Ramayana, Book V, Canto 58: The Feast Of Honeyसुन्दरकाण्डम्

Ralph T. H. Griffith’s English verse (1870–74).

The check could not settle which Sanskrit sarga this canto translates (Griffith’s cantos and this Sanskrit edition are not always divided alike), so no Sanskrit is placed beside it. The nearest Sanskrit on Wikisource: sarga 5.55, sarga 5.56, sarga 5.57, sarga 5.58, sarga 5.59, sarga 5.60, sarga 5.61.

58English only · English source

English Griffith

They rose in air: the region grew
Dark with their shadow as they flew.
Swift to a lovely grove⁸⁹¹ they came
That rivalled heavenly Nandan’s⁸⁹² fame;
Where countless bees their honey stored,—
The pleasance of the Vánars’ lord,
To every creature fenced and barred,
Which Dadhimukh was set to guard,
A noble Vánar, brave and bold,
Sugríva’s uncle lofty-souled.
To Angad came with one accord
The Vánars, and besought their lord
That they those honeyed stores might eat
That made the grove so passing sweet.

He gave consent: they sought the trees
Thronged with innumerable bees.
They rifled all the treasured store,
And ate the fruit the branches bore,
And still as they prolonged the feast
Their merriment and joy increased.
Drunk with the sweets, they danced and bowed,
They wildly sang, they laughed aloud,
Some climbed and sprang from tree to tree,
Some sat and chattered in their glee.
Some scaled the trees which creepers crowned,
And rained the branches to the ground.
There with loud laugh a Vánar sprang
Close to his friend who madly sang,
In doleful mood another crept
To mix his tears with one who wept.

Then Dadhimukh with fury viewed
The intoxicated multitude.
He looked upon the rifled shade,
And all the ruin they had made;
Then called with angry voice, and strove
To save the remnant of the grove.
But warning cries and words were spurned,
And angry taunt and threat returned.
Then fierce and wild contention rose:
With furious words he mingled blows.
They by no shame or fear withheld,
By drunken mood and ire impelled,
Used claws, and teeth, and hands, and beat
The keeper under trampling feet.

[Three Cantos consisting of little but repetitions are omitted. Dadhimukh
escapes from the infuriated monkeys and hastens to Sugríva to report their
misconduct. Sugríva infers that Hanumán and his band have been successful
in their search, and that the exuberance of spirits and the mischief
complained of, are but the natural expression of their joy. Dadhimukh
obtains little sympathy from Sugríva, and is told to return and send the
monkeys on with all possible speed.]

Griffith’s notes (2)

Madhuvan_ the “honey-wood.”
Indra’s pleasure-ground or elysium.