THE GREAT MONKEY ARMY
When the monkeys were looking for Sita, they were going to commit suicide on account of their not being able to find her. Angada was putting the kusa grass, and he said, “I’m going to die. I can’t find Sita.” The other monkeys said, “No, no, there is a nice secure place where we can go to live.”
Hanuman chastised them. “This is illusion,” he said. Hanuman got so upset, and he was chastising Angada and the rest of the monkeys. “What are you trying to do? Do you want to end your life in a prestigious way, or do you want to go for some `security’?” They were on a mission for Ramacandra. They had to find Sita and then come back with that information. Thirty thousand monkeys went on that mission. That was only in the south. In the north there were eighty thousand monkeys. And because east and west were not so important, there was only ten thousand in those places. The greatest corporals and generals of Sugriva were ordained to go, and they were told not to come back until they found Sita. Unfortunately all the other groups came back. The north, the east and the west. But the southern party was still going. Hanuman, Jambavan, Angada and Nila were the greatest leaders of that group. We have discussed Hanuman’s appearance already. Now we will discuss Jambavan.
Jambavan is the oldest created being in the universe, apart from Brahma. When Brahma was thinking of making the creation and he had the vision of the Lord, the Lord shook hands with him and gave him the information of Bhagavatam, aham evasya evagre. “I am before everything and after everything.” Brahma was contemplating to create, and he was thinking, “How great is this creation, and how am I going to do it?”
In the meantime, the Garbhodakasayi Visnu was laying down on the snake, and from both of his ears, two drops of sweat came out. One drop became Madhu, a great demon, and the other became Kaitava, another great demon. Madhu and Kaitava came and met, and shook hands. They looked back and said, “We must finish this.” This is a demon. You take shelter of something, and then when you are done with it you destroy it. This Rakshasa mentality of Madhu and Kaitava created a bad atmosphere and Brahma started sweating. The sweat came from his four faces.
Lord Visnu got up and looked at Madhu and Kaitava and said, “O great personalities Madhu and Kaitava, please give me a benediction.”
They said, “This is easy! He is surrendering to us. Do you know who we are?” they addressed him.
“Oh, you are the great Madhu and Kaitava, supremely powerful persons.”
They said, “What benediction do you want, Visnu?”
Visnu said, “You give me a benediction that I can fight with you.”
“Oh, you want a fight?” they said. “That is what we are expecting too. Now it is more prestigious for us, because it is our benediction. Yes you can fight with us, but one thing. If ever you think that you want to kill us, you can only kill us in a place where there is no earth, no water, no air, no fire, no ether, no mind, no intelligence and no false ego. You can kill us in that spot.” That means that they cannot be killed anywhere in the universe, that was what they were thinking. They didn’t know anything beyond the universe, because they were demons. Then Visnu started fighting with them, and it went on for a long time. While the fight was going on, Brahma was sweating again because of the whole evil atmosphere created by Madhu and Kaitava. This time with the sweat came a small entity, and it was there on his cheek. It was moving around there.
Brahma said, “What is this?” and he looked at it. It started growing, so he threw it on the floor. It grew more, and it was a bear. No species were present at that time. “What is this?” Brahma said. Black bear with so much hair on the body, and it grew and grew and became so strong. It spoke in Sanskrit.
He spoke to Brahma, “You have created me, so where shall I go?”
Brahma said, “I created something without my knowledge. You go to Jambunada.”
That was one piece of land in the water of dissolution,
Jambunada-ksetra. So immediately he entered Jambunada, and he sat down there and was looking around. What he saw was Madhu and Kaitava fighting. He was clapping his hands and whistling, and he called out, “Wonderful! Hit him on the head!” He was the audience. Visnu was going up into the sky and picking them up and throwing them. They were so strong, coming from the ear of Visnu, so they were giving a good fight. Garbhodakasayi Visnu was laying down on Sesa naga for a long time, so he wanted to have some pastime. He wanted to have some entertainment, so he created somebody and started fighting. He took Madhu and Kaitava on his lap, and then with his hand he crushed them. They were finished, because there was no earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence or false ego. His was a transcendental body. Jambavan jumped up and down and said, “Wonderful, wonderful fight! Can I see more?”
Visnu said, “You wait for the creation to start. Then there will be so many fights.” So creation started, and the Manvantaras came one by one. There was a great dissolution, and Satyavrata was on the boat, and a golden fish came, a huge big fish with a horn. With Vasuki, the snake, they tied the fish’s horn yo that boat. The sapta-rishis were there and Jambavan was sitting there looking. “Aah, what a nice fish,” he said, and he circumambulated the fish. The fish was circumambulating the whole universe. In this way Jambavan had a good engagement at that time.
Jambavan will not die, he is a ciran-jiva. He was getting old, but he was quite strong. Then Kurma-avatar came, and Jambavan witnessed that also. He also was there when Varaha-avatar slapped Hiranyaksa. Hiranyaksa was slapped and he went up circling around, and while he was circling around his eyes came out of his sockets, and Jambavan was playing with them. “What a wonderful fight!” That was finished, and he saw Nrsimhadeva also. And then Vamanadeva appeared. When Vamanadeva grew into a huge big figure lifting his leg and piercing the universe from the top, Jambavan, in six moments, circled this great form of Trivikrama eighteen times. That was the speed of Jambavan. He was in ecstasy, “Oh! What a beautiful form!” He was going around and around, eighteen times in six moments. When he was coming back down he was in so much ecstasy, and he scratched Mount Meru with his toe-nails. Meru got upset. Meru came in person and said, “Hey, you dirty bear! What are you doing to me? You are touching me with your foot. Even the sapta-rishis don’t do this, they float over me. They don’t set foot on me. You are doing this, so you become old. Because you are young and so fast, you have offended me. You become old and weak.” He cursed him. So Jambavan became very old. Meru told him, “Although you are old, when the pastimes of Lord Ramacandra come, you will do a lot of service for him.”
This was Jambavan. And Jambavan was called by Sugriva, who said to him, “Jambavan, you are the oldest. There is nothing that you don’t know. There is no demigod that you don’t know. There is no avatar that you haven’t seen. There is no ocean that you don’t know. You know everything in this creation. So you must help Angada, the son of Bali. Find out where Sita is.” Jambavan agreed, and he told Angada, “Don’t worry. I cannot fly like before, but I know every place. I can be your guide in this area of south India. Somehow we will find Mother Sita.” Then there was Nila. Nila was also a Brahma-putra, a mental son of Brahma, and he was an engineer, a chemist and a scientist. He was also a bear, a bear scientist. So this scientist could float stones, reduce and increase the density of stone, he was such a physicist and chemist that he could take different things, mix them up and create diverse effects of colour, smell, and various feelings. He could change feelings by chemical combination. He could take something and mix with something else, and you would feel miserable. By another combination he could make you feel happy. He could make you feel angry and even change someone’s mind by chemicals, without that person having to take it, unlike the drugs of today. He constructed a kingdom in Kishkinda which was so strong. It was complete stone, no cement or concrete. Just stone on top of stone. It was constructed so each stone was holding another, and it was a huge big palace, very strong. This is Nila.
Hanuman, Jambavan, Nila and Angada set forward with thirty thousand vanaras. They looked everywhere, but couldn’t find anything. Then they came to the Vindhya mountains. By the time they had crossed the forest, which had no leaves (big trees are there, but they are only branches because one rishi’s son cursed the forest, “You will become barren”). So many trees are there but there are no leaves. No leaves means no flowers, and no flowers means no fruit, so all the monkeys were hungry. Already they had been about three weeks with no water and no food. They didn’t know what to do. They saw a black cave in front of the Vindhya mountains. Hanuman said to Angada, “We are great warriors, so we must have some thrill. Let us enter this cave.”
All the monkeys said, “No, no, we are not going inside this cave. Already there is no water, no food, and if you go inside this cave there will be no light. And if you go deeper there will be no air, and we will all die.”
So Hanuman said, “Whoever wants to go, raise their hand.” So Jambavan, Angada, Nila and of course Hanuman, and a few other monkeys, they all raised their hands. Hanuman said, “All right, hold my tail.” So Angada was holding his tail, and Nila was holding Angada’s tail. Jambavan was in the middle, because he was old and they didn’t want to lose him, and there were other monkeys and all of them started walking into this cave. The only symptoms that they saw was some birds coming from inside, and their wings were wet. Hanuman said, “Look, their wings are wet. That means some water is there. And if the birds are coming from inside the cave that means some people must be living there. It must be a nice place, so everyone should come.” He was preaching like this, and the monkeys were one by one joining. A few were standing there and wondering what to do. They thought, “Hanuman, Jambavan and everyone else are all going, and we are standing here. There is no water here, and they are the only protection for us. If they are gone, what will we do?” So they also decided to go. All the monkeys joined, they all went into the cave.
Every five minutes Jambavan was shouting the names of all the different monkeys, just to check that everyone was there, because it was so dark, you couldn’t see anything. And after crossing eighty miles in complete darkness, finally there was a glimmer of light coming. Hanuman shouted, “Rama! Rama! Rama! There is light here. Maybe there are some people and we can get some food. We are hungry monkeys.” So they all went towards the light and discovered a beautiful city inside the cave. And so many mansions were there. These mansions were all made with gold and rubies and diamonds, they couldn’t believe their eyes. There was lakes and lotus flowers, nice creepers and fruits. Angada said, “Don’t believe this. It may be the work of some demon, that as soon as we go in he will swallow us. Don’t touch anything. Keep leaping.” They were leaping from one place to another, and then they leaped into a mansion. Without making any sound they were inside and looking around. They found one woman who was dressed in tiger skin, with matted locks of hair. She had a trident in her hand. “What is this?” they said. “She looks like a babaji, and she is in this wonderful palace.”
Hanuman went in front, and he folded his hands. Hanuman is very good in talking. He gave a smile. He said, “Please tell us who you are. You look like a very spiritually advanced person.” Flattery. “I hope you are not a demoness. But you don’t look like one, you look very pious. So you must tell us who you are.”
She said, “First you tell me who you are. How did you get inside this place? This is a mystic place, and human beings, gandharvas, vanaras, can never come here. Only celestials can come here.”
Jambavan was mumbling, “Yes, yes, they are all celestials. They only look like monkeys.”
Angada asked him, “What did you say?” “No, no,”
Jambavan replied. “I am just telling something old.” Jambavan had been in Rama-lila before, and every time they had gone in search of Sita, and every time they had gone into this cave also. Every time he saw something like that, he would say, because he has seen it so many times. They were seeing it for the first time, because demigods keep changing, but Jambavan is the same Jambavan.
Hanuman said, “We are all servants of Lord Ramacandra, the son of Dasaratha.”
Then she said, “This Ramacandra, I don’t think he’s the son of an earthly king, because otherwise how just by chanting his name could you cross that dark cave. It is not possible for anyone to do that. This must be an incarnation of Visnu.”
Jambavan said, “She also knows so much. I know that he is an incarnation of the Supreme Lord, and I also know who will find Sita.”
Some monkeys said, “What did you say?”
Jambavan said, “Don’t listen to me. I’m just an old bear, and old people always mumble like this.” Hanuman and this lady got into a good conversation. Hanuman pleased her, and she told her identity. She was a friend of Hema, and Hema was the daughter of Mount Meru. This Hema was once being kept captive in that city by one great demon called Mayasura. He was a great magician. Indra came, and he sent his vajra, and he finished this demon Maya. He took charge of Hema, and she became Indra’s wife. Hema was alone in that huge big magical city, so Indra requested Meru to send his daughter so they could have some association. Hema had gone out somewhere, so that is why this lady was there. She was an ascetic, and she believed in worship of impersonal Brahman, and mukti. She was there with tiger skin and trident. This was the story.
Hanuman said, “We are very hungry, and we are monkeys. Please give us something to eat.”
“No problem,” she said. “You just go into this garden and you can eat plenty of fruits, fill your stomachs.” So the whole army went into this beautiful garden of Mayasura, and they ate stomachs full. They came to drink water, and after drinking water she supplied them with wine which they also took. They took a little wine. The wine back then was just a drink, not an intoxicant. In this way they enjoyed nicely, and they asked her, “You please tell us how we can now get out of the cave.”
She said, “Get out of this cave? No, you can never get out of this cave.”
They said, “What? You’ve fed us nicely, you’ve given us so much nice drink, and now you’re going to keep us in prison?” Hanuman took his club and said, “You want to see this?”
She said, “Wait a minute, you just ate in my house. You can’t fight with me. I said, `You can’t get out of the cave’. I never said that you won’t go out of the cave. All of you, close your eyes.” They all closed their eyes. And then she said, “Now open your eyes.” And when they opened their eyes they were not there. In front of them was a huge big ocean, Mahodadhi.
They were somewhere between Rameshvara and Puri, but this land extended so many miles down in Treta-yuga. The Ceylon that we are seeing today is not the same Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is further down, because Hanuman flew one hundred yojanas. A yojana is eight miles. Eight hundred miles is not the distance from Rameshvara to Ceylon.
You can reach it in forty five minutes by a boat. It’s not that far. It is mentioned that they were on top of a mountain from where Hanuman flew, and in the area of Rameshvaram you don’t find any mountains. So that area from where Hanuman jumped, the Gandha-madana hills, is much more down. And that is all eaten up by ocean. We shouldn’t think that this was the shore where they were standing. They were miles down at that time, because the ocean comes and eats the land. Hanuman and the others saw this Mahodadhi ocean. It was very fierce.
Angada said, “We have come to the end of the land. Where is Sita? We have not found her. How can we go back, now that is a month? We started on the full moon night, and now it is again full moon night.” Angada felt very bad. He said, “Bring some darba grass.” He placed it with the tips facing the north. He was going to do a Prayopavesha. Prayopavesha means that when a great personality cannot accomplish a task which he promised he would do, he would sit on the kusa grass and leave his body by fasting. He was sitting there on the kusa grass.
Hanuman was sitting there with his head in his hands looking at the ocean. He thought, “We have come to a blank disc. What is going on now? Should I go back or forward? What should I do?” Jambavan was taking rest, because he was tired after drinking wine and eating so many fruits. Other monkeys were wandering around and looking here and there. Hanuman saw the monkeys, and he asked them, “What are you going to do?”
They said, “We have a good idea. We will go back to the cave. Plenty of fruits, plenty of wine. You cannot get out. If you cannot get out, you cannot get in, and no-one will come to trouble us. We will be happy there.”
Hanuman said, “What a silly idea. This is maya. Ramacandra is our Lord. What do you need this security for? You want to take shelter in wine and fruit? You must be a monkey.” He chastised them. Angada was sitting there chanting mantras, and preparing to leave his body. Hanuman also approached him. “Angada, you are a prince. What are you doing looking to the north, sitting on kusa grass? This is not meant for strong people. Look at your shoulders, they’re so strong. They are supposed to be for fighting for Lord Ramacandra. Here you are fasting, preparing to die. What are you going to accomplish because of this? You will die. And everyone will say, `That son of Bali is a useless monkey. He died because he couldn’t accomplish his mission.”
Angada said, “You are saying all this, but you tell me, what are we supposed to do? If I go back Sugriva will kill me and take the kingdom. Already he planned somehow to kill my father. Now he has got a reason to kill me. He will say, `Now you didn’t accomplish your mission so I will kill you.’ No-one will say anything, and he will have the kingdom. Let him have the kingdom anyway, let me just die. At least he won’t die.” Hanuman realised he would have to use politics here. Sama dhana bheda danda. There are four ways of preaching. First you speak nicely, and then you offer something, then you make a bheda, a difference of opinion between the groups. “Do you know what he said about you?” If none of those work, you use the stick, danda. Hanuman thought, now I have to use bheda, politics.
He said, “Yes, Sugriva is like that. He may take the whole kingdom, but your mother is there. If you die, she will certainly suffer. He will give her no food, no cloth and no respect. She will beg in the street. Your mother!”
Angada said, “No!” And he threw the kusa grass away. “I’m not fasting!”
Hanuman said, “If you die, what is the benefit? You must go back now. Somehow or other we must convince him that we couldn’t find Sita.”
Angada said, “How will I go back? I have no strength.”
Hanuman said, “You sit down. I will tell you the pastimes of Lord Ramacandra. Then you will gain strength.” He began to describe the pastimes of Ramacandra. They discussed all these wonderful things of how Lord Ramacandra broke the bow, how he defeated Parasurama, how he caressed Jatayu and cremated him. As soon as they were talking about that, they saw some change in the atmosphere. Everything was trembling and shaking. Hanuman caught hold of Angada and said, “Some demon is coming.” They were looking everywhere, and then from under the mountainside they saw two big feet coming out. They looked like bird’s feet, and each nail was about two kilometres long.
Angada said, “That’s it. All thirty thousand monkeys will be eaten by this bird demon now. Look at his fingers, they are so big!” Slowly the bird came into sight, and then they noted that this bird did not have any speed. It was dragging itself, slowly. They saw the wings also, which were each 14 yojanas long. However, the wings were broken, and they looked completely burned. They looked like charcoal. He was dragging himself with great difficulty, and then slowly his face came into view, a huge beak.
He opened his mouth and spoke, “Who is talking about my brother Jatayu?” So many monkeys were blown over just by the air coming out of his mouth.
Jambavan was called, and Hanuman said, “Look after the monkeys, we must take care of this person. He may be useful to us.”
They both came to him, and asked him, “Who are you? We are talking of Jatayu, and I am Hanuman and this is Angada. I am the son of Vayu, and we are messengers of Rama.”
Slowly the bird opened his eyes and said, “Rama? Is this the son of Dasaratha?”
Hanuman said, “Yes, this is the same Rama.”
The bird continued, “He was exiled to the forest. Has he completed his exile?”
“What a wonderful bird,” Angada remarked. “He is sitting under the mountain and cannot see anything, yet he knows history. Yes they are still in exile because they lost their wife. Sita has been taken by Ravana.”
The bird said, “Ravana! Aargh! I will eat him up.”
Hanuman said, “Oh very good! Please do it.”
The bird said, “But I cannot fly. My wings are broken. I am Sampati, the elder brother of Jatayu. I am much stronger than Jatayu. I heard that Jatayu was killed by Ravana. I want to kill him, but I can’t kill him as I have entered into an agreement with him.” Long ago when Sampati was flying, when he was young and very strong, Ravana was flying with somebody’s wife. This is what he does all the time. Once he was doing a fire sacrifice, and when Agni came to give a blessing, he took Agni’s wife. Ravana is famous for taking people’s wives. Sampati stopped him and said, “Where are you going? Who is this woman?”
Ravana said, “This is Nalakuvera’s wife, and I am taking her to Kailash.”
Sampati said, “You had better leave her right here, otherwise you don’t know what I will do to you.”
Ravana said, “Ah, you are just a dirty bird.” So he took one of his feet and caught hold of Ravana and crushed him. Blood came out of his body, and that is why Ravana has five holes in his body, from Sampati’s claw. Ravana covers these so no-one can see him. But there is one hole which he doesn’t cover on his chest. That is the tusk of Airavata. He wants to show that because it is a great fighting wound. At that time Ravana touched Sampati’s feet. “Although you are a bird, I touch your feet. Please make an agreement with me. I won’t come in your area and do anything, and you don’t come in my area.” They signed an agreement. Because of this, Sampati was bound by dharma.
Hanuman asked Sampati, “And how have you become old like this?”
Sampati said, “Once Jatayu and I were having a competition, and we were flying higher and higher. But we came very close to the sun, and I saw Jatayu was burning. So to protect him I put my wings over him. However, I also was very close to the sun, and my wings got burnt and came loose. After that I don’t know where my brother went. You are the first I have heard say that he died in the service of Lord Ramacandra. I have stayed here so long, and a rishi once told me that when I told you where Sita was, at that time I would get my strength back.”
Hanuman became very excited, “What did you say?”
Sampati repeated, “When I tell you where Sita is...”
Hanuman cut him short, “You know where Sita is?” And all the monkeys started jumping up and down. “We’ve found Sita, we’ve found Sita!”
Sampati said, “Can you please move me out of this cave? I have to climb on top of the Vindhya mountains to look at it.”
Angada asked, “Look at what?”
“To look at Lanka,” the bird replied.
Angada said, “Look at Lanka? It is eight hundred miles away!”
Hanuman came close to Angada and said, “Just look at this bird. He’s so huge, fourteen yojanas each wing. This bird itself is about thirty yojanas long. Can you imagine how much power he must have in his eyes? He can sit here and see Lanka!” With great difficulty all the monkeys came under Sampati and moved him. Thirty thousand monkeys were trying so hard. It was difficult for them to somehow put him on top of the rock with his wings like that.
Then he lifted his beak and said, “I can see Sri Lanka. I can see the ten-story building of Ravana. I can see the roof, and Ravana standing on the top.” He could see everything, he had such optical power. Sampati is the son of Aruna, the charioteer of the Sun-god, so he must be very powerful. “I cannot see Sita,” he continued, “But Ravana is walking here and there. So many demons are around. I can see a forest of Ashoka trees. I can see a yellow cloth hanging there.”
As soon as he said that, Hanuman said, “Yes, yellow cloth. That is what Mother Sita was wearing.”
Previously Sita had taken some ornaments, put them in yellow cloth that she tore from her sari, and threw them down. Hanuman picked them up before Rama came to Kishkinda, and Laksmana identified them as Sita’s jewelleries. Hanuman became very happy. Even while they were looking, slowly Sampati’s wings became straight, and new feathers were coming out of his body. Next moment they heard a loud, “Rama!” Sampati had chanted Rama. When he started “Ra” he was already up in the sky. By the time they had heard the whole world he was just a point in the distant sky. Sampati went to the heavenly planets. He didn’t want to be there, because he wanted so desperately to kill Ravana, but because of the pact he couldn’t do it. So he just helped them and then went. They had found out where Sita was. Hanuman was asked by Jambavan, “You must leap over this ocean, and go to Sri Lanka.”
Hanuman said, “This ocean is so big. How will I do it?”
Jambavan then told Hanuman his own pastimes. How he got the sun planet inside his mouth etc. As Jambavan was narrating, Hanuman began to grow. He became bigger and bigger and bigger. He became so big that Valmiki says his shadow was fifty yojanas long. All the monkeys were like mosquitoes in front of him. Then he said to Jambavan, “Yes, I am the servant of Rama! I am the son of Vayu. No-one can stop me! I will crush Ravana with my thumb, and I will bring Sita on my shoulder! There is no need for Ramacandra to go. I am going now.” He chanted “Rama!” He started with “Ra,” and he ended with “m”. When he said “m” he was in Sri Lanka. That was how fast he was. Being an angsha of Lord Siva, he took the path that Lord Siva travels. There are different levels that different entities travel at. Gandharvas travel very close to earth, and after Gandharvas come Kinnaras, after Kinnaras come Vanaras, and after Vanaras come Siddhas, after Siddhas come Caranas, and after Caranas come bigger demigods like Ganesh or Kartikeya, and them comes Lord Siva’s tract. In that area no-one flies. It is Lord Siva’s zone. That is where Hanuman went. He was flying fearlessly. In this way, by chanting Rama only once, Hanuman reached Sri Lanka. Before reaching Sri Lanka he encountered many disturbances, as well as much help on the way.
There was one mountain called Mainata Parvata. which can grow simply by thinking. The ocean king told Mainata Parvata, “Hanuman, the servant of Rama, is coming, and he must take some rest. He is leaping in one breath, so you must grow upwards and give him somewhere to rest.” Mainata Parvata grew upwards to the sky and stopped Hanuman. Hanuman said, “What’s this? There is no mountain here. Who are you?” Hanuman can speak not only from his mouth but from any hole in his body, this was his yogic perfection. He had only one breath, so he didn’t use his mouth which he was using to chant Rama. “M” had to be pronounced in Sri Lanka, and he was still on “Ra”. He was talking through some other hole.
Mainaka Parvata thought, “This is a wonderful phenomenon. A monkey with a long tail speaking through the holes of the body. Please put your lotus feet on my head,” the mountain said, “because I have to show to the ocean king that I have served you.”
Hanuman said, “No rest when I am doing Krsna-seva. I am going.”
The demigods thought, “This is not correct that he reaches Lanka so easily. There must be some fun.” So they called a great snake called Sarasa. This Sarasa was ordered to stop Hanuman. This Sarasa took the form of a demoness. She came there and opened her mouth. Hanuman was flowing and she was growing upwards, her mouth open like a big cave.
Hanuman said, “Please move away from here. I am on the Lord’s mission.”
“No no no,” she said. “Brahma has given me a benediction that unless somebody goes in my mouth, he cannot pass by.” Hanuman said, “Ah, but this mouth is too small for me.” And he started growing more. She started growing also, making her mouth bigger, so he also grew. She grew more. They were growing and growing, and her mouth became half the size of the universe. At that time Hanuman suddenly became small, and he entered the mouth and came out. Then he said, “See, I have defeated you. I entered your mouth and came out again. Now you please bless me.” So she gave blessings, and then he went.
Another great demoness came and said, “She didn’t swallow you, but I must swallow you.” She also did the same thing. Hanuman also asked the same thing. “You please open your mouth a little wider so you can eat me comfortably.” She opened her mouth wider, and Hanuman became small. Though he became small, the strength is same. He went inside the mouth, and hit the back of her mouth. By that hitting, blood came out and she died. Then Hanuman got her blessings too, while she was dying. She was some Gandharvika that had been cursed to become a demoness. She said, “Now I am killed by Hanuman, I will get liberation.” So she blessed Hanuman. She said, “There is one more person that you have to kill, at the entrance gate.”
Hanuman landed in Sri Lanka. He looked at Lanka, a beautiful city.
He felt very bad. “Why should a demon have such a beautiful city?” He made up his mind, “Before I go from here, I will destroy this city, somehow or other.”
He came and Lankani was sitting there, a great demoness with a trident. So Hanuman became a small monkey, very small, and he was running inside the gate. She was sitting there and she said, “Wait! You are not going.”
“She is very intelligent,” Hanuman said. “I am so small and she saw me.” He climbed on her hand and up to her shoulder.
He looked at her and said, “I am a small monkey, please let me in. I want to eat some fruits.”
“Fruits?” she asked. “What fruits are you going to eat?”
Hanuman said, “I heard that there are beautiful mangoes, and Ravana is keeping them only for himself.”
She said, “I will get you any mango outside this gate. There are so many gardens here. Why are you going inside for food?”
Hanuman said, “Don’t waste my time. You’d better let me in.”
She was shocked. “What? You are just sitting on my shoulder. Don’t you know who I am? I am Lankani.”
Hanuman said, “You are Lankani? I will slap you.”
She was amused. “You will slap me? You can’t even reach my cheek.”
“Please take me to your cheek,” Hanuman said. She took Hanuman and placed him next to her cheek. He slapped her and she fell down and blood came from her mouth. He was so small, but his strength was the same as when his size was normal. Then he went inside the city.
CHAPTER SIX **************** CHAPTER EIGHT
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