qMonk literal translation — draft, pending review
You did Sugriva a good turn that he could never have done for himself.
You brought him to Ram and made the two of them known to each other, and you gave him back a king's place to stand.
Upakāra is upa plus kāra, a doing-toward: a good turn, a favour, help given. Ordinary Hindi still uses it that way, and its opposite, apakāra, is harm. Nothing in the word suggests a return.
Sugrīva, in Tulsīdās's Awadhi Rāmcaritmānas, has been driven out of Kiṣkindhā by his elder brother Bālī and lives in fear on Ṛṣyamūka hill. Hanumān is his minister. When two armed strangers appear, it is Hanumān who is sent to find out who they are, and Hanumān who brings them back — and out of that meeting come the alliance, Bālī's death and Sugrīva's return to the throne. Vālmīki's Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa tells the same episode with its own emphases, and the Chalisa is working with Tulsīdās's.
Milāya is the causative of milnā, to meet: having caused them to meet. It is worth holding on to, because it happens twice more. He carries a ring to Sītā so that she will know who sent it; he carries Vibhīṣaṇa's question to a place where it can be answered. The strength is famous, but the characteristic act is bringing one person into another's presence.
Rāja pada: pada is a foot before it is anything else, and then a station, a standing place. A throne, in the word's own picture, is somewhere to put your feet down.
The Chalisa has already sung the deeds of the war — the small form taken before Sītā, the burning of Laṅkā, the herb brought for Lakṣmaṇa. Coming back to his deeds after the roll-call of those who cannot finish praising him, the poem starts again here, and what it starts with is not a battle.
Have you ever introduced two people who then became friends? What made you think they should meet?
qMonk literal translation — draft, pending review·Devanagari checked against two printings·Draft — awaiting reviewer·How these texts were made