शार्दूलेन वानरवीराणां परिचयः

The spies reported to the lord of Laṅkā that Rāghava, whose army nothing could shake, was encamped on Mount Suvela. Hearing from them that the mighty Rāma had arrived, Rāvaṇa grew somewhat anxious, and he said to Śārdūla, "Your colour is not what it was, night-rover; you look wretched. You have not fallen into the hands of our angry enemies, have you?" Shaken with fear at the king's question, Śārdūla answered that tiger among rākṣasas in a low voice: "Those bulls among monkeys cannot be spied upon, my king. They are valiant and strong, and Rāghava protects them. One cannot even talk with them, so there is no chance to ask questions, and monkeys like mountains guard the road on every side." The pallor of Śārdūla's face is itself the evidence of what he has been through: Rāvaṇa guesses from one look that something has gone wrong, and the anxious "have you?" of his question mirrors his own fear. The poet plays on names in a single line, for the spy is called Śārdūla, "tiger," and Rāvaṇa is addressed as "tiger among rākṣasas." The image of monkeys guarding the road like mountains shows how firm their array was. Spying means slipping unseen into the enemy's army, and Śārdūla admits that in Rāma's army even this is impossible; so the discipline and vigilance of that army are made known from the enemy's own mouth.

Then Śārdūla told what had happened to him. "The moment I entered that army, while I was still looking about, I was recognised. Rākṣasas — Vibhīṣaṇa's companions — seized me by force and questioned me over and over. The furious monkeys beat me hard with their knees, fists, teeth and palms and dragged me all through the army. After dragging me everywhere they brought me into Rāma's assembly, blood streaming from my battered limbs, dazed, my senses reeling. As the monkeys went on beating me and I begged with joined palms, Rāghava happened to save me, saying, 'Stop, stop.' This Rāma has filled the great ocean with mountains and rocks, and now he stands armed at the very gate of Laṅkā. He has drawn up his army in the shape of Garuḍa, with monkeys surrounding him on every side, and now that he has let me go, that mighty one is advancing on Laṅkā. Before he reaches the ramparts, quickly do one thing or the other: either give Sītā back at once, or give battle." When he heard this, the lord of the rākṣasas weighed it in his mind and gave Śārdūla a weighty answer. Śārdūla's story fills out the brief account of the previous sarga, which told only of his capture; here we see the beating and Rāma's mercy in detail. Rāma's "stop, stop" shows his compassion: he protects even an enemy spy. The Garuḍa array is a formation in the shape of the divine bird, its wings, beak and tail made of divisions of the army. Śārdūla's closing advice is blunt — there are only two roads, peace or war, and no middle way — and it takes courage, since in the previous sarga Śuka and Sāraṇa had been driven out for telling the truth. It was Vibhīṣaṇa's rākṣasa followers who recognised him, so Rāvaṇa's spying failed because of his own brother. "Questioned over and over" suggests he was tested many times and tormented with questions, and the frankness with which he tells of his own humiliation shows he is telling the truth. The bridge across the sea, Rāma standing at Laṅkā's gate, and the Garuḍa array together signal to Rāvaṇa that danger is upon him.

Rāvaṇa's answer was firm: "Even if gods, gandharvas and dānavas were to fight against me, I would never give Sītā back, not even out of fear of all the worlds." Then the mighty Rāvaṇa went on: "You have moved through that army. Which of the monkeys there are heroes? Those monkeys who are so hard to overcome — what is their power, my good friend, and what are they like? Whose sons and grandsons are they? Tell me the truth, rākṣasa. When I know their strength and their weakness, I will take my measures accordingly; whoever wants war must certainly take stock of the enemy." At this Śārdūla, the best of spies, began to speak in Rāvaṇa's presence. Rāvaṇa's resolve cannot be moved: even the fear of all the worlds counts for nothing with him. Yet he knows the rule of war, that the enemy's strength must be counted first. His questions are of three kinds — their power, their nature and their lineage — and the question of lineage is especially telling: having heard that the monkeys are sons of gods, he wants to know the source of their strength. A little earlier he had rebuked Śuka and Sāraṇa for praising the enemy; now he himself asks for a description of that enemy, and the unsteadiness of his mind is plain. Notice too how he addresses Śārdūla as "my good friend": harsh with Śuka and Sāraṇa, he is gentle now, because fear is growing within him.

Śārdūla said: "There, my king, is the son of Ṛkṣarajas, very hard to conquer in battle; and there is the son of Gadgada, renowned as Jāmbavān. Here is another son of Gadgada. There is the son of Bṛhaspati, guru of Indra, and it was that monkey's son, Hanūmān, who alone made a slaughter of the rākṣasas. Here is the righteous and valiant Suṣeṇa, son of Dharma, and here the gentle monkey Dadhimukha, son of Soma, the Moon. Sumukha, Durmukha and the monkey Vegadarśin are sons of Death — surely the Self-born Creator has made Death himself in the form of monkeys. Here is Nīla, the commander of the army, son of the Fire himself, and here the son of the Wind, renowned as Hanūmān. Young Aṅgada, mighty and unassailable, is Indra's grandson, and the strong Mainda and Dvivida were born of the Aśvins. Five sons of Vaivasvata, Yama, are there, like Time and Death: Gaja, Gavākṣa, Gavaya, Śarabha and Gandhamādana. There are ten crores of heroic monkeys eager for battle, glorious sons of the gods; the rest I cannot even attempt to describe. And this is the son of Daśaratha, Rāma, a youth built like a lion, who killed Dūṣaṇa, Khara and Triśiras." In Śārdūla's account almost every god — Indra, Bṛhaspati, Dharma, Soma, Death, Fire, Wind, the Aśvins, Yama, and as the list goes on the Sun, Varuṇa, Viśvakarman and the Vasu — is present among the monkeys in a share of his own being. The hint is that Rāvaṇa's war is not with monkeys alone but with all the gods. Once he had conquered the gods; now they have gathered against him in the form of monkeys. The line "Death himself made in the form of monkeys" is especially frightening: Death in person, says Śārdūla, has come dressed as a monkey. And "the rest I cannot describe" once again suggests an army past counting.

"No one on earth equals Rāma in valour — he killed Virādha, and Kabandha, who was like Death himself. No man on earth could tell all Rāma's virtues; he killed all those rākṣasas who were in Janasthāna. Here too is the righteous Lakṣmaṇa, like a bull among elephants; once within the range of his arrows even Indra could not live. Here are Śveta and Jyotirmukha, sons of the Sun, and Hemakūṭa, the monkey who is Varuṇa's son. Here is heroic Nala, son of Viśvakarman, best of monkeys, and the valiant and swift Durdhara, son of the Vasu. And your brother Vibhīṣaṇa, foremost of rākṣasas, who has received the city of Laṅkā, is devoted to Rāghava's cause. So I have described to you the whole monkey army stationed on Mount Suvela. What remains to be done is for you to decide." Śārdūla's last words are humble: he leaves the decision to the king and offers no advice. His mention of Vibhīṣaṇa is pointed — "having received Laṅkā" reminds Rāvaṇa once again that Rāma has made his brother king. The examples of Rāma's valour — Virādha, Kabandha, the fourteen thousand rākṣasas of Janasthāna — were all Rāvaṇa's own kind, and so were bitter for him to hear. To say that not even Indra could survive within range of Lakṣmaṇa's arrows is exaggeration that shows the height of his archery. Śārdūla had called Rāma "a youth built like a lion," and in him bodily strength, youth and valour are joined. So the sarga ends, holding the tension between Rāvaṇa's obstinacy and the strength of the monkey army.