The Decision to Cross the Ocean

The vanara army searching for Sita had reached the southern shore. Before them stretched an ocean a hundred yojanas wide, and the deadline to return was running out. Everyone sat in despair: who could cross such a sea?

Angad, Neel, Jamvant: each one named his limit. One said ten yojanas, another twenty. But Hanuman sat quietly to one side, as if the question were not meant for him.

Then the old and experienced Jamvant came to him. He reminded Hanuman that as a child he had leapt to catch the sun, thinking it was a fruit. Because of a sages' curse, Hanuman had forgotten his own power, and he needed someone to remind him.

As soon as he heard Jamvant's words, Hanuman began to grow as large as a mountain. The valour inside him awoke. He climbed Mount Mahendra, took Ram's name, and leapt into the sky.