Reaching the sleeping chambers of Ravana, Hanuman beheld yet more splendor. Ivory, gold, silver and crystal encrusted with myriad gems, made seats, couches and everything else shine with a relentless dazzle. Standing apart majestically amidst all that grandeur was a crystal bed with its immaculate white canopy. Covered with luxurious sheepskins, festooned with garlands made from the most exotically fragrant flowers, its incomparable beauty was astonishing. On it where the sheen of gold, the glitter of gems and the soft luminance of pearls shed their glow, lay Ravana like a dark cloud that dims the light of day! Wearing burnished gold earrings, robed in gold laced silks, fanned by beautiful belles Ravana was lost in sleep. Wearied after a long night of wining, dining and dalliance his breath sounded like the hiss of angry serpents; his bejewelled body sported scars from his many wars with the gods and the devas. His long powerful arms, the bane of his enemies, which had made them cry out in pain, now lay supine by his side. Peering at the awesome form Hanuman stepped away hastily scolding him self for being foolish enough to be so near his enemy. "What will not Ravana do to me if he sees me!" he gasped. From a safer distance up some steps he continued to view the king of Lanka, with utter fascination, total and unwavering! To him Ravana looked like the moon and his wives with their slender waists and lissom limbs like the stars. Skilled dancers and musicians some of them were not only holding their drums, flutes and veenas in their arms, but also clung to each other! They slept in an intoxicated stupor seeming to have suddenly succumbed to sleep during a lull in their revelries. Hanuman's wandering gaze came to a sudden halt as it rested on the most beautiful of them all, who slept by herself on the best of beds and whose exquisitely bejewelled body radiated a glow that lighted up the entire palace. She was Mandodari beloved of Ravana and queen of his wives, but Hanuman mistaking her for Sita exulted "This is Sita", and his joy knew no bounds.
Summary
Reaching the sleeping chambers of Ravana, Hanuman beheld yet more splendor. Ivory, gold, silver and crystal encrusted with myriad gems, made seats, couches and everything else shine with a relentless dazzle. Standing apart majestically amidst all that grandeur was a crystal bed with its immaculate white canopy. Covered with luxurious sheepskins, festooned with garlands made from the most exotically fragrant flowers, its incomparable beauty was astonishing. On it where the sheen of gold, the glitter of gems and the soft luminance of pearls shed their glow, lay Ravana like a dark cloud that dims the light of day! Wearing burnished gold earrings, robed in gold laced silks, fanned by beautiful belles Ravana was lost in sleep. Wearied after a long night of wining, dining and dalliance his breath sounded like the hiss of angry serpents; his bejewelled body sported scars from his many wars with the gods and the devas. His long powerful arms, the bane of his enemies, which had made them cry out in pain, now lay supine by his side. Peering at the awesome form Hanuman stepped away hastily scolding him self for being foolish enough to be so near his enemy. "What will not Ravana do to me if he sees me!" he gasped. From a safer distance up some steps he continued to view the king of Lanka, with utter fascination, total and unwavering! To him Ravana looked like the moon and his wives with their slender waists and lissom limbs like the stars. Skilled dancers and musicians some of them were not only holding their drums, flutes and veenas in their arms, but also clung to each other! They slept in an intoxicated stupor seeming to have suddenly succumbed to sleep during a lull in their revelries. Hanuman's wandering gaze came to a sudden halt as it rested on the most beautiful of them all, who slept by herself on the best of beds and whose exquisitely bejewelled body radiated a glow that lighted up the entire palace. She was Mandodari beloved of Ravana and queen of his wives, but Hanuman mistaking her for Sita exulted "This is Sita", and his joy knew no bounds.