Ramayana of Valmiki (Griffith)
by Ralph T. H. Griffith | 1870 | 365,107 words | ISBN-13: 9788171101566
The "Ramayana" is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to Valmiki and is one of the major epics of Hinduism along with the "Mahabharata." It narrates the life and adventures of Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, focusing on his ideals as a prince and a king. The epic describes Rama’s 14-year exile, during which his wife Sita is ...
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Chapter XLVII: The Return
Thus forth in quest of Sita
The legions King Sugriva.
To many a distant town they hied
By many a lake and river’s side.
As their great sovereign’s order taught,
Through valleys, plains, and groves they sought.
They toiled unresting through the day:
At night upon the ground they lay
Where the tall trees, whose branches swayed
Beneath their fruit, gave pleasant shade.
Then, when a weary month was spent,
Back to Prasravan’s hill they went,
And stood with faces of despair
Before their king Sugrivae.
Thus, having wandered through the east,
Great Vinata his labours ceased,
And weary of the fruitless pain
Returned to meet the king again,
Brave Shatabali to the north
Had led his Vanarons forth.
Now to Sugriva he sped
With all his host dispirited.
Sushen the western realms had sought.
And homeward now his legions brought.
All to Sugriva came, where still
He sat with Rama on the hill.
Before their sovereign humbly bent
And thus addressed him reverent:
'On every hill our steps have been,
By wood and cave and deep ravine;
And all the wandering brooks we know
throughout the land that seaward flow,
Our feet by thy command have traced
the tangled thicket and the waste,
and dens and dingles hard to pass
for creeping plants and matted grass
Well have we searched with toil and pain,
And monstrous creatures have we slain
But Hanumanoblest mind
The Maithil lady yet will find;
For to his quarter of the sky  [1]
The robber fiend was seen to fly,'
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Hanumanthe leader of the army of the south which was under the nominal command of Angad the heir apparent.