"I Have Seen Sita": Hanuman Returns

On the near shore the vanaras had been staring north since morning. Then, far off in the sky, there was a sound like thunder. Jambavan said, "Listen! That is Hanuman's roar. One who comes back having failed does not roar like that."

Hanuman came down on Mount Mahendra. The vanaras crowded round him. One brought fruit, another branches for him to sit on. Hanuman first bowed to his elders, and then said just three words:

"Seen have I Sita."

The vanaras leapt in the air. One kissed his own tail, one ran up a tree, one touched Hanuman to make sure he had really returned. Angada embraced him. "In strength, in steadiness, in devotion to your master, there is no one like you. You have saved all our lives."

Hanuman sat down and told the whole story: Mainaka, Surasa, Simhika, the night in Lanka, the Ashoka grove, Ravana's threat, Sita's message and the burning city. At the end he said, "Sita's own austerity would have burned Lanka. I was only the occasion."

Angada said hotly, "Then let us all go, kill Ravana and bring Sita back!" Jambavan checked him. "Son, we were ordered to find her, not to fetch her. Ram himself will win back his wife. Come, let us take him the news."

The honey grove

On the road to Kishkindha lay Madhuvana, the honey grove. It was Sugriva's favourite garden, guarded by his uncle Dadhimukha, and no one was allowed in.

The vanaras said to Angada, "Prince, today at least let us drink honey." Angada glanced at Hanuman, laughed and said, "Go." That was enough. They broke the combs, drank the honey, ate the fruit, danced, sang and fell over one another. When the keepers tried to stop them, they dragged the keepers about too. Dadhimukha was old; he took a few blows as well.

Dadhimukha went weeping to Sugriva. "King, Angada and his companions have wrecked the honey grove!"

Sugriva was delighted. His tail began to twitch with pleasure. Lakshmana asked, "What is there to be glad about?" Sugriva said, "Their time has run out and they are under sentence of death. If they are holding a feast in my garden, it can mean only one thing. Hanuman has seen Sita."

Before Ram

The vanaras came through the air and landed on Mount Prasravana. Hanuman laid his head at Ram's feet and said, "The lady is alive. She keeps her vows, and her mind is on you alone."

Ram said, "Hanuman, tell me everything. Where is she? How is she? What did she say for me?"

Hanuman told him each thing: the soiled garment, the bare ground she slept on, the rakshasis all around, Ravana's threat, and the moment when she stood up to end her life with her own braid. He told the story of the crow. Then Sita's last message: "I will live one more month." And he placed the jewel in Ram's hand.

Ram pressed it to his chest. Tears ran from his eyes. "Sugriva, at the sight of this jewel my heart melts as a cow's does at the sight of her calf. My father-in-law gave it to Vaidehi at our wedding, and it shone on her head. Today I feel as if I have seen her. Hanuman, tell me again what she said. Your words revive me as medicine revives a sick man."

The embrace

Then Ram said what was greater for Hanuman than any reward:

"Hanuman has done what no one on earth could do even in thought. Who can leap the ocean? Who can enter Lanka, guarded by Ravana, and come back alive? Servants are of three kinds. The best is one who completes his master's difficult task and does him still further good besides. That is what Hanuman has done. He has saved me, Lakshmana and the whole house of Raghu."

"But one thing grieves me. I have nothing today to give the one who has brought me such welcome news. What I have, I give."

And Ram held Hanuman to his chest.

In the Ramcharitmanas Hanuman's only reply is that a monkey's whole ability is to jump from one branch to another; crossing the sea and burning Lanka were the Lord's doing.

Then Ram looked towards the sea. "We know where Sita is. But how is this army to cross a hundred yojanas of ocean?"

Here the Sundara Kanda ends. The story continues in the Yuddha Kanda.