The verse and its meaning · Sundarkand · Sundarkand — Lanka Burns

The Messenger of Rama

Sundarkand 21

कह लङ्केस कवन तैँ कीसा । केहि के बल घालेहि बन खीसा । की धौं स्रवन सुने नहिं मोही । देखउँ अति असङ्क सठ तोही ॥१ । मारे निसिचर केहि अपराधा । कहु सठ तोहि न प्रान कै बाधा । जाके बल विरंचि हरि ईसा । पालत सृजत हरत दससीसा । जा बल सीस धरत सहसानन । अंडकोस समेत गिरि कानन ॥३ । धरइ जो विविध देह सुर-त्राता । तुम्ह से सठन्ह सिखावनदाता । हर-कोदंड कठिन जेहि भञ्जा । तोहि समेत नृप-दल मद गञ्जा ॥१ । खर दूषन त्रिसिरा अरु बाली । बधे सकल अतुलित बल-साली ॥२ । जाके बल लवलेस तें, जितेहु चराचर झारि । तासु दूत मैं जा करि, हरि आनेहुं प्रिय नारि ॥२१

Meaning · English

Ravana asks: who are you, monkey, and whose strength made you ruin the grove? Have you never heard of me? I see you are utterly fearless, rogue. For what offence did you kill the night-roamers? Tell me, rogue, do you not fear for your life? Hanuman answers: He by whose strength Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva create, sustain and destroy, O ten-headed one; by whose strength the thousand-headed Shesha bears on his head the cosmic egg with its mountains and forests; who takes many forms to protect the gods and to teach rogues like you; who broke Shiva's hard bow and crushed the pride of the host of kings, you included; who slew Khara, Dushana, Trishira and Vali, all of matchless strength. By a mere particle of His strength you conquered all moving and unmoving beings. I am the messenger of that Lord whose dear wife you have stolen away.

Ravana's questions come first. He asks who Hanuman is, whose strength dared him, whether he never heard of Ravana, and why he killed the night-roamers. The Awadhi word saṭha means a rogue or fool, and Ravana flings it at Hanuman again and again. Hanuman then answers by describing Rama: the one by whose strength Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva create, sustain and destroy, by whose strength Sheshanaga holds up the whole world on his hoods, who broke Shiva's bow and humbled the pride of the kings, Ravana's included, and who struck down Khara, Dushana, Trishira and Vali. Ravana's questioning fills the first chaupai and carries into the second; midway through that chaupai Hanuman begins his reply, which continues through the chaupais that follow, and the doha closes it. Two Awadhi words carry the doha. Lavalesa means a tiny fragment, a speck. Dūta means messenger, one who speaks only for the one who sent him. Hanuman says that the strength by which Ravana conquered the whole moving and unmoving world is a speck of his Lord's strength. He then names himself as that Lord's messenger, come to bring back the dear wife Ravana carried off. He meets Ravana's scorn with his Lord's greatness. Tulsidas teaches that borrowed power cannot be set against its source. Hanuman claims no strength of his own, only his master's errand. Reciters often hear a quiet irony in priya nāri: Sita is dear to Rama, not a prize for Ravana.

A lamp flame in a courtyard seems bright to the moth circling it. The sun is overhead the whole time. Ravana's strength is the lamp, Rama's strength is the sun, and Hanuman is the one pointing upward.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Ravana's Court Awaits · Sundarkand 20
• Next: Hanuman's Plain Answer · Sundarkand 22
• All of Sundarkand · Ask Krishna about it

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