66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

Landing on the soil of Lanka, Hanuman shrank himself to an
unnoticeable size and began his search for Sita. He peeped
into every building in the city. He saw several streets with
houses in which Ravana had kept his collection of women
from several parts of this world and other worlds. Since
Ravana had grown indifferent to them after his infatuation
with Sita, he ignored his favourites completely and Hanuman
noticed that in every house, women sat longingly, hoping for
Ravana’s return to their embraces. Hanuman presently came
into an elaborate mansion with rich furnishings where he saw
a woman of great beauty lolling in her bed while several
attendants were fanning her.
“Here is the end of my quest,” Hanuman said to himself,
thinking that it might be Sita; he studied her features closely,
recollecting again and again the description given to him by
Rama. He was filled with pain and anger at the thought that
Rama’s wife was living in such luxury, perhaps after yielding
herself to Ravana. He almost wept at the thought that while
Rama was undergoing such suffering in his quest for his
wife, she should live in luxury now. For a moment, Hanuman
felt that there was nothing more for him to do, and that all his
plans to help Rama had come to an abrupt end.
8
MEMENTO FROM RAMA