At length the son was born. When a child, seeing the sun rising, and thinking it to be the fruit of a tree, he sprang up three hundred leagues to clutch it. On another occasion Indra let a bolt fly at him which caused him to fall violently on a rock. The fall shattered his cheek, and hence the name Hanuman, the long-jawed one, was given to him. His father seeing this became angry, and the breezes ceased to blow, until the gods in terror came to appease Vayu: Brahma promised that this boy should not be slain in battle, and Indra declared that his bolts should never injure him in the future.

The Monkey leader rendered most valuable service to Rama. It was he who discovered Sita's abode, and carried a message to her from Rama. It was he who set fire to Lanka and caused fear to enter the hearts of the Rakshasas dwelling there. It was he who bore Rama on his shoulders as he crossed over from India to Lanka. Hanuman thus speaks of his wondrous power:

"Sprung from that glorious Father, I
In power and speed with him may vie.
A thousand times, with airy leap,
Can circle loftiest Meru's steep:
With my fierce arms can stir the sea
Till from their beds the waters flee,
And rush at my command to drown
This land with grove and tower and town.
I through the fields of air can spring
Far swifter than the feathered king,
And leap before him as he flies
On sounding pinions through the skies.
I can pursue the Lord of Light
Uprising from the eastern height,

[paragraph continues] And reach him ere his course be sped,
With burning beams engarlanded." [**]

All these powers he devoted to the service of Rama; for, when that hero and his brother were wounded in the fight, and nothing else could restore them, Hanuman fled to the Himalayas from Ceylon, and returned almost immediately with the medicinal herbs that grew there, though, on reaching the hills, he had some difficulty [*+] in finding them:

"But when he thought to seize the prize,
They hid them from his eager eyes.
Then to the hill in wrath he spake:
Mine arm this day shall vengeance take
If thou wilt feel no pity, none,
In this great need of Raghu's son.'
He ceased: his mighty arms he bent,
And from the trembling mountain rent
His huge head, with the life it bore,
Snakes, elephants, and golden ore.
O'er hill and plain and watery waste
His rapid way again he traced,
And mid the wondering Vanars laid
His burden, through the air conveyed.

The wondrous herbs' delightful scent
To all the host new vigour lent.
Free from all darts, and wounds, and pain,
The sons of Raghu lived again;
And dead and dying Vanars, healed,
Rose vigorous from the battle-field." [**]