The Four-Direction Search

When the vanara leaders had assembled, Sugriva transformed a promise into a plan. One group could not search the whole world by following a single road. He divided the effort into four directions, appointed commanders, named places to examine, and set a time for return.

Vinata would lead the eastern party. Sushena, Tara's father, would lead the west. Shatabali would lead the north. The southern search—the direction in which Sugriva had seen Sita carried—was entrusted to young Angada, with Hanuman, the elder Jambavant, Nila, and other experienced companions.

Sugriva described rivers, kingdoms, islands, forests, deserts, mountains, caves, and seas. Some were places the vanaras knew; others lay at the edges of the world, where mountains shone and the sun's own road crossed the land.

He gave every party the same central duty: look carefully, ask those who might have seen a captive traveller, do not pass over difficult terrain merely because it is unfamiliar, and return within one month with an honest account. Finding Sita mattered, but so did knowing where she was not.

Before Hanuman left, Ram drew him aside. Sugriva had identified Hanuman as the person most capable of adapting when strength alone was insufficient. Ram placed his ring in Hanuman's care. If he found Sita, the ring would show that the messenger truly came from Ram.

The search parties bowed, separated, and followed the four great routes. The forest terrace emptied into movement.

The southern party crossed the Vindhya region, searched riverbanks and remote settlements, entered forests with little food, and examined caves where a captive might be hidden. They found no reliable trace. Days passed, supplies diminished, and the one-month limit drew near — and somewhere ahead, in a dry stretch of unfamiliar country, the ground itself was about to open in front of them.