Whilst this was happening at Lanka, Rama was almost mad with grief. When Lakshman came to him after the deer was slain, he feared some evil had happened; and on their return to the cottage, as Sita was not to be found, his anguish was intolerable. He wandered about calling upon the trees, mountains, and rivers to tell him what had happened to his loved one; but they were silent as the grave. A vulture at the point of death, who had fought with Ravana on Sita's behalf, informs him of her capture by the great fiend. (See part iii. chap. vii.)

In their wanderings, the brothers meet with a giant named Kabandha, who, owing to a curse, had to wear the hideous form in which he appeared, until his arms

should be cut off by Rama. As he was running away with the brothers on his shoulders, they fulfilled this condition, there being no other way of escape for them. On learning who they were, he was delighted, and asked them, as a favour, to burn his body in order that he might regain his proper form, and ascend to heaven. As the flames encircled him, he assumed a heavenly shape, and when in mid-air, told them where Sita was taken, and advised them to seek the help of Sugriva, the King of the Vanar [**] (Monkey) tribes, as only through his aid could they recover her. Acting upon this advice, they proceed to Pampa, Sugriva's home; where the sight of the beauty of the lake causes Rama's lamentations to burst forth afresh:

"By sights like these of joy and peace,
My pangs of hopeless love increase." [*+]

When Sugriva saw the brothers, imagining them to be friends of his brother Bali, by whom he had been deprived of his throne, he was greatly alarmed, and sent Hanuman, his commander-in-chief, to learn who they

were, and why they had come. When Hanuman learns the object of their visit, thinking they might be induced to assist his master to regain his kingdom, he promises Sugriva's help, and, taking them upon his shoulders, hurries off with them into the presence of the Vanar king. A league is made immediately, and after Rama had promised that the usurper Bali should fall that day, Sugriva says of Sita--

"Yea, though in heaven the lady dwell,
Or prisoned in the depths of hell,
My friendly care her way shall track,
And bring thy ransomed darling back." [**]