Who Can Cross?

Measuring the Vanaras' Powers

With Lanka's location known, the challenge becomes clear: who can leap 100 yojanas across the ocean? Each vanara states his maximum distance, Angada 80 yojanas, Jambavan 70 in his prime, but none can reach 100. Only one has the power, if only he knew it.

The New Challenge

Hope has returned, but with it comes a new problem. Sampati has given them the location. Lanka lies one hundred yojanas across the ocean. Sita waits there in a garden of ashoka trees. The mission is clear: someone must cross the ocean, find Sita, confirm her presence, and return with news.

But one hundred yojanas is an impossible distance. No vanara has ever leaped so far. The greatest athletes among them might manage forty or fifty yojanas on a good day. But one hundred? It seems beyond the realm of possibility.

Jambavan, ever practical, takes charge. "Let us not despair before we have measured ourselves. Each of us carries power in our muscles, energy in our souls. Let us hear what each can do. Perhaps among all of us, there is one who can make this leap." The vanaras gather in a circle on the shore. One by one, they begin to state their capabilities.

The Count of Powers

The first vanaras step forward. A young warrior speaks first: "I believe I can leap twenty yojanas. Perhaps twenty-five if the wind favors me." Twenty yojanas, impressive for an ordinary vanara, but far short of one hundred. Then another: "Thirty yojanas. That is my limit." Then another, and another. The numbers grow: forty, forty-five, fifty. But fifty is still only half the distance.

Nila, son of the fire god Agni, steps forward with more confidence. "I have fire in my blood. I can leap far and fast. I believe sixty yojanas is within my power." Sixty! The vanaras murmur with hope. Perhaps there is someone who can do more? But Nila shakes his head. "Sixty is my honest estimate. To claim more would be to lie. And even sixty would leave me stranded forty yojanas from Lanka, falling into the sea."