The Ramayana-Book VI-Sec 1- Canto III.: Lanká.

[Anne Terri]

"GOD'S LIVING BIBLE ---- THE THIRD TESTAMENT ----- RESEARCH LIBRARY" ©*

THE RÁMÁYAN OF VÁLMÍKI

Translated into English Verse
BY
RALPH T. H. GRIFFITH, M. A.,
[(Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith), b. 1826 d. 1906]
PRINCIPAL OF THE BENARES COLLEGE
London: Trübner & Co.
Benares: E. J. Lazarus and Co.
[1870-1874]

RAMAYANA-
BOOK VI

CANTO III.: LANKÁ.

He ceased: and Raghu's son gave heed,

Attentive to his prudent rede:

Then turned again, with hope inspired,

To Hanumán, and thus inquired:

'Light were the task for thee, I ween,

To bridge the sea that gleams between

The mainland and the island shore.

Or dry the deep and guide as o'er.

Fain would I learn from thee whose feet

Have trod the stones of every street,

Of fenced Lanká's towers and forts,

And walls and moats and guarded ports,

And castles where the giants dwell,

And battlemented citadel.

O Váyu's son, describe it all,

With palace, fort, and gate, and wall.'

He ceased: and, skilled in arts that guide

The eloquent, the chief replied:

'Vast is the city, gay and strong,

Where elephants unnumbered throng,

And countless hosts of Rákshas breed

Stand ready by the car and steed,

Four massive gates, securely barred,

All entrance to the city guard,

With murderous engines fixt to throw

Bolt, arrow, rock to check the foe,

And many a mace with iron head

That strikes at once a hundred dead.

Her golden ramparts wide and high

With massy strength the foe defy,

Where inner walls their rich inlay

Of coral, turkis, pearl display.

Her circling moats are broad and deep,

Where ravening monsters dart and leap.

By four great piers each moat is spanned

Where lines of deadly engines stand.

In sleepless watch at every gate

Unnumbered hosts of giants wait,

And masters of each weapon, rear

The threatening pike and sword and spear.

My fury hurled those ramparts down,

Filled up the moats that gird the town,

The piers and portals overturned,

And stately Lanká spoiled and burned,

Howe'er we Vánars force our way

O'er the wide seat of Varun's 1 sway,

Be sure that city of the foe

Is doomed to sudden overthrow,

Nay, why so vast an army lead?

Brave Angad, Dwivid good at need,

Fierce Mainda, Panas famed in fight,

And Níla's skill and Nala's might,

And Jámbaván the strong and wise,

Will dare the easy enterprise.

Assailed by these shall Lanká fall

With gate and rampart, tower and wall.

Command the gathering, chief: and they

In happy hour will haste away.'

---

Next: The Ramayana-Book VI-Sec 1-Canto IV.: The March.

The Ramayana (/rɑːˈmɑːjənə/; Sanskrit: रामायणम्, Rāmāyaṇam [rɑːˈmɑːjəɳəm]) is an ancient Indian epic poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Hindu Itihasa.
The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki, narrates the life of Rama, the legendary prince of the Kosala Kingdom. It follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest from the kingdom, by his father King Dasharatha, on request of his second wife Kaikeyi. His travels across forests in India with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of his wife by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, resulting in a war with him, and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king.
There have been many attempts to unravel the epic's historical growth and compositional layers; various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE. Wikipedia

“God / Brahman Speaking To Anne Terri Through The Holy Spirit: Today is August 25, 2018, and I have Asked Anne to begin to place The Ramayana within Our Research Library, for future links to research areas within. AMEN” 

*© NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION
Scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare. OCRed and Proofed at Distributed Proofing, Juliet Sutherland, Project Manager. Post-processing, computer programming, and additional proofreading by John B. Hare at sacred-texts.com. This text is in the public domain. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose provided this notice of attribution is left intact.

Note: This verse translation by Griffith...was scanned in 2000 from an original copy, which had very poor typesetting. Due to the difficulty of converting this 600 page text to etext, the project was put on hold for several years until OCR technology matured. Finally in 2003, the text was OCR-ed and proofed at Distributed Proofing. However, despite best efforts, there are several places in this text where the proofing was difficult or impossible. These are indicated by asterisks or (illegible). We are in the process of cleaning up these issues and hope to have a definitive version of this text at some point. In the meantime we hope you enjoy this epic, which is one of the most popular tales of Indian mythology.