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SETUBANDHA 35. 'How can a task be trusted to one in whose hands it hath not progressed nor shown success? It must be reassigned to some one else; just as a creeper, when the supporting tree talls, is again trained against another, because it hath not flourished nor borne fruit.26
36. 'Lord of the apes, desiring to slay Rāvana, dost thou wish to displease Rāma, thinking it would please him, eager as he is to slay him himself?'27
37. Having thus restrained Sugrīva, the son of Brahma28 turned towards Rāma; like as the dense smoke of the fire of universal destruction confronts the sun, after spreading over the summit of the Meru.29
38. He spoke with his face lowered in humility. Covered with the lustre of his bright sparkling teeth, it seemed to be hidden by his white hair streaming in front.
39. "Thou dost protect the universe, and support the earth, overwhelmed by the ocean during the deluge.30 It is amazing that thou art perplexed in regard to the sea that fills only a part of thy belly.
40. 'Is not the very start of the action of thy bow in war also its end, like that of a brilliant flash of lightning, destructive as it is like a wink of the wrathful god of death ?31
41. "How will the ocean maintain even against thee the fortitude32 bestowed on it by thyself, by dint of which it fulfils its
26. It is hinted that the command of the army might be transferred from Sugriva to some one else owing to his wrong methods; but acc. to Krşna and others, Sugriva is here counselled to try more efficient persons if some of his followers have been found wanting.
27. Cf. 15.60. 28. Jāmbavat .
29. Sugrīva's tall reddish figure is likened to the golden Meru mountain round which the sun and the other planets are said to revolve; while the black figure of Jāmbavat is likened to the smoke, and Rāma to the sun.
30. The reference is to the Boar incarnation of Visnu with whom Rāma is identified.
31. Lit. like the second wink, i.e., the destruction is completed in the interval between two winks. The bow is fancied as destroying the enemy in the twinkling of an eye; its action thus ends as soon it begins.
32. i.e., its unyielding nature making it difficult to cross.
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