RAMAYANA FOR CHILDREN--CHAPTER 17

RAMAYANA FOR CHILDREN –CHAPTER 17

                                                        THE COMING DOWN OF THE GODS

Lord Vishnu decided to come down among men. The Lotus born one said to the Devas, “The Lord goes down among men. It is in pursuance of His promise to us and for our good. From Your essence send down sons to assist Him in his fight with Ravana. You choose fit vehicles among the Apsarasas and Gandharvas and beget sons ape-like in form. They will be able to change their form at will. So they will be masters of illusion. They will be like wind God and Vishnu in speed and might respectively, invulnerable. They will have the strength of fierce lions. They will be endued with the terrible energy of all the Astras. They will be immortal. They will be intelligent. They will be conversant with every rule of morality. They will be skilful in adopting the means to the ends.

“Once I deeply yawned. I brought forth a mighty bear. Its name is Jambavan. Of course, it happened with an eye to the future contingencies.”

The sages, the Siddhas, the Vidyadharas, the Uragas, the Charanas and the other celestial orders brought forth sons of their essence. They all were monkeys that roamed the woods. The great Indra gave birth to Vali, the monarch of the monkeys. His vast proportions were like the Mount Mahendra. The sun-God begot Sugriva; Brihaspati begot Tara. Kubera begot Gandhamadhana. Like him, his son was very wealthy. Visvakarma begot Nala. Agni begot Nila. He was radiant like his sire. The handsome Asvins begot Mainda and Dvivida. They were as beautiful as their sires. Varuna begot Sushena. Parjanya begot Sarabha. Vayu begot Hanuman. He was like Garuda in speed and of great strength. He was impervious even to Vajra.

Thus countless apes, baboons, monkeys and bears that came down on earth. They were to assist the Lord in His fight against Ravana and his wicked brood. Their strength was immeasurable. They could take any form they liked. They were of vast bulk like Meru or Mandara.

They were proud in their strength like lions and tigers. They could shatter the strongest trees and uproot the huge mountains. They had great speed. The God of Rivers was shaken to his bottom at their speed. They could lightly cross across the oceans. They could fly away with large elephants in sport. Their roars could cause even the mighty birds to fall down dead.

These mighty beings ranged the earth and the sky. And their seed grew and grew by hundreds of thousands and covered the face of the globe. Some of them lived along the sides of rikshavan and other mountains. Some lived in dark forests and lonely woods. Some lived on the banks of charming lakes and swift rivers. Some of them lived on the high hills and low vales.

All of them recognized as their monarch the brothers Vali and Sugriva. Their leaders were Nala and Nila, Hanuman and other mighty monkeys. Vali extended his powerful arm over them. and under its shadow lived the valiant apes and monkeys, bears and baboons. All these mighty beings came down to earth to help the Lord in his noble task.