Hari Om.
Let us begin the forty second sarga of the sundara kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
The great achiever hanumAn accomplished the mission of leaping across the ocean, sneaking into lanka and then scanning thoroughly through the streets of lanka, rAvaNa’s palace assuming a small and inconspicuous form. He was dejected not finding her anywhere, mistook rAvaNa’s wife manDodari for sItA and quickly corrected himself. He entertained suicidal thoughts at the lack of apparent success. Then he picked himself up and thought of vanquishing rAvaNa and extracting revenge in the very least. That lifted his spirits and his thoughts were ignited and praying to rAma and the guardian deities of the quarters, he entered the asOkA grove where lo and behold he spotted sItA. Waiting on the tree until rAvaNa retreated and in his gentle and articulate ways winning sItA’s confidence, he gave her the signet ring of rAma. Then she also gave her crest jewel to be handed to rAma. Taking leave of sItA, hanumAn thought for a moment and decided that he ought to get a reasonable feel of the strength of the enemy and so he incited them for a tussle by destroying the beautiful grove which was sure to incense rAvaNa. He uprooted the trees and ruined the grove and waited for the combatants arrive sitting on an arch. Onwards…
As the aSOkA grove was ruined by the felling of trees and birds screeched loudly, the inhabitants of that place were alarmed and confused at the commotion. In the running of the beasts and the screeching of the birds, the demons saw bad omens. The ogresses having woken up from their slumber went to find the reason for the commotion and the ruined forest and beheld the valorous hanumAn. The mighty armed and substantial hanumAn with an intention to strike fear in them assumed an even more gigantic form. Staring at the mountainous form of the mighty vAnara, the ogresses began questioning sItA –
कोऽयं कस्य कुतो वायं किं निमित्तमिहागतः।
कथं त्वया सहानेन संवादः कृत इत्युत।।5.42.6।।
“Who is he, where did he come from and why? How did get around to speak to you? Come on, don’t be afraid, tell us what conversation did he have with you”?
Pressed thus, the very pretty and chaste sItA replied –
“How do I know about the demons who assume scary and gigantic forms at will. You ought to know who he is and what he is here for? Only a snake can tell if another snake has feet or not! I am also very scared and know not who he is! I guess he must be a demon who came in this form”!
The ogresses hearing sItA’s words divided themselves, while some stayed, some ran hither and thither and yet others ran to report the matter to rAvaNa. They went to him and began narrating the saga of the gigantic and scary vAnara –
“O king, in the midst of the aSOkA grove, a gargantuan vAnara with immeasurable valour is present and spoke to sItA. The deer-eyed sItA seems to be in no mood to reveal anything about him despite us asking her in many ways.
न च तं जानकी सीता हरिं हरिणलोचना।
अस्माभिर्बहुधा पृष्टा निवेदयितुमिच्छति।।5.42.14।।
He could be an emissary of indra or kubEra or he might have been sent by rAma himself in quest of sItA and he has comprehensively destroyed the pleasure grove of your womenfolk which is so dear to you. There isn’t a single place in the grove that was not destroyed by him, except the place where jAnakI resides. We are not sure if he was too tired to destroy that or intentionally spared that to save her. Or what fatigue for someone like him, he must have spared the wonderfully bloomed SimSupa tree where sItA was present and saved her. You must at once punish that terrifying form severely who spoke to sItA and devastated the grove. O lord of the demons, since sItA is desired by you, who dares to talk to her if he has not already given up hope on his life”?
Listening to the complaint of the ogresses, rAvaNa with his bloodshot red eyes rose up like leaping flames. From his angry eyes tears dropped like oil drops drop from the wick of a lamp.
तस्य क्रुद्धस्य नेत्राभ्यां प्रापतन्नास्रबिन्दवः।
दीप्ताभ्यामिव दीपाभ्यां सार्चिष स्स्नेहबिन्दवः।।5.42.23।।
He summoned eighty thousand of his force each of whom were as mighty as him and ordered those irrepressible demons to go and rein in hanumAn. The very mighty eighty thousand battle mongers, armed with clubs and hammers, terrifying and dreadful in their appearance, sporting large canines, very eager to fight left the palace to capture hanumAn. They ran towards hanumAn who was waiting for them on the arch like the fireflies approached fire. They surrounded hanumAn with upraised arms comprising maces, spears, javelins, hammers, clubs and shining arrows.
हनुमानपि तेजस्वी श्रीमान्पर्वतसन्निभः।
क्षितावाविध्य लाङ्गूलं ननाद च महास्वनम्।।5.42.30।।
The illustrious and mountainous hanumAn was also ready for them. He grew further in size, walloped the ground with his tail and let out a loud roar that reverberated throughout lanka and by that frightening sound several birds that were flying in the sky fell down! He patted himself and proclaimed –
जयत्यतिबलो रामो लक्ष्मणश्च महाबलः।
राजा जयति सुग्रीवो राघवेणाभिपालितः।।5.42.33।।
दासोऽहं कोसलेन्द्रस्य रामस्याक्लिष्टकर्मणः।
हनुमान्शत्रुसैन्यानां निहन्ता मारुतात्मजः।।5.42.34।।
न रावणसहस्रं मे युद्धे प्रतिबलं भवेत्।
शिलाभिस्तु प्रहरतः पादपैश्च सहस्रशः।।5.42.35।।
अर्दयित्वा पुरीं लङ्कामभिवाद्य च मैथिलीम्।
समृद्धार्थो गमिष्यामि मिषतां सर्वरक्षसाम्।।5.42.36।।
“Victory be to the supremely mighty rAma, victory be to the great and mighty lakshamAna. May the king sugrIva who is being looked after by rAghava be victorious. I am the servant of the lord of the kOSala, the inscrutable rAma who is an accomplisher par excellence. My name is hanumAn, the son of the wind god and vanquisher of the enemy forces. Even a thousand rAvaNas won’t be a match for me in the battle. I will hurl thousands of boulders and large trees in the battles, torment the city of lanka, pay my salutations to maithilI and as the demons helplessly watch I will accomplish my mission and go with victory”.
[This is known by the name jayamantram and chanting this alone accrues great good and success since time immemorial]
The eighty thousand servants of rAvaNa who came to fight him were terrified by the roar and proclamation of hanumAn and despite the fear, obeying the command of their king tried to hurl weapons at hanumAn. On his part, hanumAn picked a large iron beam from the arch he was sitting on and assaulted the demons with as much ease as garuDa hunts the snakes or how indra vanquishes the demons with his thunderbolt. Having annihilated the large army of eighty thousand kinkaras he went back to the arch very much desirous of the next round of battle. The few surviving demons quickly ran away and reported the routing of the demons to their king rAvaNa. The king of the demons heard the report, rolled his eyes and immediately ordered the irrepressible son of prahasta (the commander-in-chief of the demons) to go to hanumAn at once.
Here we conclude the forty second 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: 5.43. hanumAn serves a stern warning
Previous: 5.41. He gets busy with the remaining task!
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
