The Ramayana · 317 of 493

Kiṣkindhā Kānda (The Book of Kishkindha): Canto 47 — The Return

Thus forth in quest of Sítá went The legions King Sugríva sent. 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 Praśravaṇ’s hill they went, And stood with faces of despair Before their king Sugríva there. Thus, having wandered through the east, Great Vinata his labours ceased, And weary of the fruitless pain Returned to meet the king again, Brave Śatabali to the north Had led his Vánar legions forth. Now to Sugríva he sped With all his host dispirited. Susheṇ the western realms had sought, And homeward now his legions brought. All to Sugríva came, where still He sat with Ráma 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 Hanumán of noblest mind The Maithil lady yet will find; For to his quarter of the sky(749) The robber fiend was seen to fly.”