November 18 - Sarga 58 -shlokas 102 to 169 of Sundara Kanda.
Hanuman continues his narrative of all that happened during his Lanka visit.
प्रणम्य शिरसा देवीमहमार्यामनिन्दिताम् ।
राघवस्य मानोह्लादमाभिज्ञानमयाचिषम् ॥
अथमामब्रवीत् सीता गृह्यतामायमुत्तमः ।
मणिर्येन महाबाहू रामस्त्वां बहु मन्यते ॥
"I then bowed down to Devi Sita, the noble lady with her conduct beyond reproach. Then I requested her to give me a memento or token from herself that would delight Sri Rama immensely and be proof of my meeting with her.
"Devi Sita took out a precious gem-jewel, and said, "take this, Hanuman, and present this wonderful jewel to Sri Rama. He will be so glad that he will reward you!"
Sita again fervently pleaded through her message sent with Hanuman to Sri Rama and Lakshmana that they should come post-haste with Sugriva and his army, and save her, as otherwise she would be killed in 2 months.
***
Hanuman goes on to narrate how he decided, before his return journey, to teach a lesson to all the rakshasas who were tormenting Sita. He, therefore, vandalized Ashoka Vana. The frightened, ugly, rakshasis around Sita rushed to Ravana, saying a huge monkey had come and vandalized the vana. He should be killed and their fear should be removed. Accordingly, 80,000 kinkaras were sent by Ravana with deadly weapons. Hanuman dealt them all a death blow with a big iron girder. Again, as the few kinkaras who had survived rushed to Ravana for reinforcements, Hanuman turned his attention to the magnificent Chaitya temple and pleasure mansion in Ashoka Vana. He destroyed the structure as well as the armed guards who came to attack him.
Then came Prahasta's son Jambumali. Then the sons of the seven ministers. Then five army generals. Then Aksha Kumara, son of Ravana and his principal queen Mandodari. Then Indrajit himself, the heroic son of Ravana. Everyone except Indrajit was killed by Hanuman without much effort.
Indrajit was dismayed to see Hanuman flatten his army and escape his deadly arrows. Indrajit engaged Hanuman in aerial warfare without much success, given that the son of the Wind-god was too quick and agile to be hit by the missiles. At last, Indrajit employed Brahmaastra to bind Hanuman into submission.
The rakshasas now bound Hanuman with ropes of all kinds and took him to Ravana. This was exactly what Hanuman wanted.
Hanuman introduced himself as the emissary from the glorious Sri Rama and the minister of King Sugriva, who had replaced Vali as the lord of vanaras and king of Kishkindha. Hanuman conveyed to Ravana the best wishes of King Sugriva, and his sagely advice not to provoke Sri Rama and to forthwith apologize to Sri Rama and return Sita to him.
Ravana was most displeased to hear this. He ordered in rage that Hanuman should be put to death. Luckily, Ravana's younger brother Vibhishana was around to advise the rakshasa king that an emissary, however wrong, or provocative, should not be put to death but be allowed to complete his mission and take the reply to his master. However, Hanuman could be punished suitably by injuring his limbs or deforming his body.
Ravana ordered accordingly, and all the rakshasas came and gleefully put flammable materials on Hanuman's tail. They celebrated as they set it on fire. Hanuman shrank himself, released himself from all the ropes, and then reassumed his massive form. He killed those rakshasas who had paraded him with his burning tail in Lanka. In extreme anger, Hanuman then set the whole city on fire. Surprisingly, Hanuman did not suffer any pain from the fire, which seemed to be particularly kind to him.
Hanuman stopped, at last, to extinguish the fire on his tail. But at once, he realized that he had destroyed the entire mission he came for, by burning down Lanka- because Sita was located within Lanka and would have also been killed. Sita must surely have been burnt to death.
Then his better sense advised him that just as his tail had been saved by the Fire-god because of the sanctity of his mission for Sri Rama, the same Fire-god would have spared Devi Sita also. This was confirmed to him by the charanas, aerial semi-divine beings, who were moving in the sky wondering aloud how only Devi Sita remained untouched and unaffected in the conflagration that had burnt down all of Lanka.
Hanuman was mightily relieved. He rushed to Devi Sita, and bidding her goodbye and assuring her that Sri Rama would arrive soon and rescue her, he quickly chose the mountain peak Arishta in Lanka to take off from. He was most eager to come back to his vanara army to report to the elders and Angada the completion of his mission.
राघवस्य प्रसादेन भवतां चैव तेजसा ।
सुग्रीवस्य च कार्यार्थं मया सर्वमनुष्ठितम् ॥
एतत् सर्वं मया तत्र यथावदुपपादितम् ।
तत्र यन्न कृतं शेषं तत् सर्वं क्रियतामिति ॥
"Oh respected generals of our vanara army, this is my debrief. By the grace of Sri Rama, and the abundant radiance of all of you great vanaras, have I been able to accomplish the order of King Sugriva and complete my mission well.
"I have reported everything factually. I now request that what remains to be done is undertaken as per your considered judgement."
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
