Canto 43
Itching for Fight
None there left to give battle
Prahastha’s son as not yet reached
Thought of future course Hanuman.
Thought he fit to despoil
Hill like palace found therein
Used for funeral pyres to lay.
Up the golden roof of it
Hop step and jump he went.
Perched on top of that terrace
Seemed he rivalled sun in skies.
Saw all those him stand up there
Wondered how he reached those heights.
Grew he so tall that he touched
Skyscape that was filled with clouds.
Slapped afresh he arms his strong
Sound that made the guards all there
Lose their consciousness en masse.
Prayed he Ram ’n Lakshman too
Invoked he Lord Sugreev’s grace.
Gaped as all those guards at him
Addressed Hanuman them all thus:
Come may Ravans in thousands
Won’t I mincemeat make them all.
Over thy dead bodies now
Go and I see Rama’s spouse.
So to unnerve them further
Roared he like thunderbolt.
Provoked by the daring of
Intruder who challenged them,
Rose to one man guards all there
So to subdue who snubbed them.
Arrayed Ravan’s guards well built
Aimed they allied weapons at him.
Around the vanar thus they trapped
Whirlpool like look had those guards.
Enraged by their act Hanuman
Pulled he pillar of huge girth
Of that structure of sky high.
Like a rod he twirled it long
To ward off weapons they threw at him.
Sparks of friction emanated then
Burnt that place all far and wide.
Spoke thus Hanuman to those few
Survived then his great onslaught.
Force ours realize hath thousands
Match who would me bone to bone.
Know they all to smash thy heads
Land would soon on Lankan shores.
Know a weakling of vanar
Equals elephants ten no less.
Prowess elite force ours hath
Such is that thou can’t figure out.
Witness how all vanars would
Come to kill thee with their nails.
It’s thy ill fate that thy Lord
Snaring Seetha to thy land
Invited Ram’s wrath on thee
Hapless subjects of his State.
Canto 44
Takes on Prahastha’s Son
Sent as he was by Ravan
In time garden gate Prahastha’s
Son had reached to slay Hanuman
Who by then came back to post.
Came thus Hanuman face to face
With Jambumali that Prahastha’s son
Savage fiend that slain all dared
Feared thus most the world over.
Bow his rivalled Indra’s own
Sent shivers it down enemies’ spines.
Strung as he the string to test
Of his bow to serve his cause
Echoed its sound in high skies.
Driven in cart of four donkeys
Came as Prahastha’s son near him,
Greeted Hanuman him in scorn
Slapping hard his own thighs then.
Jambumali then lost no time
Aimed he arrows sharp at him.
Missed no arrow its target
Tip to toe was hurt Hanuman.
Bloodied face of Hanuman then
Looked like flowering rose at dawn.
Hurt by arrows in their scores
Mouth of Hanuman’s coral red
Looked like lotus in full bloom.
So to launch a blitzkrieg on
Prahastha’s son by Ravan sent
Picked up some slab then Hanuman.
What he hurled at Prahastha’s son
Turned that then to pebbles latter.
Enraged Hanuman plucked a tree
And javelined hard at Jambumali.
Aimed his arrows Prahastha’s son
Tree that just left Hanuman’s hands.
Prowess such was Jambumali’s
Shot he arrows in their scores
Missed none of them its target
Chipped to firewood tree all that.
With the shield of tree thus lost
To body blows of Prahastha’s son
Laid bare then all Hanuman frame.
Hanuman pulled a door latch then
Leapt he thus at Prahastha’s son.
Hit then Hanuman with that latch
Chest of Prahastha’s son that strong.
Blow that Hanuman dealt was such
Broke all bones of fiend that strong.
Battered as by Hanuman then
Lay dead Ravan’s chosen one.
Heard as breaking news Ravan
Of the death of Prahastha’s son
Went he into rare frenzy.
So to bring to book Hanuman
Sent Ravan for seven Marshals
Heirs apparent of secretaries.
