The verse and its meaning · Sundarkand · Sundarkand — Sita in the Ashoka Grove

Sita Blesses Hanuman

Sundarkand 17

मन सन्तोष सुनत कपि बानी। भगति-प्रताप-तेज-बल-सानी । आसिष दीन्हि राम प्रिय जाना । होहु तात बल-सील-निधाना॥१ । अजर अमर गुन-निधि सुत होहू । करहिं बहुत रघुनायक छोहू । करहिं कृपा प्रभु अस सुनि काना। निर्भर प्रेम मगन हनुमाना ॥२ । बार बार नायेसि पद सीसा । बोला बचन जोरि कर कीसा । अब कृतकृत्य भयउँ मैं माता । आसिष तव अमोघ बिख्याता ॥३ । सुनहु मातु मोहि अतिसय भूखा । लागि देखि सुन्दर फल रूखा । सुनु सुत करहिँ विपिन रखवारी । परम सुभट रजनीचर भारी ॥४ । तिन्ह कर भय माता मोहि नाहीं । जौँ तुम्ह सुख मानहु मन माहीं ॥५ । देखि बुद्धि-बल-निपुन कपि, कहेउ जानकी जाहु । रघुपति-चरन हृदय धरि, तात मधुर फल खाहु ॥१७

Meaning · English

Sita blesses Hanuman: strength and goodness, ageless, deathless, Raghunayak's favour. Bowing, fulfilled, he asks to eat the fruit. She warns of fierce guards. He fears none if she is pleased. She says: eat, Raghupati's feet in your heart.

Three Awadhi words carry the scene. Asisa is a blessing, and Hanuman calls hers amogha, never fruitless. Nirbhara prema is love filled to the brim, the state Hanuman is in when he hears it. Rajanicara, night-walker, is Tulsidas's word for the rakshasas who guard the grove. Sita is content at his words, which Tulsidas calls full of devotion, majesty, brightness and strength. Knowing he is dear to Rama, she blesses him. She asks that he be a storehouse of strength and good character, ageless and deathless, a treasury of virtues, and that Raghunayak show him great favour. Hearing that Rama may favour him, Hanuman is lost in love. He bows again and again and says he is fulfilled, because her blessing is known never to fail. Then he turns practical. He is very hungry, and the trees are full of lovely fruit. Sita warns that fierce, skilled rakshasas guard this grove. Hanuman says he has no fear of them if she is pleased in her heart. Seeing his wit and strength, she tells him to go and eat the sweet fruit, holding Raghupati's feet in his heart. The teaching is in the order of things. Her blessing comes first, his fearlessness rests on her pleasure, and Rama's feet stay in the heart while he acts.

A mother stands at the door and rests her hand on her son's head before he leaves for a crowded fair. She says go, enjoy, and he walks off lighter. Sita's blessing works the same way: it is permission and protection together, and what he carries into the grove is her approval.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Hanuman Answers Sita's Doubt · Sundarkand 16
• All of Sundarkand · Ask Krishna about it

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