Having passed the night in Suvela, the heroic monkey-leaders surveyed
woods and forests in Lanka. And seeing those extensive (woods and
forests), mild, and charming, and beautiful to behold, they were seized
with wonderment. Abounding in _champakas_, _acokas_, _vakulas_, _calas_,
and palms; covered with _tamalas_ and _panacas_,--and environed all
around with trees,--and surrounded with Hintalas, Aryunas, blossoming
Saptaparnas, Tilakas, Karnikaras, and Patalas,--trees with flowering
tops, en tert wined with creepers,--Lanka looked exceedingly lovely,
with various sights,--resembling the Amaravati herself of Indra. And
trees there, furnished with variegated flowers having tender rosy
leaves,--and blue lawns, and rows of woods; and bearing odourous and
charming blossoms and fruits,--looked like men adorned with ornaments.
And there a delightful and pleasant wood resembling Chaitraratha, and
like unto Nandana itself--having all the seasons present,--appeared
beauteous to the view, with black bees all around. And it had Datyuhas,
and Koyasthivas, and peacocks dancing; and the strains of the coels were
heard at the woodland rills. And the heroic and exhilarated monkeys,
capable of wearing forms at pleasure, entered those woods and groves
frequented by maddened birds and ranged by Bhramaras,--tracts
overflowing with the lays of coels, and ringing with the voices of
songsters,--resonant with the notes of Bhramaras--sovereigns of their
species--and eloquent with the cries of ospreys. And as the exceedingly
energetic monkeys entered, there blew upon them the breeze--like unto
life--redolent of perfume obtained from contact with the blossoms. And
others of the leaders among the heroic monkeys, coming out from the
bands, ordered by Sugriva, made in the direction of Lanka crowned with
ensigns. And, terrifying the fowls and dispiriting beasts and birds and
shaking Lanka with their roars, those foremost monkeys set up shouts.
And they, endowed with great impetuosity, went on, oppressing the earth
with their battle-array; and clouds of dust suddenly arose from the the
march of the soldiery. And bears, and lions, and buffaloes, and
elephants, and deer, and birds, overwhelmed with affright, made for the
ten cardinal points. The graceful and lovely summit of Trikuta was
entire, elevated, sky-piercing, of golden splendour, measuring an
hundred yojanas, clear-shining, level, inaccessible even to fowls, and
incapable of being ascended even in thought--not to say of actual
ascension by people. Lanka, ruled by Ravana, was situated on its[100]
top,--ten yojanas in width and twenty in length. And that city was
graced with lofty ornamented gateways resembling pale clouds, and golden
and silvern walls; and Lanka was adorned with palaces and piles; like
the sky[101] graced with clouds on the approach of the rainy season. And
that palace, which was adorned with thousands of pillars, and which, as
if piercing the heavens, looked like a peak of Kailaca--was the
residence of the Sovereign of the Rakshasas--the ornament of the city,
(ever guarded by full hundreds of Rakshasas). And Lakshmana's auspicious
and puissant elder brother, beholding that flourishing and wealthy city
resembling the celestial regions,--charming to the mind, made of gold,
graced with mountains, and decked out with mountains containing various
metals,--resonant with the notes of various birds; abounding in various
beasts,--furnished with various kinds of flowers,--and inhabited by
various orders of Rakshasas,--was struck with astonishment. And Rama,
surrounded by his mighty forces, saw that palace, filled with diverse
kinds of gems, adorned with rows of edifices, and having huge engines
and gateways.
[100] Trikuta's.--T.
[101] _Madhyamam Vaishnavam padam_--the middle foot of Vishnu. When
Vishnu in his Dwarf-form took the conceit out of Vali, the
renowned Asura king,--he covered the earth with one pace, the sky
with another and heaven with the last.--T.