Hari Om.
Let us begin the thirty first sarga of the sundara kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
With rAvaNa snubbed and gone back to his palace, trijaTA narrating her dream about the rout of the demons and conquest of rAma, sItA was still very disturbed and she despised her own sad life which could be taken any time by the ogresses. She contemplated ways to end her life honorably and wanted to tie her long braid as a noose and hang from a branch. Without doubt hanumAn was alarmed. It was not enough that he found her whereabouts. It was now time for him to convey the message of his arrival, of rAma’s physical welfare, of the efforts to secure her and assuage her grief. He deliberated diligently about what were the options before him and the chances that she would believe him right away. He also thought about the ruckus that the ogresses will throw if they identify him and try to catch him. He carefully thought about how and what to articulate. It was important to not scare sItA and slowly fill her with hope and positivity. The only way to do that was to sing the glory of rAma. Having decided to do that, hanumAn started the narration. Onwards…
The exalted vAnara thus deliberated variously and then began to sweetly sing the glory of rAma in a manner that it could be heard by vaidEhI –
“Among the ikshvAkus there existed an illustrious king by the name daSaratha. He was meritorious, endowed with supreme military might of infantry, cavalry and swift chariots. He was very famous as a sagely king and had performed tapas like many sages. Mighty like lord indra, born in the clan of the emperors, he was committed to non-conflict, not mean, compassionate and wedded to truth. He was prosperous and also enhanced the prosperity of his empire. Sporting all the royal insignia, he was popular all over the land until the oceans and he provided comfort to all his subjects while he lived comfortably.
तस्य पुत्रः प्रियो ज्येष्ठस्ताराधिपनिभाननः।
रामो नाम विशेषज्ञः श्रेष्ठ स्सर्वधनुष्मताम्।।5.31.6।।
His beloved eldest son is the illustrious rAma with moon-like countenance and best among all the archers. He scorches his foes while protecting his own dharma, good people and all the beings in the world and thus protects dharma itself. That rAma due to the promise made by his elderly father who was steadfast to truth, went on exile along with his brother and wife. There in the forest, he chased many animals and vanquished several valiant demons who roamed taking different forms. Reacting to the killing of khara and dUshaNa in the janasthAna, rAvaNa was livid and abducted jAnakI having hoodwinked rAma by sending an illusory golden deer.
While searching for dEvI sItA all over the forest, rAma came across a vAnara in the forest by name sugrIva and befriended him. The vAnara was troubled by his brother vAlI who ruled over kishkindhA. rAma vanquished vAlI and conferred the vAnara kingdom to the mighty sugrIva.
sugrIva pressed into action thousands of vAnaras who are capable of changing forms in to all the directions in search of dEvI sItA. Out of those, I have crossed the hundred yOjana long ocean swiftly in search of sItA having been directed by the vulture king sampAti.
यथारूपां यथावर्णां यथालक्ष्मीवतीं च ताम् ।
अश्रौषं राघवस्याहम् सेयमासादिता मया ॥ 5.31.15
The dEvI has been spotted by me who is of exact form, complexion and auspiciousness as I have heard from rAghava”.
With these words, the best among the vAnaras paused. Even jAnakI having heard those words was extremely surprised and lifting her head that was endowed with lovely curly hair, the timid woman looked at the SimSupa tree. Hearing the words of the vAnara, sItA began looking in all directions inquiringly and with fond remembrance of rAma she was swept by supreme ecstasy!
निशम्य सीता वचनं कपेश्च दिशश्च सर्वाः प्रदिशश्च वीक्ष्य।
स्वयं प्रहर्षं परमं जगाम सर्वात्मना राममनुस्मरन्ती ।।5.31.18।।
Seeing in all possible directions, she beheld the son of the wind god, the minister of sugrIva, hanumAn of supreme intellect who was radiant like the rising sun.
Here we conclude the thirty first 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: 5.32. Despairing, she wonders if it is a dream
Previous: 5.30. hanumAn deliberates and decides to sing rAma’s glory
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 