Hari Om.
Let us begin the eighth sarga of the sundara kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Not leaving even an inch to chance, hanumAn passed from the streets of lanka, looking through the homes of commoners to the high rises and high society events and made his way gradually to the premises of the royal palace. The heavily guarded area had the avenue where the homes of the Who’s who of lanka were present. Searching through all those, finally hanumAn zeroed in on the palatial mansion of rAvaNa. His stunning abode matched his stature, was highly ornate, attended to by the best of charming women. Entering there, he was drawn by a majestic flying object, the pushpaka vimAna. The flying chariot was luxurious, tastefully decked up with galleries of lovely and extremely detailed drawings. The description of mahaRshi vAlmIki veritably reveals these as extremely high resolution drawings showing even the pollen on a flower on a large canvas showing mountain ranges. Even in the middle of looking through the astonishing vimAna, hanumAn’s thoughts were fixated on his goal – locating sItA and he was much disappointed at not finding her so far. Onwards…
The valiant son of the wind god, hanumAn continued to look at the pushpaka vimAna in the middle of the mansion. It was studded with gems and diamonds. It had windows made of pure golden frames. The inscrutable and matchless pushpaka, perfectly made by the divine sculptor viSwakarma himself levitated in the air and stood shining like a splendid celestial object that was a signpost on the solar path. There was nothing in the pushpaka vimAna that was not designed deliberately and done in a well planned manner, there was nothing that didn’t contain the rarest of the gems. None of the features that it had were a regular even in the chariots of the gods and there was indeed nothing that was not special about this vimAna [affirmation through double negation in full flow].
न तत्र किञ्चिन्न कृतं प्रयत्नतो
न तत्र किञ्चिन्न महार्हरत्नवत्।
न ते विशेषा नियताः सुरेष्वपि
न तत्र किञ्चिन्न महाविशेषवत्।।5.8.3।।
The vimAna which could travel anywhere as per the wish of its travellers had many great formations and features looking special from every angle and was made as a result of immense penance and valour. Made with many a special material and technique, it had many towers resembling the enchanting peaks of the mountains lit in the lovely light of the moon. It was carried by giant nocturnal demons with big eyes and ear studs, who could take to the skies and move swiftly in thousands.
वसन्तपुष्पोत्करचारुदर्शनम्
वसन्तमासादपि कान्तदर्शनम् ।
स पुष्पकं तत्र विमानमुत्तमम्
ददर्श तद्वानरवीरसत्तमः ॥ ।।5.8.7।।
The great vAnara warrior beheld that magnificent vimAna that looked enchanting and attractive like a bunch of spring blooms and was indeed more pleasant to look at than the spring itself.
Here we conclude the eighth sarga of the sundara kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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Next: 5.09. Quest in the harem
Previous: 5.07. The astonishing flying object!
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
