Kishkindha Kaanda
129 - Sri Rama's meeting with Hanuman and the conclusion of an alliance between Sri Rama and Sugriva
Chaupais
Description
The Lord of Raghus proceeded still further and approached the §Rsyamuka hill. There dwelt Sugriva (a monkey chief*) with his counsellors. When he saw the two brothers, the highest embodiments of immeasurable strength, he was exceedingly alarmed and said (to one of his ministers), "Listen, Hanuman: those two men are repositories of strength and beauty. Disguised as a Brahmana student go and see them and perceiving their intention in your mind inform me accordingly by means of signs. If they have been despatched by the malicious Vali, I must leave this hill and flee away at once." Taking the form of a Brahmana the monkey (Hanuman) went up to the two brothers and bowing his head accosted them thus: "Who are you, heroes-one of dark hue, the other fair-that roam the woods disguised as Ksatriyas? Treading the hard ground with your tender feet, wherefore are you wandering in the forest, my masters? Though possessed of delicate, charming and beautiful limbs, how is it that you have exposed yourself to the scorching sun and stormy wind of these wild regions? Do you count in the Trinity (viz., Brahma, Visnu and Siva, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of the three worlds) or are you the twin divine sages Nara and Narayana?