Hanuman Meets Ram: The Friendship with Sugriva

Spring had come to Lake Pampa. Lotuses were open, bees hummed and the koel called. A sight that would have pleased the heart on any other day only reopened Ram's wound. "Lakshmana, this spring burns me. With Sita beside me this lake would have seemed heaven." Lakshmana steadied him: "Brother, there is no strength greater than resolve. Nothing in the world is out of reach for one who has it."

Fear on Rishyamuka

On nearby Mount Rishyamuka the vanara king Sugriva lived in hiding with four ministers. His elder brother Vali sought his life. Because of a curse Vali could not set foot on this mountain, which was why Sugriva was safe there.

Sugriva saw two young men with bows and shook with fear. "Vali has sent them." His minister Hanuman said, "King, you rule the vanaras, yet you have not given up our restlessness. Why fear before you know?" Sugriva said, "Then go and find out. Read their minds from their words and faces."

Hanuman's speech

Hanuman took the form of a mendicant and went to the brothers. He bowed and said sweetly, "You both wear the dress of ascetics, yet your shoulders are like a lion's and your arms are fit to guard a kingdom. What brings you to this forest? I am a minister of Sugriva, king of the vanaras; I am the son of the Wind, and my name is Hanuman. Sugriva is a good man, wronged by his brother, and he seeks your friendship."

Ram's face brightened. He turned to Lakshmana. "Did you hear how he spoke? No one who has not learned the Rig Veda, studied the Yajur Veda and known the Sama Veda could speak like this. He said so much and not one word was wrong. His face did not twitch as he spoke, nor did his brow bend. A king who has such an envoy finds all his work accomplished of itself."

It was the first meeting of the Lord and his greatest devotee. Lakshmana told their whole story. Hanuman took his true form, set the two brothers on his shoulders and climbed the mountain.

With fire as witness

Sugriva held out his hand. "Ram, if the friendship of a vanara like me is acceptable to you, here is my hand." Ram clasped it and embraced him. Hanuman kindled a fire by rubbing sticks. Ram and Sugriva walked around it. "From today," said Sugriva, "our joy and sorrow are one." Then he broke off a leafy branch and spread it, and the two sat down on it together.

The ornaments

Sugriva said, "Ram, one day we were sitting here. A rakshasa was carrying a woman through the sky. She was crying 'Ram, Ram' and 'Lakshmana'. Seeing us, she dropped her upper cloth and some ornaments. I have kept them safe."

He brought a bundle from the cave. Ram took it in his hands, and his eyes filled with tears like the moon veiled in mist. He pressed it to his chest and sank to the ground. Then he said, "Lakshmana, look. These are Vaidehi's, are they not?"

Lakshmana's answer is his whole character:

Naham janami keyure, naham janami kundale,
nupure tv abhijanami nityam padabhivandanat.

"I do not know the armlets, and I do not know the earrings. I know only the anklets, because I bowed at her feet every day."

Sugriva wiped Ram's tears. "I do not know where that rakshasa lives. But I promise I will bring Sita back to you. My wife too was taken, and I do not weep. Grief is a man's worst enemy."

Ram dried his eyes. "Friend, you have said what a true friend says. Now tell me what I must do for you. I have never told a lie, and I never will."