Lanka Burns like an Orphaned City while Vibhishana's House Remains
Sundara Kanda, Chaupai 26
Doha 26 · Movement 1 of 2
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Hanuman's body is immense yet astonishingly light. He runs from mansion to mansion as countless terrible flames leap behind him. The city convulses. Cries for father and mother rise through smoke, and inhabitants ask who can save them in this hour.
They remember the warning: this cannot be an ordinary monkey, but some deity wearing a monkey's form. The burning appears as the fruit of insulting a saint. Lanka blazes like a city made orphaned by its own offense.
Within a single moment Hanuman burns the city, yet Vibhishana's house remains untouched. Shiva tells Girija that the messenger of the Lord who created fire cannot himself be burned. After turning Lanka over and setting it aflame, Hanuman leaps into the middle of the ocean.
Fire takes the golden city in a breath, passes over Vibhishana's house, and cannot touch Rama's messenger.
Read the passage from the Manas
देह बिसाल परम हरुआई। मंदिर तें मंदिर चढ़ धाई।। जरइ नगर भा लोग बिहाला। झपट लपट बहु कोटि कराला।। तात मातु हा सुनिअ पुकारा। एहि अवसर को हमहि उबारा।। हम जो कहा यह कपि नहिं होई। बानर रूप धरें सुर कोई।। साधु अवग्या कर फलु ऐसा। जरइ नगर अनाथ कर जैसा।। जारा नगरु निमिष एक माहीं। एक बिभीषन कर गृह नाहीं।। ता कर दूत अनल जेहिं सिरिजा। जरा न सो तेहि कारन गिरिजा।। उलटि पलटि लंका सब जारी। कूदि परा पुनि सिंधु मझारी।।
His body was vast, yet exceedingly nimble. He leaped from mansion to mansion across the city. The city burned and the people were in utter anguish. Countless terrible flames flickered and leaped on every side. Cries of "Father! Mother! Alas!" echoed everywhere: "Who will save us at this hour?" "What we said was true: this is no mere monkey. Some deity has taken a monkey's form." "This is the fruit of disrespecting a saint. The city burns as though it were orphaned and forsaken." Hanuman burned the entire city in the blink of an eye, sparing only the house of Vibhishana. The messenger of Him who created fire itself could not be burned. For this reason, O Girija, he remained unharmed. Having turned Lanka upside down and set it all ablaze, he leaped into the middle of the ocean.