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SETUBANDHA the enormous weight; (the army) stationed on the summit of the Malaya that is destructive of the enemy's joy.40
56. "Who doth lend a hand in imminent peril, when each stands (helpless) before the other? The task must be accomplished long before others attend to it.41
57. 'Or, the sky will not be wide enough for me as I rush forth with the great sea before me!42 I will abide happy after slaying the enemy that lives on flesh, blood and marrow.43
58. 'Be not perplexed. Let the entire sea roll into wherever the earth sinks, trampled down by me in a rage, with the serpents crushed under the weight.44
59. 'Or, let the host of apes pass over to the other side by the Vindhya range serving as a causeway, after it is uprooted and brought here by me, and held over the surface of the ocean by my arms acting like twin pillars!
60. 'Behold. I will turn the sea into a stretch of land, sweeping the waters away with my breath, with the serpents rushing away, and the water animals turned over, and the (submarine) mountains rent asunder!
61. I will put the sea in a position in which the Suvela mountain will face this way,45 and the Malaya thitherward,46 after I have broken them in the middle, and uprooted and turned them round with my arms, and discarded the remaining parts!47
40. The summit of the mountain from which the expedition was to start is described as a source of misery to the inhabitants of Lankā.
41. i.e., without waiting for help from others. Or, 'before one looks about (for help). Cf. Madhava in Extracts. Sugrīva warns his followers that he will act on his own initiative without waiting for their help.
42. i.e., as he flies to the other shore. 43. A reference to the Räksasas.
44. i.e., the sea will empty into the sunken earth, enabling them to cross its dry bed.
45. i.e., northwards. The Suvela is the mythical mountain of Ceylon, 46. i.e., southwards, so as to face the Suvela.
47. i.e., he will make the mountains face each other, after levelling them by breaking off the upper halves, and join them across the sea to serve as a bridge, throwing away the superfluous parts. This appears to be Rāmadāsa's interpretation. Acc. to Krsna and Mādhava, Sugrīva means that he will cleave asunder the bed of the sea, and reverse the positions of the northern and southern portions of the sea including the coastal mountains.
S. 4
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