Sundara Kãnda is regarded as the Canto Beautiful of the Valmiki Ramayana, the 'adi kavya' that is the foremost poetic composition in the literary world.
Whereas Mahabharata's Bhagvad-Gita is taken as a philosophical guide, Ramayana's Sundara Kãnda is sought for spiritual solace; many believe that reading it or hearing it recited would remove all hurdles and usher in good tidings! Miracles apart, it's in the nature of this great epic to inculcate fortitude and generate hope in man for it’s a depiction of how Hanuman goes about his errand against all odds.
Besides, it portrays how Seetha, on the verge of self-immolation, overcomes despair to see life in a new light? With rhythm of its verse and the flow of the narrative this sloka-to-sloka transcreation of the canto beautiful of Valmiki's adi kavya - the foremost poetical composition in the world, Hanuman's Odyssey that paves the way for Rama to rescue his kidnapped wife is bound to charm the readers and listeners alike.
Interestingly, as the following verse illustrates, this epic was the forerunner of the magic realism of our times – “Gripped she then him by shadow / Cast which Hanuman coast to coast, Recalled he in dismay then / What Sugreev said at outset / That one fiend had aptitude / To grip its prey by mere shadow.”
On a personal note, my paternal grandfather, Bulusu Thimmaiah-garu, like many in his time, was a life-long practitioner of Sundara Kãnda parayana (the epic’s daily recital in part or full), whose spirituality could have providentially guided me in this, rather an effortless, trans-creative endeavour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MeNFFaLxqw&t=1s
Excerpt
Canto 20 - Womanizer at Work
To fair Seetha he confined
Spoke then Ravan in disdain.
With thy pair of lovely hands
Why block sight of thy bosom
Hope it’s not the fear of me
Prompts thee squat in like fashion.
Is a beauty like thine ever
And a lover than me better!
What to fear in this Lanka
Lost whose Lord his heart to thee.
Fair it’s not for thee to blame
Granted when it’s to our ilk
Force we might all women we fond
Never mind ever their state of mind.
Crave as I for thine embrace
Wait I though for thy consent.
Fill thy heart with love for me
Let not fear ever grip thy mind.
Having known my love for thee
Don’t thou know that it’s not fair
That thee should fail thy upkeep
And thus make me sad for thee.
From heaven I fetch garments such
To make thee best dressed dame on earth.
For thy wear I get jewels
Not even by angels worn.
Thou being the crown jewel
Of the feminine world at large
How come then thou shun jewels!
Knowing as well youth is like
River that courses to the seas
Why not grant me thy favour
And thus make the best of life.
Since there none to rival thee
Having set the hallmark thus
Looks like Brahma ceased His work.
Perchance He now espies thee
Finding thou so well endowed
What with such rare sex appeal
Would He ever quit ogling thee?
Such is beauty of thy frame
Wherever I look I get stuck.
Dearth there none for mates for me
Brought them in scores from all lands
Yet I’ve taken to thy charms
Make I thee my Queen of Hearts.
Gods from I got such ransom
Made me that the richest man,
Not to speak of self as well
Won’t I place all at thy feet.
Worlds I conquered all the three
Wealth of nations I plundered
Consent if thou to take me
Gift all that to thy father.
None is there in heaven ’n earth
Dares who ever to cross my path.
Dust I made to bite enemies
Burnt their standards in their sight.
Since no one can rescue thee
Better thee tie thy life with me.
Know I value thee no end
Turn thy mind to life at hand.
Spend thy days in royal ways
Make we love in nights for long.
Having enslaved my heart now
Might well treat me as thy slave.
Weigh if thee that Ram and me
In the scale of thy interest
Won’t thou know the way it tilts?
Lost he crown when all too young
Could have died though not so old.
What if he still lives on earth
Gets he how a clue of thee?
Were he to get wind of thee
How doth he dare to face me?
O dear lady thou have won
The heart of mine the ladies man.
O femme fatale as I burn
For the possession of thy frame
Fail I women all who crave me.
See all these are queens no less
Make them willing maids to thee.
Served as thus by all of them
Won’t thou look a goddess then?
In the Pushpak that I won
Come to live like favoured one.
If ever thy man regains crown
Would he make a patch on me?
So that I add honey as well
Know thy buttered side of bread.
Lovebirds like we all our life
Live ever making love no end.
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