66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

of all that he had seen and heard during his mission to
Kiskinda.
In due course, various units, led by their commanders,
appeared in the valley. In order to get an idea of their
numbers, Sugreeva suggested that Rama stand at a height
and watch, and ordered the commanders to parade their
contingents one by one north to south. Rama’s hopes
revived as he watched the marchers disappear troop after
troop into an enormous cloud of dust raised by their feet. He
said to Lakshmana, “I try, but constantly lose count of the
numbers. If we stand here and try to count, we will never
reach the end of it, or have any time left to search for Sita.
Now that we have seen this army, I am confident of their
ability to search and fight.” He turned to Sugreeva and said,
“Now do not delay, get them into action.”
Sugreeva called up the commanders and allotted to each
a task, in different directions. Hanuman and Angada were to
proceed southward, and that was the most important of the
assignments. Before Hanuman departed, Sugreeva gave
him detailed instructions as to how to search for Sita in each
place they would be traversing.
“When you leave here you will reach the cloud-topping
Vindhya mountain peaks,” he continued. “Search for Sita in
every nook and corner of that mountain range. Then you will
cross the river Narmada, in whose cool waters even the