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Book V. Canto I. Hanum'an's Leap

Canto I.: Hanumn'S Leap.


Thus Rvan's foe resolved to trace

The captive to her hiding-place

Through airy pathways overhead

Which heavenly minstrels visited.

With straining nerve aud eager brows,

Like some strong husband of the cows,

In ready might he stood prepared

For the bold task his soul has dared.

O'er gem-like grass that flashed and glowed

The Vnar like a lion strode.

Roused by the thunder of his tread,

The beasts to shady coverts fled.

Tall trees he crushed or hurled aside,

And every bird was terrified.

Around him loveliest lilies grew,

Pale pink, and red, and white, and blue,

And tints of many a metal lent

The light of varied ornament.

Gandharvas, changing forms at will.

And Yakshas roamed the lovely hill,

Aud countless Serpent-Gods were seen

Where flowers and grass were fresh and green.

As some resplendent serpent takes

His pastime in the best of lakes,

So on the mountain's woody height

The Vnar wandered with delight.

Then, standing on tne flowery sod,

He paid his vows to saint and God.

Swayambhu 2 and the Sun he prayed,

And the swift Wind to lend him aid,

And Indra, sovereign of the skies,

To bless his hardy enterprise.

Then once again the chief addressed

The Vnars from tke mountain crest:

'Swift as a shaft from Rma's bow

To Rvan's city will I go,

And if she be not there will fly

And seek the lady in the sky;

Or, if in heaven she be not found,

Will hither bring the giant bound.'

He ceased; and mustering his might

Sprang downward from the mountain height,

While, shattered by each mighty limb,

The trees unrooted followed him.

The shadow on the ocean cast

By his vast form, as on he passed,

Flew like a ship before the gale

When the strong breeze has tilled the sail,

And where his course the Vnar held

The sea beneath him raged and swelled.

Then Gods and all the heavenly train

Poured flowerets down in gentle rain;

Their voices glad Gandharvas raised,

And saints in heaven the Vnar praised.

Fain would the Sea his succour lend

And Raghu's noble son befriend.

He, moved by zeal for Rma's sake,

The hill Mainka 1b thus bespake:

'O strong Mainka, heavens decree

In days of old appointed thee

To be the Asurs bar, and keep

The rebels in the lowest deep.

Thou guardest those whom heaven has cursed

Lest from their prison-house they burst,

And standest by the gates of hell

Their limitary* sentinel.

To thee is given the power to spread

Or spring above thy watery bed.

Now, best of noble mountains, rise

And do the thing that I advise,

E'en now above thy buried crest

Flies mighty Hanumn, the best

Of Van*sis, moved for Rma's sake

A wonderous deed to undertake.

Lift up thy head that he may stay

And rest him on his weary way.'

He heard, and from his watery abroud,

As bursts the sun from
cloud,

Rose swifty. Crowned with plant and tree,

And stood above the foamy* sea. 2b

There with his lofty peaks apraised

Bright as a hundred suns he blazed,

And crest and crag of burnished gold

Flashed on the flood that round him rolled,*

p. 395

The Vnar thought the mountain rose

A hostile bar to interpose,

And, like a wind-swept cloud, o'erthrew

The glittering mountain as he flew.

Then from the falling hill rang out

A warning voice and joyful shout.

Again he raised him high in air

To meet the flying Vnar there,

And standing on his topmost peak

In human form began to speak: 1

'Best of the Vnars' noblest line,

A mighty task, O chief, is thine.

Here for a while, I pray thee, light

And rest upon the breezy height.

A prince of Raghu's line was he

Who gave his glory to the Sea, 2

Who now to Rama's envoy shows

High honour for the debt he owes.

He bade me lift my buried head

Uprising from my watery bed,

And woo the Vanar chief to rest

A moment on my glittering crest,

Refresh thy weary limbs, and eat

My mountain fruits for they are sweet.

I too, O chieftain, know thee well;-

Three worlds thy famous virtues tell;

And none, I ween, with thee may vie

Who spring impetuous through the sky.

To every guest, though mean and low.

The wise respect and honour show;

And how shall I neglect thee, how

Slight the great guest so near me now?

Son of the Wind,'tis thine to share

The might of him who shakes the air;

And,--for he loves his offspring,--he

Is honoured when I honour thee.

Of yore, when Krita's age 3 was new,

The little hills and mountains flew

Where'er they listed, borne on wings

More rapid the feathered king's. 4

But mighty terror came on all

The Gods and saints who feared their fall.

And Indra in his anger rent

Their pinions with the bolts he sent.

When in his ruthless fury he

Levelled his flashing bolt at me,

The great-souled Wind inclined to save,

And laid me neath the ocean's wave.

Thus by the favour of the sire

I kept my cherished wings entire;

And for this deed of kindness done

I honour thee his noble son.

O come, thy weary limbs relieve,

And honour due from me receive.'

'I may not rest,' the Vanar cried;

'I must not stay or turn aside.

Yet pleased am I, thou noblest hill,

And as the deed accept thy will.'

Thus as he spoke he lightly pressed

With his broad hand the mountain's crest.

Then bounded upward to the height

Of heaven, rejoicing in his might,

And through the fields of boundless blue,

The pathway of his father, flew.

Gods, saints, and heavenly bards beheld

That flight that none had paralleled,

Then to the Nagas' mother 1b came

And thus addressed the sun-bright dame:

'See, Hauum'an with venturous leap

Would spring across the mighty deep,-

A Viinar prince, the Wind-God's seed:

Come, Suras'a, his course impede.

In Rakshas form thy shape disguise,

Terrific, like a hill in size:

Let thy red eyes with fury glow,

And high as heaven thy body grow.

With fearful tusks the chief defy.

That we his power and strength may try.

He will with guile thy hold elude,

Or own thy might, by thee subdued.'

Pleased with the grateful honours paid,

The godlike dame their words obeyed,

Clad in a shape of terror she

Sprang from the middle of the sea,

And, with fierce accents that appalled

All creatures, to the Vanar called:

'Come, prince of Vanars, doomed to be

My food this day by heaven's decree.

Such boon from ages long ago

To Brahma's favouring will I owe.'

She ceased, and Hanuman replied,

By shape and threat unterrified:

'Brave Rama with his Maithil spouse

Lodged in the shade of Dandak's boughs.

Thence Ravan king of giants stole

Sita the joy of Rama's soul.

p. 396

By Rma's high behest to her

I go a willing messenger;

And never shouldst them hinder one

Who toils for Das'aratha's son.

First captive St will I see,

And him who sent and waits for me,

Then come and to thy will submit,

Yea, by my truth I promise it.'

'Nay, hope not thus thy life to save;

Not such the boon that Brahma gave.

Enter my mouth,' was her reply,

'Then forward on thy journey hie!' 1

'Stretch, wider stretch thy jaws,' exclaimed

The Vnar chief, to ire inflamed;

And, as the Rkshas near him drew,

Ten leagues in height his stature grew.

Then straight, her threatening jaws between,

A gulf of twenty leagues was seen.

To fifty leagues he waxed, and still

Her mouth grew wider at her will.

Then smaller than a thumb became,

Shrunk by his power, the Vnar's frame. 2

He leaped within, and turning round

Sprang through the portal at a bound.

Then hung in air a moment, while

He thus addressed her with a smile:

'O Daksha's child, 3 farewell at last!

For I within thy mouth have passed.

Thou hast the gift of Brahm's grace:

I go, the Maithil queen to trace.'

Then, to her former shape restored,

She thus addressed the Vnar lord:

'Then forward to the task, and may

Success and joy attend thy way!

Go, and the rescued lady bring

In triumph to her lord and king.'

Then hosts of spirits as they gazed

The daring of the Vnar praised.

Through the broad fields of ether, fast

Garud's royal self, he passed,

The region of the cloud and rain,

Loved by the gay Gandharva train,

Where mid the birds that came and went

Shone Indra's glorious bow unbent,

And like a host of wandering stars

Flashed the high Gods' celestial cars.

Fierce Sinhik 1b who joyed in ill

And changed her form to work her will,

Descried him on his airy way

And marked the Vnar for her prey.

'This day at length,' the demon cried,

'My hunger shall be satisfied,'

And at his passing shadow caught

Delighted with the cheering thought.

The Vnar felt the power that stayed

And held him as she grasped his shade,

Like some tall ship upon the main

That struggles with the wind in vain.

Below, above, his eye he bent

And scanned the sea and firmament.

High from the briny deep upreared

The monster's hideous form appeared,

'Sugrva's tale,' he cried,'is true:

This is the demon dire to view

Of whom the Vnar monarch told,

Whose grasp a passing shade can hold.'

Then, as a cloud in rain-time grows.

His form, dilating, swelled and rose.

Wide as the space from heaven to hell

Her jaws she opened with a yell,

And rushed upon her fancied prey

With cloud-like roar to seize and slay.

The Vnar swift as thought compressed

His borrowed bulk of limb and chest,

And stood with one quick bound inside

The monstrous mouth she opened wide.

Hid like the moon when Rhu 2b draws

The orb within his ravening jaws.

Within that ample cavern pent

The demon's form he tore and rent,

And, from the mangled carcass freed,

Came forth again with thought-like speed. 3b

p. 397

Thus with his skill the fiend he slew,

Then to his wonted stature grew.

The spirits saw the demon die.

And hailed the Vnar from the sky:

'Well hast thou fought a wondrous fight

Nor spared the fiend's terrific might,

On, on! perform the blameless deed,

And in thine every wish succeed.

Ne're can they fail in whom combine

Such valour; thought, and skill as thine.'

Pleased with their praises as they sang,

Again through fields of air he sprang,

And now, his travail wellnigh done,

The distint shore was almost won,

Before him on the margent stood

In long dark line a waving wood,

And the fair island, bright and green

With flowers and trees, was clearly seen,

And every babbling brook that gave

Her lord the sea a tribute wave.

He lighted down on Lamba's peak

Which tinted metals stain and streak,

And looked where Lank's splendid town

Shone on the mountain like a crown.

Footnotes

394:1
This Book is called Sundar or the Beatiful. To a European taste it is the most intolerably tedious of the whole poem, abounding in repetition, overloaded description, and long aud useless speeches which impede the action of the poem.
Manifest interpolations of whole Cantos also occur. I have omitted none of the action of the Book, but have occasionally omitted long passages of common-place description, lamentation, and long stories which have been again and again repeated.

394:2
Brahm the Self-Existent.

394:
1b Mainka was the son of Rimlaya*
and Men or Menaka.

394:
2b Thus Milton makes the hills of heaven self-moving at command:

'At his comma*d the uprooted hiils retired Each to his place, they heard his voice and went Obsequious'

395:1
The spirit of the mountain is separable from the mountain. Himalaya has also been represented as standing in human on one of his own peaks.

395:2
Sagar or the Sea is said to have derived its name from Sagar. The story is fully told in Book I, Cantos Xlii, Xliii, and XLlV.

395:3
Kritu is the first of the four ages of the world, the golden age, also called Satya.

395:4
\"Parvata" means a mountain and in the Vedas a cloud. Hence in later mythology the mountain have taken the place of the clouds as the objects of the attacks of Indra the Sun-God. The feathered king is Garuda.

395:
1b "The children of Surasa were a thousand mighty many-headed serpents, traversing the sky."
WlLSON'S "Vishnu Purana",
Vol.II. p.73.

396:1
She means, says the Commentator, pursue thy journey if thou can.

396:2
If Milton's spirits are allowed the power of infinite self-extension and compression the same must be conceded to Vlmki's supernatural beings. Given the power as in Milton the result in Vlmki is perfectly consistent.

396:3
\"Daksha is the son of Brahm and one of the Prajpatis or divine progenitors.
He had sixty daughters, twenty-seven of whom married to Kas'yapa produced, according to one of the Indian cosmogonies, all mundane beings. Does the epithet, Descendant of Daksha, given to Suras, mean that she is one of those daughters? I think not. This epithet is perhaps an appellation common to all created beings as having sprung from Daksha." Gorresio.

396:
1b Sinhik is the mother of Rhu the dragon's head or ascending node, the chief agent in eclipses.

396:
2b Rhu is the demon who causes eclipses by attempting to swallow the sun and moon.

396:
3b According to De Gubernatis, the author of the very learned, ingenious, and interesting though too fanciful Zoological Mythology. Hanuman here represents the sun entering into and escaping from a cloud. The biblical Jonah, according to him, typifies the same phenomenon. Sdi, p. 395 speaking of sunset, says Ynas andar-i-dihn-i mhi shud: Jonas was within the fish's mouth. See Additional Notes.
courageous hero| devil's treasure
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