Kumbhakarna Carries Sugriva Beneath His Arm From the Broken Field
Lanka Kanda, Doha 65
Doha 65 · Movement 2 of 2
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Angada and the foremost vanaras lie unconscious after Kumbhakarna's advance. Sugriva too has fallen amid the army he led around Lanka's walls.
The giant bends, gathers the monkey king, and locks him beneath one arm. He needs no chariot and no escort. With Sugriva held against his side, Kumbhakarna strides away from the shattered formations.
The verse calls him the boundary of immeasurable strength. That boundary now moves across the battlefield carrying Rama's ally as captured weight. For the vanaras, the scene appears to gather every loss into one image: champions senseless upon the earth and their king disappearing beneath the arm of Ravana's brother. Yet Sugriva's stillness is not the end of his part. Consciousness waits inside the captive body.
The limit of strength walks from the field with Sugriva beneath one arm, unaware that the captive king will awaken inside his grasp.
Read the passage from the Manas
अंगदादि कपि मुरुछित करि समेत सुग्रीव। काँख दाबि कपिराज कहुँ चला अमित बल सींव।।65।।
Having rendered Angada and other monkeys unconscious along with Sugriva, he tucked the monkey king under his arm and strode away, the very boundary of immeasurable strength.