Sundara Kānda - Hanuman’s Odyssey

Blurb

Whereas Mahabharata's Bhagvad-Gita is taken as a philosophical guide, Ramayana's Sundara Kãnda is sought for spiritual solace; many believe that reading it or hearing it recited would remove all hurdles and usher in good tidings! Miracles apart, it's in the nature of this great epic to inculcate fortitude and generate hope in man for it’s a depiction of how Hanuman goes about his errand against all odds.         

Besides, it portrays how Seetha, on the verge of self-immolation, overcomes despair to see life in a new light? With rhythm of its verse and the flow of the narrative this sloka to sloka transcreation of the canto beautiful of Valmiki's adi kavya - the foremost poetical composition in the world, Hanuman's Odyssey that paves the way for Rama to rescue his kidnapped wife is bound to charm the readers and listeners alike. 

Interestingly, as the following verse illustrates, this epic was the forerunner of the magic realism of our times – “Gripped she then him by shadow / Cast which Hanuman coast to coast, Recalled he in dismay then / What Sugreev said at outset / That one fiend had aptitude / To grip its prey by mere shadow.”

On a personal note, my paternal grandfather, Bulusu Thimmaiah-garu, like many in his time, was a life-long practitioner of Sundara Kãnda parayana (the epic’s daily recital in part or full), whose spirituality could have providentially guided me in this, rather an effortless, trans-creative endeavour.

links to the free ebook https://g.co/kgs/Yh6L7SJ 

Cantos of the Kanda 

Canto 1 - Hurdles in Skies

Canto 2 - City in Clouds 

Canto 3 - Prelude to Entry

Canto 4 - Foray into Fort

Canto 5 - Life in Lanka

Canto 6 - Precincts to Beat

Canto 7 - Palace in the Plane

Canto 8 - Pushpak’s Prowess

Canto 9 - Harem at Night

Canto 10 - Women in Want

Canto 11 - Qualms of Celibate

Canto 12 - At Wits End

Canto 13 - Errand in the Bend

Canto 14 - Garden of Grief 

Canto 15 - Withered Flower

Canto 16 - She is Seetha

Canto 17 - Guards all Hideous

Canto 18 - Ravan on Heat

Canto 19 - Dame in Despair

Canto 20 - Womanizer at Work

Canto 21 - Steadfast in Love

Canto 22 - Deadline to Death

Canto 23 - Guards that Pander

Canto 24 - Carrot and Stick

Canto 25  - Hapless Soul    

Canto 26 - Wandering Thoughts

Canto 27 - Dream of a Nightmare

Canto 28 - On the Verge

Canto 29 - Good Tidings

Canto 30 - Hanuman’s Dilemma

Canto 31 - Rama’s Ballad

Canto 32 - Is it True?

Canto 33 - Genesis of Exile 

Canto 34 - Swings in Mood

Canto 35 - Winning the Trust

Canto 36 - More of the Same

Canto 37 - Aborted Move

Canto 38 - Story to Tell

Canto 39 - Doubts to the Fore

Canto 40 - Repeats the Dose

Canto 41 - Rampage in the Park

Canto 42 - Panic in the Town 

Canto 43 -Itching for Fight

Canto 44 -Takes on Prahastha’s Son

Canto 45 - Marshals in the Mire

Canto 46 - Generals in the Dumps

Canto 47 - Akshay’s Life on Line

Canto 48 - It takes Indrajit

Canto 49 - Ravan’s Darbar

Canto 50 - Cause of Loss

Canto 51 - Advice to Deliver

Canto 52 - Placates the Sibling

Canto 53 - Tail on Fire

Canto 54 - Arson to Hurt  

Canto 55 - What of Seetha?

Canto 56 - Havoc of a Take-off

Canto 57 - Flight sans Hassles

Canto 58 - Odyssey in a Nutshell

Canto 59 - Pep Talk to Peers

Canto 60 - Angad on Rebound

Canto 61 - Eying the Madhuvan

Canto 62 - Orgy in the Garden

Canto 63 - Sugreev’s Reading

Canto 64 - Return of the Platoon

Canto 65 - News in Brief

Canto 66 - Tears in Torrents

Canto 67 - Hanuman’s Replay

Canto 68 - Times of Hope

Yuddha Kanda (War on Ravan)

Canto 01 - Embrace of a Gift

Canto 128 - Coronation and After

Book Excerpt   

Canto 20 Womanizer at Work  

To fair Seetha he confined
Spoke then Ravan in disdain. 
With thy pair of lovely hands
Why block sight of thy bosom 
Hope it’s not the fear of me
Prompts thee squat in like fashion. 

Is a beauty like thine ever 
And a lover than me better!

What to fear in this Lanka
Lost whose Lord his heart to thee.

Fair it’s not for thee to blame
Granted when it’s to our ilk  
Force we might all women we fond  
Never mind ever their state of mind.

Crave as I for thine embrace
Wait I though for thy consent. 

Fill thy heart with love for me
Let not fear ever grip thy mind. 

Having known my love for thee
Don’t thou know that it’s not fair
That thee should fail thy upkeep
And thus make me sad for thee. 

From heaven I fetch garments such
To make thee best dressed dame on earth.

For thy wear I get jewels
Not even by angels worn. 

Thou being the crown jewel 
Of the feminine world at large
How come then thou shun jewels!  

Knowing as well youth is like
River that courses to the seas 
Why not grant me thy favour
And thus make the best of life.

Since there none to rival thee
Having set the hallmark thus
Looks like Brahma ceased His work.

Perchance He now espies thee 
Finding thou so well endowed 
What with such rare sex appeal
Would He ever quit ogling thee? 

Such is beauty of thy frame
Wherever I look I get stuck. 

Dearth there none for mates for me
Brought them in scores from all lands 
Yet I’ve taken to thy charms
Make I thee my Queen of Hearts.

Gods from I got such ransom
Made me that the richest man, 
Not to speak of self as well
Won’t I place all at thy feet.

Worlds I conquered all the three
Wealth of nations I plundered
Consent if thou to take me
Gift all that to thy father.

None is there in heaven ’n earth
Dares who ever to cross my path.

Dust I made to bite enemies  
Burnt their standards in their sight. 

Since no one can rescue thee
Better thee tie thy life with me.

Know I value thee no end
Turn thy mind to life at hand.

Spend thy days in royal ways
Make we love in nights for long. 

Having enslaved my heart now
Might well treat me as thy slave.

Weigh if thee that Ram and me
In the scale of thy interest
Won’t thou know the way it tilts? 

Lost he crown when all too young   
Could have died though not so old.

What if he still lives on earth
Gets he how a clue of thee?

Were he to get wind of thee
How doth he dare to face me?

O dear lady thou have won
The heart of mine the ladies man.

O femme fatale as I burn 
For the possession of thy frame
Fail I women all who crave me. 

See all these are queens no less
Make them willing maids to thee.

Served as thus by all of them
Won’t thou look a goddess then?

In the Pushpak that I won
Come to live like favoured one. 

If ever thy man regains crown
Would he make a patch on me? 

So that I add honey as well
Know thy buttered side of bread.

Lovebirds like we all our life
Live ever making love no end.  

Canto 21 - Steadfast in Love 

Hurt by Ravan’s words Seetha
Spoke to him thus in smooth tone. 

How thou belittle my Lord Ram!
Doth it behove a learned man? 

Blinded by thy lust Ravan
Fail thou see the God in Ram. 

Having lovely wives in scores
Why eye me Ram’s only wife? 

How come thou think Rama’s wife
Would ever bed with another man! 

Pray thee divert from me lust
Engage all thy women in want. 

Want as thou thy wives loyal 
Let me be bound to my man. 

Lust if thou for another’s wife
Won’t thou know that mars thy life? 

That thee take the righteous path
Won’t’ thou have a right counsel? 

Wonder how thee fail to see
Lanka by thine act would rue. 

History all know bears witness
Ruined are kingdoms ruled by vile. 

If thou wish thy Lanka well
Better bear that in mind O king. 

Well O Ravan wicked as thee
Sure thou die like some street dog.

Hear as all those by thee hurt
Sure they feel good at thy death. 

Sever as its rays never from sun
Never I would wean from my Ram. 

Had I Rama’s arm for rest
Is there better for thee to give? 

Gain as wisdom read who Vedas 
It’s my Lord who gained my hand. 

Help as might a gamekeeper
Beast on heat to find its mate
Let me lovelorn meet my man. 

Why thou want to ruin thyself
Why not fences mend with Ram.  

My Lord I tell is large hearted
Treats he kindly those penitent.  

Take O Ravan my counsel
So thou could live for so long. 

Plead I would thy case with Ram
Though thou hurt my cause no end. 

Scare thou might the death even
Escape there none from his wrath. 

Comes when Rama with war cry
Thou then shiver in thine own shoes. 

Leave my Lord the king archer
Can thou stand up to Lakshman?  

Come their arrows thick and fast
Where thee find some place to hide? 

Know it won’t be beyond my man
Lakshman being there with him
To hunt down thee all to last man. 

It’s no big deal for my man
To take me back by slaying thee.  

Having known thy limitations
To confront my man in person
Don’t I know that thou contrived
That golden deer to keep him out.

Shame on thee O low Ravan
With that golden deer as ruse
The way thou snared me to Lanka. 

It’s one thing to trick me then
When my man was not at home
As thou face Ram ’n Lakshman
Ball game it would be different.  

Canst thou hold their little fingers 
How can then thou fight them both? 

Scorch as sun-rays ponds there all
Sharp their arrows sieve thy frame. 

Earned as thee, wrath of Ram
Know thine end is so near end. 

Canto 22 - Deadline to Death 

Hurt as he by Seetha’s taunts
Spoke thus Ravan in harsh tone. 

Wonder the way women all tend
Tends as enamoured man of them,
As though his stock fell so low
Tend they all to belittle him. 

If not for my love for thee
Rein in how could my anger! 

It’s but fondness for thee mine 
Makes me spare the day for thee. 

But for the fact thou won me
Head thine would have rolled by now. 

Know the way thee rubbished me
Should’ve earned thee third degree. 

Afflicted though by his lust
Couldn’t take Ravan Seetha’s snub. 

Months two more is all I give
For thee to choose death or me. 

Fail if thou to bed with me
Make thy flesh then my breakfast. 

Feared all angels having heard
Threat that Ravan’s to Seetha. 

Concern theirs for Seetha then
Made them signal her welfare. 

Assured thus of angelic grace
Spoketh Seetha thus assured: 

To put the right into thy head
Sad O Ravan thee have none. 

Knowing that I’m Rama’s wife
Thinks fit none to day-dream me. 

For the sin of snaring me
Escape there none thee from death. 

Bid in thine to kidnap me
If not for thy fear of Ram
Why thee contrived his absence? 

What to make of thy valour
Boast thou as from safe distance
From my Lord thou fear to face? 

Ogle as thee Rama’s wife
Wonder how thou turned not blind? 

Abused as thou my Lord Ram
How come thou not turned yet dumb! 

Given if Rama me the nod
Power I have to burn thee now. 

It’s no joke to dupe my man
Ruse it’s but of thine own fate
Helped thee thus to hijack me
So that my Lord sees thy end. 

For that cowardly act of thine
Boasts of thine all sound hollow.  

Enraged by her words Ravan
Stared at her in seething rage. 

Shook he as in burning wrath
Stilted sideways his gold crown.  

Turned as his, eyes blood red
Peeled off sandal paste on him. 

Turned to lumps of coal at once
Diamonds of his waist-band then. 

On his arms with gold epaulets
Hair his stood all in straight lines.  

Ear-rings his of bright corals 
Matched they both the rising sun.  

In his rage did Ravan seem
Like the funeral pyre on fire. 

Hissed then Ravan in anger
Spoke to her thus in despair. 

But for lack of common sense
How can someone fall for Ram! 

Looks like I have lost patience
Time I end thy rein on life. 

Having spoken to Ram’s wife
Addressed Ravan his own folk. 

Know I lost my heart to her
Kept I whom as thy captive. 

For the possession of this lass
Passion mine is ever on raise. 

Until she takes me in arms
I can’t have the peace of mind. 

If she were to turn my queen
Make her see the life in store. 

Pander her to my embrace
Pamper would I her in bed. 

Fails if she to fall in line
Torture all the way to hell. 

Came at that an ardent dame
Spoke she then in passion thus: 

Make me thine in heat Ravan
What thou get from this cold fish? 

Brahma seems to have deprived 
Her the chance to bed with thee. 

Requites not if lass his love
Won’t she turn a pain in neck? 

Mounts if man a dame in want
Takes she would him to his cum,
Having said that lass on heat
Forced then Ravan fence across.  

Turned as ground their makeshift bed
Seemed as though the earth had quaked. 

Came as he back from that jaunt
Led Ravan his women all home. 

Went as he thus to Pushpak
Left was Seetha in panic. 

Complete work in ths Sample PDF