and with beating of drums and clapping of hands they took him through the city and set fire to his tail. When Hanumán saw the fire blazing, he at once reduced himself to a very diminutive size, and slipping out of his bonds sprang on to the upper story of the gilded palace, to the dismay of the giants' wives.
Dohá 25.
That instant the forty-nine winds,[1] whom Hari had sent, began to blow; the monkey shouted with roars of laughter and swelled so big that he touched the sky.
Chaupái.
Of enormous stature and yet marvellous agility, he leaped and ran from palace to palace. As the city was thus set on fire, the people were at their wits' end; for the terrible flames burst forth in countless millions of places. "Alas! father and mother, hearken to my cry: who will save us now? As I said, this is no monkey, but some god in monkey form. This is the result of not taking a good man's advice; our city is burnt down as though it had no protector." The city was consumed in an instant of time, save only Vibhíshan's house; the reason why it escaped, Bhaváni, was that he who sent the messenger had also created the fire. After the whole of Lanká had been turned upside down and given over to the flames, he threw himself into the middle of the sea.
Dohá 26.
After extinguishing his tail and recovering from his fatigue, he assumed his old diminutive form and went and stood before Jánaki, with hands clasped in prayer.
Chaupái.
"Be pleased, madam, to give me some token, such as Ráma gave me." She unfastened the jewel in her hair and gave it him.[2] The Son of the Wind received it gladly. "Salute him respectfully for me, my son, with these words: 'my lord, you never fail to fulfil desire and are renowned as the suppliant's
- ↑ In the Veda, the Maruts, or winds, are said to be sixty-three in number, forming nine Ganas, or troops, of seven each. In post-Vedic literature they are described as the children of Diti, either seven, or seven times seven in number. After Diti's elder sons, the Asuras, had been subdued by Indra, their mother implored her husband Kasyapa, the son of Maríchi, to bestow on her an Indra- destroying son. Her request was granted; but Indra, with his weapon Vajra, divided the child, with which she was pregnant, into forty-nine pieces, which commenced uttering grievous cries, till Indra in compassion transformed them into the Maruts, or Winds.—Monier Wiliams sub-verbo.
- ↑ In both recensions of the Sanskrit Rámáyana, Síta gives Hanumán the jewel before he destroys the grove and sets the city on fire. The second interview is not mentioned at all in the up-country text.
