qMonk literal translation — draft, pending review
You fetched the herb that gives life back, and Lakshman lived again.
And Ram — the hero of the Raghus — was so glad that he pulled you against his chest.
The night this verse compresses is the lowest point of the war. Lakṣmaṇa goes down on the field at Laṅkā, and Suṣeṇa, the physician of the vānara army, names a herb that grows on a mountain in the far north and gives them until sunrise to fetch it. Hanumān goes. The tellings agree on what he came back with: not the herb, but the mountain, carried whole because there was no time to stand in the dark deciding which plant it was.
Sajīvana is saṃ-jīvana, the life-restorer; some printings write the nasal into the word as sañjīvana and others leave it out, and it is the same herb and the same word either way.
Then the second line, which turns away from the errand entirely. Haraṣi — gladdened; the emotion is given its own verb rather than being left implied. Ura lāye: he applied him to his chest, took him in. Nothing is said about reward, rank or thanks. The most consequential errand in the war is answered with a pair of arms.
Who in your family hugs you instead of saying "well done"? Which do you like better?
qMonk literal translation — draft, pending review·Devanagari checked against two printings·Draft — awaiting reviewer·How these texts were made