The Search Parties and Sampati

The rainy season had come, so the search waited four months. Ram spent those days in a cave on Mount Prasravan, missing Sita. Meanwhile Sugriv, enjoying royal comforts, forgot his promise. When the rains ended Lakshman stormed into Kishkindha in anger. Tara calmed him, and Sugriv begged forgiveness with folded hands.

Now Sugriv summoned countless vanaras and sent search parties in all four directions, each told to return within a month. The south was the hardest, so heroes like Angad, Hanuman, Jamvant, Nal and Neel went there. Ram gave Hanuman his signet ring so that Sita would trust him.

The southern party combed forests, hills and caves. They got lost in a dark cave, where the ascetic woman Swayamprabha fed them and, by her spiritual power, sent them out onto the seashore. But by then the month was over, and there was still no sign of Sita.

Angad lost heart. Rather than return empty-handed, he decided to fast until death. As they talked, the vanaras mentioned Jatayu, who had died trying to save Sita. An old vulture sitting in a nearby cave heard this. He was Sampati, Jatayu's elder brother.

Sampati told them that long ago, flying towards the sun, he had shielded his younger brother with his wings, and his own wings were burnt. After offering water in memory of his brother, he looked out with his sharp eyes: a hundred yojanas away, across the sea, Sita sat in the Ashok Vatika of Lanka. In the Valmiki Ramayan, Sampati's new wings grew at that very moment.