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Sunder Kand Doha 25
English
At that moment, impelled by God, all the forty-nine* winds began to bluster. Hanuman roared with a loud laugh and swelled to such a size that he seemed to touch the sky.
Though colossal in size, Hanuman appeared most nimble-bodied; he ran and sprang from palace to palace. The city was all ablaze and the people were at their wit’s end. Terrible flames burst forth in myriads and piteous cries were heard everywhere: “O father ! Ah, my mother! Who will save us at this hour? As I said, he is no monkey but some god in the form of a monkey. Such is the result of despising a noble soul: the city is being consumed by fire as though it had no master.” In the twinking of an eye Hanuman burnt down the whole city barring the solitary house of Vibhisana. Parvati, (continues Lord Siva,) Hanuman went unscathed because he was the messenger of Him who created fire itself. He burnt the whole of Lanka from one end to the other and then leapt into the ocean.
* Our scriptures tell us that there are forty-nine varieties of winds, each presided over by a distinct god, these gods being collectively known as the Maruts. In the ordinary course it is only at the time of universal dissolution that all these winds are let loose by the god of destruction.
