Rāmāyana |Kiṣkindha Kaṇḍa| Chapter 66

66. Jambhavan tells Hanuman

[Jambhavan tells Hanuman his story and reminds him of his prowess and tells him that he can easily do the task.]

After seeing the many hundreds of thousands of the monkey army who were all worried, Jambhavan told Hanuman. 66.1

"Oh valorous one, among the world of monkeys you are the one who is an expert in all shastras. Why are quietly sitting in a lonely place and not speaking anything?" 66.2

"Oh Hanuman, you are equal to Sugrīva the king of monkeys and Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa in luster and strength." 66.3

"Garuda is the son of Ariṣṭanemi [sage Kaśyapa] and Vinutha and is famous as the best among all birds." 66.4

"I have seen him who is strong and famous and who has great speed many times snatching away serpents from the sea." 66.5

"The power of your arms is equal to the power of his wings and your power and speed can be favourably compared to his power and speed." 66.6

"Oh great monkey, your strength, wisdom and lustre are very great and superior to all beings, but why are you not realizing this?" 66.7

"Famous and great Apsarā maid called Punjikasthala, who was known as Anjana was the wife of a monkey called Keśarī." 66.8

"She was famous in all the three worlds and of matchless beauty in this world and due to a curse she was born as a monkey who could assume any form she likes." 66.9

"She was the daughter of great monkey king called Kunjara and she took the form of a very pretty youthful maiden, wearing wonderful garlands and ornaments and dressed in cloths of silk and looking like a proud rain cloud she was wandering on the top of a mountain." 66.10-66.11

"Then while she was wandering there the wind god made her yellow cloth with red border fly away." 66.12

"Then that wind God saw her curved and well set thighs and her two plump and pretty breasts and her very pretty and pleasing face." 66.13

"And the wind God also saw that famous one with her with very broad hips, slender waist and well shaped limbs and fell in love with her." 66.14

"With all his limbs under the control of God of love, that stainless one lost himself and embraced her with his long arms." 66.15

"That lady of strict virtue became greatly agitated and asked "who is making me disobey the penance of having only one husband." 66.16

Hearing the words of Anjana, the wind God replied," Oh auspicious lady, do not get scared I only influenced your mind and not your body." 66.17

"I have embraced you and united only with your mind and so a son who is courageous and intelligent would be born to you." 66.18

"He would be greatly powerful, greatly lustrous and would have great valour and strength and in jumping and leaping he would be equal to me." 66.19

"Oh great monkey, your great mother, hearing this was satisfied and in the cave delivered you as a monkey." 66.20

"As a boy seeing the Sun rise and thinking that it is a fruit, you wanted to catch him and ran towards him and jumped in the sky." 66.21

"Though after covering a distance of 300 yojanas, you were pushed back by the lustre of the sun, you did not bother and went ahead." 66.22

"Oh monkey seeing you speedily running towards the Sun in space, Indra became angry and threw his Vajra at you." 66.23

"Thou then fell on the mountain top with your left jaw [Hanu] broken and thereafter you became famous with the name Hanuman." 66.24

"Seeing you being hit, the wind God who carries the scent and who breaks trees became very angry and made the wind not blow in all the three worlds." 66.25

"Al the devas got extremely scared and agitated seeing all the three worlds getting disturbed and those lords of the world tried to please the angry wind God." 66.26

"Then Lord Brahma was propitiated by the wind god, gave you a boon that you cannot be killed by any weapons and that you would be valorous in war." 66.27

" Oh Lord Seeing that you are not hurt by the Vajra, the thousand eyed one gave you a boon that you can yourself choose the time of your death." 66.28

"You who are greatly valorous are the son of Keśarī and the legal Kshetrajna son [one’s own son produced by divine entities] of wind God and equal in lustre to him and oh lad being the son of wind God you are equal to him in jumping capability." 66.29 -66.30

"Though we are now equal to those who have lost their soul, since you are fully endowed with courage and valour like the monkey king and so you can still save us." 66.31

"Oh lad, when lord Trivikrama was measuring this world, with its mountains, trees and forests, I went round him twenty one times." 66.32

"Then as per the command of the Gods we collected medicinal herbs and produced nectar by churning the great ocean and by that we had great energy." 66.33

"I have now become aged and have lost much of my valour and at this time you are the one who has all the good qualities for us." 66.34

"Cheer up and expand yourself as you are the best among animals that leap and show your valour to this army of monkeys who are desirous of seeing it." 66.35

"Get up oh tiger among monkeys and cross this great ocean as you have the greatest capacity among all living beings." 66.36

"Why are you not bothered about all these monkeys with a worried face? With valour go with great speed like Lord Vishnu covered the world in three strides." 66.37

That Hanuman, the son of wind god who was enthused by Jambhavan realized his speed and greatly increased his size, cheered by the monkey army. 66.38

This is the end of Sixty Sixth Sarga of Kiṣkindha Kanda which occurs in Holy Rāmāyaṇa composed by Vālmīki as the First Epic.