सुग्रीवस्य भूमण्डलपरिक्रमणकथा

When the monkey chiefs had gone, Rāma asked Sugrīva, "How is it that you know the whole circle of the earth?" It was a natural question: how could a monkey who lived in Kiṣkindhā know the names and borders of every land? Sugrīva, with a humble heart — knowledgeable, but without pride — answered, "Listen, and I will tell you everything in full." The question also opens a story, for through it Sugrīva's past and the root of his feud with Vālī are laid before the listener.

"When Vālī was driving the demon Dundubhi, who had the form of a buffalo, towards Mount Malaya," he began, "the buffalo went into a cave in Malaya, and Vālī, bent on killing him, went in after him." The buffalo-demon meant here is taken to be Dundubhi's son Māyāvī, since the story that follows is his. "I was left at the mouth of the cave like an obedient servant," Sugrīva went on — my brother had told me to stay right there — "and a whole year went by, and still Vālī did not come out." "Like an obedient servant" shows his obedience and his devotion to his brother, and the year shows how long he waited: he did not abandon the cave in haste but kept watch at its mouth for a year. That is the first proof of his innocence.

"Then the cave filled with a rush of blood. When I saw it I was stunned and stricken with grief for my brother. My mind was made up: 'My elder brother has plainly been killed.' So I set a boulder as big as a mountain across the cave's mouth, thinking, 'The buffalo won't be able to get out, and he will die in there.' Then, despairing of my brother's life, I went back to Kiṣkindhā." It is clear that Sugrīva acted not out of malice but to shut in the enemy, believing his brother dead. His only evidence was the stream of blood, and his whole act rested on the guess that his brother had been killed. In fact the blood was the demon's, but he did not know that, and here lies the seed of all the trouble between the two brothers.

"There I received that great kingdom, and Tārā together with Rumā, and I lived among my friends free of care. Then Vālī, that bull among monkeys, came back, having killed the demon, and out of reverence for him, and constrained by fear, I gave him back the kingdom at once." These words show Sugrīva's innocence: he did nothing out of greed for the throne, and when his brother returned he handed it back of his own accord. But the wicked Vālī, his senses in turmoil, believed that blocking the cave had been a trick, and wanted to kill Sugrīva, and he chased him as he fled with his ministers. Vālī's anger did not cool; he took both the blocking of the cave and the taking of the throne for treachery. So even returning the kingdom did not end the feud; instead Sugrīva's very life was in danger.

"Then, hunted by Vālī, I ran with my followers, and as I ran I saw all kinds of rivers, forests and cities. The earth looked to me like the face of a mirror, like the circle of a whirling firebrand, no bigger than a cow's hoofprint." The firebrand image shows his tremendous speed: as a torch whirled round seems a single ring of fire, so the whole round earth became one in his sight; and the hoofprint shows how small it seemed. "Going east, I saw all kinds of trees, lovely mountains with their caves, and many lakes. There I saw the Udaya mountain, the mountain of sunrise, adorned with minerals, and the Ocean of Milk, the eternal home of the apsarases." So the answer to Rāma's question emerges by itself: running in fear, Sugrīva had seen the whole geography of the earth. He went east first, since flight tends to begin towards the rising sun, and the sunrise mountain and the Ocean of Milk mark the eastern limit.

"Harried and driven on by Vālī, I turned back at once and set out again, my lord. Leaving that quarter, I went south, into the southern region thick with the trees of the Vindhya and beautiful with sandalwood. Watching from among the trees and hills, I passed beyond the south and reached the west, with Vālī still at my heels. Seeing many lands and Asta, the best of mountains, the mountain of sunset, I reached that chief of mountains and ran on north. I went to the Himālaya, to Meru and to the northern sea, and still, hunted by Vālī, I found no refuge anywhere." This wandering through the four quarters was no tour but flight for his life, and yet it was what gave Sugrīva his knowledge of the earth. The order — east, south, west, north — is the very order in which he had just posted his troop-leaders: what he had lived through himself, he now laid down for others. Asta, the Himālaya, Meru and the northern sea mark the limits of the west and north.

"Then wise Hanumān said to me: 'I remember now, my king, how long ago Vālī, lord of the monkeys, was cursed by Mataṅga in the grounds of this hermitage: if Vālī should ever enter it, his head would split into a hundred pieces. So we can live here in comfort and without fear.' And so, prince, we came to Mount Ṛśyamūka and stayed there, and Vālī did not enter it for fear of Mataṅga. That is how I came to see the whole circle of the earth with my own eyes, and after that I came to this cave." So the answer to Rāma's question ends. Hanumān's memory was what saved Sugrīva's life then; here, for the first time, his wisdom proves its power to get things done, the wisdom that will unfold fully in the Sundara Kāṇḍa. From then on Ṛśyamūka was their refuge.