Shloka 55
प्रायोपवेशने चैव हेतुं विस्तरशो<ब्रुवम् । “तब मैंने सम्पातिके समक्ष आपपर संकट आनेका यह सारा वृत्तान्त और अपने आमरण अनशनका कारण विस्तारपूर्वक बताया || ५४ $ || सो>स्मानुत्थापयामास वाक्येनानेन पक्षिराट्,भवित्री तत्र वैदेही न मे<स्त्यत्र विचारणा । “तब पक्षिराज सम्पातिने अपने निम्नांकित वचनद्वारा हमें उत्साहित करके उठाया। “वानरो! मैं रावणको जानता हूँ। उसकी महापुरी लंका भी मैंने देखी है। वह समुद्रके उस पार त्रिकूटगिरिकी कन्दरामें बसी है। विदेहकुमारी सीता अवश्य वहीं होंगी, इस विषयमें मुझे कोई अन्यथा विचार नहीं हो रहा है”
prāyopaveśane caiva hetuṁ vistaraśo 'bruvam | so 'smān utthāpayāmāsa vākyenānena pakṣirāṭ, bhavitrī tatra vaidehī na me 'sty atra vicāraṇā ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “I then explained in full the reason for our resolve to sit down in fast unto death. Thereupon the king of birds, Sampāti, roused and encouraged us with these words: ‘O Vānara, I know Rāvaṇa; I have also seen his great city Laṅkā. It lies beyond the ocean, set in a cavern of Mount Trikūṭa. The princess of Videha, Sītā, will surely be there—of this I have no doubt at all.’”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when one is driven to extreme despair (such as a resolve for prāyopaveśana), timely truthful counsel and compassionate encouragement can restore purpose. The passage highlights steadiness of judgment (absence of vicāraṇā) grounded in direct knowledge, which ethically supports right action rather than self-destruction.
After the speaker explains the reason for a fast-unto-death, the bird-king Sampāti lifts the group’s spirits by asserting, from his own knowledge, that Rāvaṇa’s Laṅkā lies beyond the ocean near Mount Trikūṭa and that Sītā (Vaidehī) is certainly there.