Shloka 5.54.42
लङ्कादाहः — The Burning of Lanka (Catuḥpañcāśaḥ Sargaḥ)
स सम्भ्रमत्रस्तविषण्णराक्षसां समुज्ज्वलज्ज्वालहुताशनाङ्किताम्।ददर्श लङ्कां हनुमान्महामनाः स्वयम्भूकोपोपहतामिवावनिम्।।।।
sa sambhrama-trasta-viṣaṇṇa-rākṣasāṁ samujjvala-jvāla-hutāśanāṅkitām |
dadarśa laṅkāṁ hanumān mahāmanāḥ svayambhū-kopopahatām ivāvanim ||
Great-souled Hanumān beheld Laṅkā—its rākṣasas bewildered, terrified, and despondent—marked by the fiercely blazing flames of fire, like the earth itself smitten by the wrath of Svayambhū (Brahmā) at the time of dissolution.
Highly sensitive Hanuman saw the city of Lanka filled with perplexed, scared and sorrowful demons, Lanka succumbed to the flames of fire-god and looked as if it was hit by the anger of Brahma, the self-born god.
Dharma is framed as cosmic order: when violated, events can resemble pralaya-like upheaval, reminding that power divorced from righteousness is ultimately unsustainable.
Hanumān surveys the burning Laṅkā and the panic of its inhabitants; the narrator compares the scene to a world struck by Brahmā’s wrath at dissolution.
Mahāmanas (great-mindedness) in Hanumān: even amid devastation, he is portrayed as a disciplined agent of a larger righteous purpose, not a mere destroyer.