Kishkindha Kanda

Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa

by Maharishi Valmiki

67 sargas · 2,462 shlokas

Kishkindha Kanda opens at Lake Pampa, where the grieving Rama and Lakshmana are drawn into an alliance with the exiled vanara prince Sugriva through the mediation of Hanuman. Rama pledges to kill the tyrannical Vali, Sugriva's brother, who had usurped his kingdom and wife; in the resulting duel Rama, hidden, slays Vali, provoking Vali's bitter dying reproach and Rama's extended defence of the act as dharma rather than treachery. Tara's grief and Sugriva's coronation follow, but Sugriva soon forgets his promise to help find Sita amid the pleasures of kingship, drawing the enraged Lakshmana to Kishkindha until Tara and Hanuman calm him. Sugriva then musters vast vanara armies and sends them in all four directions with a one-month deadline. Three parties return empty-handed; only the southern party, led by Angada, Hanuman, and Jambavan, presses on — surviving the enchanted cave of the ascetic Svayamprabha, reaching the southern ocean in despair as the deadline lapses, and there encountering the aged vulture Sampati, brother of the slain Jatayu, who reveals that he saw Ravana carry Sita to Lanka across the sea. The kanda closes with Hanuman, alone capable of the feat, preparing to leap.

Sargas

1The Springtime Lament at Lake Pampa130 v 2Sugriva's Alarm and Hanuman Sent Forth29 v 3Hanuman Meets Rama and Lakshmana39 v 4Hanuman Carries Rama and Lakshmana to Sugriva35 v 5The Pact of Friendship Between Rama and Sugriva31 v 6Sugriva's Account of the Abduction27 v 7Words of Friendship25 v 8The Enmity of Vali and Sugriva46 v 9The Might of Vali26 v 10Vali Banishes Sugriva35 v 11The Slaying of Dundubhi and the Curse of Matanga93 v 12Rama's Arrow and the First Duel42 v 13Journey to Kishkindha30 v 14The Challenge to Vali22 v 15Tara's Counsel31 v 16The Slaying of Vali39 v 17Vali's Reproach54 v 18Rama's Answer to Vali66 v 19Tara's Lament Begins28 v 20Tara's Lament26 v 21Hanuman Consoles Tara16 v 22Vali's Last Words and Death32 v 23Tara's Lament30 v 24The Grief of Sugriva and Tara44 v 25Vali's Funeral54 v 26The Coronation of Sugriva42 v 27At Mount Prasravana48 v 28In Praise of the Rains66 v 29Hanuman's Counsel to Sugriva33 v 30Rama's Lament for Autumn85 v 31Lakshmana's Fury51 v 32Hanuman's Counsel to Sugriva22 v 33Lakshmana's Fury and Tara's Appeasement66 v 34Lakshmana Upbraids Sugriva19 v 35Tara Appeases Lakshmana23 v 36Sugreeva's Apology20 v 37The Monkey Hosts Are Summoned37 v 38Sugreeva Comes to Rama34 v 39The Muster of the Monkey Chiefs44 v 40The Search of the Eastern Quarter71 v 41The Search of the Southern Quarter49 v 42The Search of the Western Quarter58 v 43The Search of the Northern Quarter62 v 44Rama's Ring for Hanuman17 v 45The Vanara Armies Set Forth17 v 46How Sugreeva Came to Know the Earth24 v 47The Search Parties Return14 v 48The Cursed Forest of Sage Kandu24 v 49Angada Rallies the Search Party22 v 50The Hidden Cave of Rikshabila41 v 51Svayamprabha and the Enchanted Cave19 v 52Deliverance from the Cave32 v 53Angada's Counsel of Despair27 v 54Hanuman's Counsel to Angada22 v 55Angada's Resolve to Die23 v 56Sampati Hears of Jatayu's Death24 v 57Angada Tells Sampati of Their Plight19 v 58Sampati Reveals Sita's Whereabouts37 v 59Sampati's Account of Sita's Abduction28 v 60Sampati Narrates His Own Story21 v 61Sampati's Tale: The Flight Too Near the Sun17 v 62The Sage Nishakara's Prophecy15 v 63Wings Restored15 v 64At the Shore of the Boundless Sea22 v 65The Reckoning of Leaps35 v 66The Awakening of Hanuman38 v 67Hanuman's Vow and the Ascent of Mahendra49 v

Why it matters today

Kishkindha Kanda is the Ramayana's meditation on leadership, loyalty, and the uncomfortable arithmetic of dharma. Vali's death from ambush remains one of the epic's most debated moments — Valmiki does not let Rama's justification go unanswered, giving Vali one of the text's most powerful speeches of protest before Rama replies at equal length. Sugriva's lapse into forgetful comfort after being restored to power is a remarkably candid portrait of how easily a rescued ally can become complacent, and Lakshmana's fury is the poem's reminder that promises made in crisis must be honored in peace. And it is Sampati — wingless, aged, written off by everyone including himself — who becomes the one who finally supplies the answer the whole search has been missing, a quiet argument that the most exhausted, diminished figure in the room can still hold the key.