनीं शय्यां चक्रुः सर्वेष्वहःसु ते॥ ५॥
तदहः प्रथमं कृत्वा मासे प्रस्रवणं गताः।
कपिराजेन संगम्य निराशाः कपिकुञ्जराः॥ ६॥
विचित्य तु दिशं पूर्वां यथोक्तां सचिवैः सह।
अदृष्ट्वा विनतः सीतामाजगाम महाबलः॥ ७॥
दिशमप्युत्तरां सर्वां विविच्य स महाकपिः।
आगतः सह सैन्येन भीतः शतबलिस्तदा॥ ८॥
सुषेणः पश्चिमामाशां विविच्य सह वानरैः।
समेत्य मासे पूर्णे तु सुग्रीवमुपचक्रमे॥ ९॥
तं प्रस्रवणपृष्ठस्थं समासाद्याभिवाद्य च।
आसीनं सह रामेण सुग्रीवमिदमब्रुवन्॥ १०॥
विचिताः पर्वताः सर्वे वनानि गहनानि च।
निम्नगाः सागरान्ताश्च सर्वे जनपदाश्च ये॥ ११॥
गुहाश्च विचिताः सर्वा याश्च ते परिकीर्तिताः।
विचिताश्च महागुल्मा लताविततसंतताः॥ १२॥
गहनेषु च देशेषु दुर्गेषु विषमेषु च।
सत्त्वान्यतिप्रमाणानि विचितानि हतानि च।
ये चैव गहना देशा विचितास्ते पुनः पुनः॥ १३॥
उदारसत्त्वाभिजनो हनूमान्
स मैथिलीं ज्ञास्यति वानरेन्द्र।
दिशं तु यामेव गता तु सीता
तामास्थितो वायुसुतो हनूमान्॥ १४॥

English Griffith

Thus forth in quest of Sítá went
The legions King Sugríva sent.
To many a distant town they hied
By many a lake and river’s side.
As their great sovereign’s order taught,
Through valleys, plains, and groves they sought.
They toiled unresting through the day:
At night upon the ground they lay
Where the tall trees, whose branches swayed
Beneath their fruit, gave pleasant shade.
Then, when a weary month was spent,
Back to Praśravaṇ’s hill they went,
And stood with faces of despair
Before their king Sugríva there.
Thus, having wandered through the east,
Great Vinata his labours ceased,
And weary of the fruitless pain
Returned to meet the king again,
Brave Śatabali to the north
Had led his Vánar legions forth.
Now to Sugríva he sped
With all his host dispirited.
Susheṇ the western realms had sought,
And homeward now his legions brought.
All to Sugríva came, where still
He sat with Ráma on the hill.
Before their sovereign humbly bent
And thus addressed him reverent:
“On every hill our steps have been,
By wood and cave and deep ravine;
And all the wandering brooks we know
Throughout the land that seaward flow,
Our feet by thy command have traced
The tangled thicket and the waste,
And dens and dingles hard to pass
for creeping plants and matted grass.
Well have we searched with toil and pain,
And monstrous creatures have we slain
But Hanumán of noblest mind
The Maithil lady yet will find;
For to his quarter of the sky⁷⁴⁹
The robber fiend was seen to fly.”

Griffith’s notes (1)

Hanumán was the leader of the army of the south which was under the nominal command of Angad the heir apparent.