Hari Om.
Let us begin the ninth sarga of the sundara kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Scanning every inch of rAvaNa’s lanka, not leaving anything to chance no matter how terrifying, tempting or unpleasant the scene is, hanumAn continued the quest for sItA in a diligent and focused manner. From the normal streets, he entered the royal avenue and within that he went near the stunningly built and heavily ornate royal palace that was oozing gold and studded with rarest of gems everywhere. The glorious city which was built by the divine sculptor viSwakarma was a verital heaven on earth. As he entered the royal palace, hanumAn beheld a large and admirable flying object – the pushpaka vimAna, the flying chariot that rAvaNa had usurped from kubEra, the god of wealth. The extremely detail of the craftsmanship of the vimAna and the decorations there in was extremely appealing and pleasing. Pausing briefly at the vimAna and taking a good look at it, hanumAn continued. Onwards…
The son of the windgod, hanumAn, in the middle of that majestic cluster, beheld the best of the mansions. The cluster of palaces was about half a yOjana in breadth and a yOjana in length. In those palaces, hanumAn, the vanquisher of enemies, continued his quest of sItA. Passing by the well made mansions of the other demons, he entered the residence of the king of the demons. The palace was protected by weapon wielding demons and giant elephants that had three or four tusks.
राक्षसीभिश्च पत्नीभी रावणस्य निवेशनम्।
आहृताभिश्च विक्रम्य राजकन्याभिरावृतम्।।5.9.6।।
तन्नक्रमकराकीर्णं तिमिङ्गिलझषाकुलम्।
वायुवेगसमाधूतं पन्नगैरिव सागरम्।।5.9.7।।
The residence was filled with the wives of rAvaNa and demonesses. There were princesses who were abducted by rAvaNa after winning the wars. To hanumAn it looked like a tumultuous sea tormented by speedy winds and was filled with crocodiles, sharks, fish and serpents. The wealth, possessions, and the variety of opulence present in the palace was rAvaNa seemed equal or superior to what was possessed by kubEra, indra, yama or varuNa.
In the middle of that palace, the pushpaka vimAna, decked with all the gems, was in fact made in the heavens by the dvine sculptor viSwakarma for lord brahma. The god of wealth kubEra earned that from lord brahma by his penance. The demon king by his valour defeated kubEra and usurped the pushpaka vimAna.
hanumAn entered the pushpaka vimAna and saw that the vimAna was built around pillars made of two different types of gold and was towering like the mEru and mandara mountains. The pillars had the images of wolves and other appealing imagery. It had several rooms in it and golden staircases leading to upper levels. It had golden framed windows decked and raised platforms adorned with finest of pearls and precious of gems like the sapphire. Shining like the flaming sun, the visually appealing pushpaka, plated with molten gold and smeared with fragrant sandalwood paste, was well made by viSwakarma.
As he examined the pushpaka, the smell arising from food and drinks filled the air. It was intoxicating and he felt as if the air had embodied into a being and was goading him in the direction of rAvaNa like a dear friend would herald another.
तत्रस्थस्स तदा गन्धं पानभक्ष्यान्नसम्भवम्।
दिव्यं सम्मूर्छितं जिघ्रद्रूपवन्तमिवानिलम्।।5.9.20।।
स गन्धस्तं महासत्त्वं बन्धुर्बन्धुमिवोत्तमम्।
इत एहीत्युवाचेन तत्र यत्र स रावणः।।5.9.21।।
Moving in that direction from which the smell seemed to come, hanumAn saw a huge hall that was lofty and had many tastefully decorated pillars studded with diamonds and gems, ivory figurines on the walls, a large carpet that was laid wall-to-wall and appeared like the expansive earth itself with the images of rows of houses made on it. The picturesque hall was as dear to rAvaNa as his dearest and celebrated queen.
The abode of the king of demons was reverberating with the noises of birds. The air was rich with fragrance and its smoky fumes permeated the place. A variety of flowers there imparted a colourful look and delighted the mind. It would dispel one’s distress and shower prosperity resembling a wish fulfilling cow. That abode of rAvaNa would nourish and satiate each of the five senses to its fullest like a mother, so much so that hanumAn wondered if it was the heaven or the abode of gods or that of lord indra. Or he thought it could a manifestation of superhuman powers.
स्वर्गोऽयं देवलोकोऽयमिन्द्रस्येयं पुरी भवेत्।
सिद्धिर्वेयं परा हि स्यादित्यमन्यत मारुतिः।।5.9.31।।
The golden lamps there appeared to be in contemplation like those gamblers who lost to more shrewd gamblers. The whole place was dazzling brilliants by the golden opulence and the ornaments of rAvaNa.
Then he found hundreds of beautiful women wearing garlands and decked with ornaments lying on the carpets. They were deeply intoxicated with drinks and sporting till midnight dropped into sleep on the carpet. Their pretty faces resembled lotuses and as such the entire place looked like a large swathe of lotuses gone silent by the lack of swans and bees. The lotuses that would open in the day and close by the night had the hexapods stop their buzz. The jingling of their ornaments was silenced by their sleep. The bees were keen that the lotuses would bloom again. hanumAn felt looking at the pretty women who had their lips and eyes closed that the comparison with a lotus pond was appropriate. Fragrant aroma emanated from them and permeated all over. Further, the enclosure in the palace resembled an autumnal sky filled with stars and in the middle of it, rAvaNa reigned like the moon himself surrounded by stars.
The sleeping beauties with their garlands, ornaments and their tilaks smudged seem to have sported and drank endlessly and then dropped without senses into deep sleep like spent meteors fallen on the earth. Someone’s anklet was displaced while someone’s necklace was not in its place, someone’s necklace had loosened up while someone’s cloth was slipping off, someone’s garlands had snapped while someone’s waistband got untied, someone’s earrings had fallen off. The entire place resembled a garden of slender plants razed by the king elephant. Someone’s necklace and the pendant on the bosom shone like the moon. Another’s waistband with the gem looked like a vaiDUrya (gem). Their limbs were exposed and looked like the sandy islands on a river. The small bells on their waistband looked like lotus buds while the golden ornaments resembled lotuses. With their passionate feelings resembling crocodiles and their famed beauty as the river banks, they resembled sleeping rivers.
The golden ornaments had left marks on their tender body parts and their bosoms. Someone’s upper clothes were fluttering under the influence of their breath and appeared like fluttering flags. Their breath was smelling wine and it appeared as if rAvaNa was enjoying the sweet wine as if it being served to them there. All of them seemed to be enjoyed the smell of wine emerging from the exhaled breath and pining for more. Those dear women of rAvaNa were out of control and deluded that the co-wife of someone sleeping next was rAvaNa himself! Some of the co-wives in deep sleep had their limbs thrown on the others while some others had their hands around the neck of the other. With hands around the necks of other those beauties looked like they were a garland of rAvaNa’s women. They had absolutely no control on themselves.
It was not possible to tell one’s limbs from another or one’s ornaments from another. Sleeping in a heap they looked like the intertwined creepers in full bloom during the spring with the flowers woven into a garland and the bees jumping from one flower to another. That was the garden of rAvaNa’s women.
All these women were of high birth, some coming from royal families, some from the families of sages and yet others from the demi gods and others from the clans of demons. All of them came infatuated by rAvaNa, falling for his valour while others were won in war by him. They all coveted rAvaNa and came there willingly. None of them belonged to a not-so-high birth, none of them were not beautiful, None of them were not graceful and none of them who did not have courtesy.
It seemed like in lanka, it was only sItA who abhorred rAvaNa and was not won by him. Seeing the consorts of rAvaNa united with him in such happiness, hanumAn could not help thinking – if only sItA were also united with rAma as happily as these women were with rAvaNa. And then he pondered upon what an ignoble act that had been committed by the great rAvaNa in abduction of sItA as she was without doubt superior to them in every respect and virtue.
बभूव बुद्धिस्तु हरीश्वरस्य यदीदृशी राघवधर्मपत्नी।
इमा यथा राक्षसराजभार्याः सुजातमस्येति हि साधुबुद्धेः।।5.9.72।।
पुनश्च सोऽचिन्तयादात्तरूपो ध्रुवं विशिष्टा गुणतो हि सीता। अथायमस्यां कृतवान्महात्मा लङ्केश्वरः कष्टमनार्यकर्म।।5.9.73।।
Here we conclude the ninth 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: 5.10. A fleeting moment of misplaced joy
Previous: 5.08. A brief gaze at the pushpaka
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
