66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

Their problems were answered presently when they saw a
woman sitting cross-legged lost in meditation—the sole
occupant of this vast city. At first the monkeys mistook her
for Sita, thinking that Ravana had obviously found the perfect
concealment for her in the depths of the earth. But observing
her closely, Hanuman declared that she did not bear any of
the marks Rama had mentioned for identification. They
woke the woman from her meditation and when she narrated
her story they found that she had been a goddess, who for
some mistake committed had fallen from grace and had
been condemned to dwell underground in this perfect
setting, in complete solitude, precisely until this moment.
After her long penance she feasted and entertained
Hanuman and his followers; finally, through Hanuman’s own
powers, they were able to shatter this underworld and come
out, and also help this strange woman to escape from her
imprisonment and go back to her own heaven.
They journeyed southward, leaving no stone unturned
along the way, and reached the southernmost point of a
mountaintop, where they watched the rolling ocean beyond
and spoke among themselves: “There is nothing more for us
to do. We have failed. We have long passed the one-month
time limit. Should we renounce the world and stay on here as
ascetics or take poison and end our lives, the only
alternatives left for us?”
Angada said, “When we started out, we were boastful in