Yuddha Kanda · Sarga 39 of 128 · 28 verses
Lanka Seen from Suvela
After their night on Suvela, the monkey heroes look at the woods and groves of Lanka, broad, lovely, delightful to the eye, and are filled with wonder. Lanka shines with campaka, ashoka, bakula, sala and palm, dark with tamala forests, ringed with naga trees, with hintala, arjuna, nipa, saptaparna, tilaka, karnikara and patala in flower, their tops wound with creepers, like Indra’s Amaravati. The trees wear fragrant flowers and fruits like ornaments; the woods, like Caitraratha and Nandana, bloom in every season, humming with bees, loud with cuckoos, peacocks, herons, cranes and kingfishers. The joyful monkeys enter these woods, a fragrant breeze blowing around them; with Sugriva’s leave, some leaders go on toward bannered Lanka, frightening the birds and elephants and shaking the city with their roars; the dust from their feet rises, and bears, lions, buffaloes and elephants flee in all directions.
On one high peak of Trikuta, touching the sky, covered with flowers, shining like silver, a hundred leagues wide, smooth and splendid, unreachable even by birds and hard to climb even in thought, stands Lanka, guarded by Ravana: ten leagues wide and twenty long, with lofty gate towers like white clouds and walls of gold and silver, adorned with palaces and mansions like the sky after the rains. In it a palace with a thousand pillars, like a peak of Kailasa, seems to scrape the sky: the caitya of the rakshasa king, the city’s ornament, always guarded by a hundred rakshasas. Rama, with the monkeys, looks at Ravana’s rich city, golden, set among hills and gardens bright with minerals, full of birds, beasts, flowers and rakshasas, crowded with great houses like heaven, and the valiant one is filled with wonder at the city full of jewels and defences, with its great gates worked by machines.
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तां रात्रिमुषितास्तत्र सुवेले हरियूथपाः । लङ्कायां ददृशुर्वीरा वनान्युपवनानि च ॥ १ ॥
Having spent that night there on Suvela, the heroic leaders of the monkey troops saw the woods and groves in Lanka,
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समसौम्यानि रम्याणि विशालान्यायतानि च । दृष्टिरम्याणि ते दृष्ट्वा बभूवुर्जातविस्मयाः ॥ २ ॥
level and pleasant, lovely, wide and long, delightful to the eye; seeing them they were filled with wonder.
चम्पकाशोकबकुलशालतालसमाकुला । तमालवनसंछन्ना नागमालासमावृता ॥ ३ ॥
Crowded with campaka, ashoka, bakula, sala and palm, covered with tamala forests, encircled with rows of naga trees,
हिन्तालैरर्जुनैर्नीपैः सप्तपर्णैः सुपुष्पितैः । तिलकैः कर्णिकारैश्च पाटलैश्च समन्ततः ॥ ४ ॥
with hintalas, arjunas, nipas and saptaparnas in full flower, with tilakas, karnikaras and patalas on every side,
शुशुभे पुष्पिताग्रैश्च लतापरिगतैर्द्रुमैः । लङ्का बहुविधैर्दिव्यैर्यथेन्द्रस्यामरावती ॥ ५ ॥
Lanka shone with trees whose tops were in flower, entwined with creepers, many and heavenly, like Indra’s Amaravati;
विचित्रकुसुमोपेतै रक्तकोमलपल्लवैः । शाद्वलैश्च तथा नीलैश्चित्राभिर्वनराजिभिः ॥ ६ ॥
with trees bearing many-coloured flowers and tender red shoots, with dark green grass and bright lines of woods.
गन्धाढ्यान्यतिरम्याणि पुष्पाणि च फलानि च । धारयन्त्यगमास्तत्र भूषणानीव मानवाः ॥ ७ ॥
The trees there bore fragrant, very lovely flowers and fruits, as men wear ornaments.
तच्चैत्ररथसंकाशं मनोज्ञं नन्दनोपमम् । वनं सर्वर्तुकं रम्यं शुशुभे षट्पदायुतम् ॥ ८ ॥
That wood, like Caitraratha, charming, like Nandana, bearing flowers in all seasons, lovely, shone, full of bees.
दात्यूहकोयष्टिबकैर्नृत्यमानैश्च बर्हिणैः । रुतं परभृतानां च शुश्रुवे वननिर्झरे ॥ ९ ॥
With gallinules, lapwings and herons, with dancing peacocks, and the cries of cuckoos were heard at the forest streams.
नित्यमत्तविहंगानि भ्रमराचरितानि च । कोकिलाकुलखण्डानि विहंगाभिरुतानि च ॥ १० ॥
With birds always in rapture, frequented by bees, with groves full of cuckoos, resounding with birds,
भृङ्गराजाधिगीतानि कुररस्वनितानि च । कोणालकविघुष्टानि सारसाभिरुतानि च । विविशुस्ते ततस्तानि वनान्युपवनानि च ॥ ११ ॥
sung in by the king-bees, echoing with ospreys, loud with konalakas and with the cries of cranes: into those woods and groves they entered,
हृष्टाः प्रमुदिता वीरा हरयः कामरूपिणः । तेषां प्रविशतां तत्र वानराणां महौजसाम् ॥ १२ ॥
delighted and joyful, the heroic monkeys, taking any form at will. As those monkeys of great energy entered there,
पुष्पसंसर्गसुरभिर्ववौ घ्राणसुखोऽनिलः । अन्ये तु हरिवीराणां यूथान्निष्क्रम्य यूथपाः । सुग्रीवेणाभ्यनुज्ञाता लङ्कां जग्मुः पताकिनीम् ॥ १३ ॥
a breeze, fragrant from contact with the flowers, pleasant to the nose, blew. Other leaders, coming out from the troops of monkey heroes, with Sugriva’s leave, went toward bannered Lanka,
वित्रासयन्तो विहगान् ग्लापयन्तो मृगद्विपान् । कम्पयन्तश्च तां लङ्कां नादैः स्वैर्नदतां वराः ॥ १४ ॥
frightening the birds, exhausting the beasts and elephants, and shaking Lanka with their roars, the best of roarers.
कुर्वन्तस्ते महावेगा महीं चरणपीडिताम् । रजश्च सहसैवोर्ध्वं जगाम चरणोत्थितम् ॥ १५ ॥
Those of great speed made the earth pressed down by their feet, and the dust raised by their feet suddenly went up.
ऋक्षाः सिंहाश्च महिषा वारणाश्च मृगाः खगाः । तेन शब्देन वित्रस्ता जग्मुर्भीता दिशो दश ॥ १६ ॥
Bears, lions, buffaloes, elephants, deer and birds, frightened by that sound, fled in fear to the ten directions.
शिखरं तु त्रिकूटस्य प्रांशु चैकं दिविस्पृशम् । समन्तात् पुष्पसंछन्नं महारजतसंनिभम् ॥ १७ ॥
But one peak of Trikuta, lofty, touching the sky, covered all round with flowers, like gold and silver,
शतयोजनविस्तीर्णं विमलं चारुदर्शनम् । श्लक्ष्णं श्रीमन्महच्चैव दुष्प्रापं शकुनैरपि ॥ १८ ॥
a hundred leagues wide, spotless, lovely to see, smooth, glorious and great, hard to reach even for birds,
मनसापि दुरारोहं किं पुनः कर्मणा जनैः । निविष्टा तस्य शिखरे लङ्का रावणपालिता ॥ १९ ॥
hard to climb even in thought, let alone in deed by people: on its top was set Lanka, guarded by Ravana,
दशयोजनविस्तीर्णा विंशद्योजनमायता । सा पुरी गोपुरैरुच्चैः पाण्डुराम्बुदसंनिभैः । काञ्चनेन च शालेन राजतेन च शोभते ॥ २० ॥
ten leagues wide and twenty long. That city shone with lofty gate towers like white clouds, and with walls of gold and silver.
प्रासादैश्च विमानैश्च लङ्का परमभूषिता । घनैरिवातपापाये मध्यमं वैष्णवं पदम् ॥ २१ ॥
Lanka was finely adorned with palaces and mansions, like the middle step of Vishnu with clouds when the heat is past.
यस्यां स्तम्भसहस्रेण प्रासादः समलंकृतः । कैलासशिखराकारो दृश्यते खमिवोल्लिखन् ॥ २२ ॥
In it a palace adorned with a thousand pillars, shaped like a peak of Kailasa, is seen as if scraping the sky:
चैत्यः स राक्षसेन्द्रस्य बभूव पुरभूषणम् । शतेन रक्षसां नित्यं यः समग्रेण रक्ष्यते ॥ २३ ॥
the caitya of the king of the rakshasas, which was the ornament of the city, always guarded by a full hundred rakshasas.
मनोज्ञां काञ्चनवतीं पर्वतैरुपशोभिताम् । नानाधातुविचित्रैश्च उद्यानैरुपशोभिताम् ॥ २४ ॥
Charming, full of gold, beautified by mountains, beautified by gardens bright with many minerals,
नानाविहगसंघुष्टां नानामृगनिषेविताम् । नानाकुसुमसम्पन्नां नानाराक्षससेविताम् ॥ २५ ॥
loud with many birds, frequented by many beasts, rich in many flowers, served by many rakshasas:
तां समृद्धां समृद्धार्थां लक्ष्मीवाँल्लक्ष्मणाग्रजः । रावणस्य पुरीं रामो ददर्श सह वानरैः ॥ २६ ॥
that prosperous city of Ravana, rich in wealth, glorious Rama, Lakshmana’s elder brother, saw with the monkeys.
तां महागृहसम्बाधां दृष्ट्वा लक्ष्मणपूर्वजः । नगरीं त्रिदिवप्रख्यां विस्मयं प्राप वीर्यवान् ॥ २७ ॥
Seeing that city crowded with great houses, like heaven, the valiant elder brother of Lakshmana was filled with wonder.
तां रत्नपूर्णां बहुसंविधानां प्रासादमालाभिरलंकृतां च । पुरीं महायन्त्रकवाटमुख्यां ददर्श रामो महता बलेन ॥ २८ ॥
That city full of jewels, of many defences, adorned with rows of palaces, its great gates worked by machines, Rama saw with his great army.