A brief, deflating sarga. Within the month, three of the four parties return: east, north and west have been searched to the last cave, and huge creatures killed in the thickets, without a trace of Sita. The returning chiefs themselves end on a note of hope: Hanuman has gone south, “the very way that Sita went”.

Jatayu had told Rama that Ravana flew south, so the southern party was always the likeliest to succeed. The narrative now follows Hanuman, Angada and their companions, whose own month is about to run out.