Sundar Kaanda
143 - Description of Lanka; Hanuman strikes Lankini and enters Lanka
Chhands
Description
The charming city was enclosed by a fortification wall of gold inlaid with precious stones of various kinds, and contained many beautiful houses, cross roads, bazars, lovely streets and lanes, and was decorated in everyway. Who could count the multitudes of elephants, horses and mules, the crowds of foot soldiers and chariots and the troops of demons of every shape-a formidable host beyond all description ? Groves and orchards, gardens and parks, lakes and also wells, big and small, looked charming; daughters of human beings, Nagas, gods and Gandharvas (celestial musicians) enraptured with their beauty the minds of even hermits. Here roared mighty wrestlers endowed with huge mountainlike forms. They grappled with one another in many ways in different courts and challenged one another to a duel. Myriads of champions possessing frightful forms sedulously guarded the city on all sides. Elsewhere the vile demons feasted on buffaloes, human beings, cows, donkeys and goats. Tulasidasa has briefly told their story only because they will drop their bodies at the sanctuary of Sri Rama's arrows and thereby attain the supreme state.