Having understood Sugriva's words, Lord Hanuman set out from Mount Rishyamuka towards Lord Rama and Lakshmana, the descendants of Raghu. Not trusting them yet, he gave up his vanara form and took the look of a mendicant, then approached them humbly and bowed.1
He greeted them in sweet words, addressing them as ascetics of celebrated austerity, and asked why they had come, frightening the deer and the other wild animals of the forest.2
Then he told them who he was. A heroic and virtuous vanara chief named Sugriva was wandering the earth, distressed at heart, driven away by his brother. Hanuman had been sent by Sugriva, gave his own name, and said that Sugriva wished to make friends with them.3
Rama was delighted. He turned to his younger brother Lakshmana, who sat beside him, and said that this was the counsellor of Sugriva, come to ask for Rama's friendship on Sugriva's behalf.4
Rama went on to praise Hanuman's speech. No one could speak so, he said, without having mastered the Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas; Hanuman had surely studied grammar well, for he had not used a single inelegant word. A king whose emissaries were so accomplished, Rama said, would see all his missions fulfilled through their words.5
Lakshmana welcomed Hanuman and answered for both brothers: they knew Sugriva's accomplishments well, they would find him, and they would go by whatever Hanuman advised, under Sugriva's instructions.6
Hanuman then asked why Rama had come with his younger brother into that dense, trackless forest by Pampa, full of fierce beasts. At Rama's bidding Lakshmana told him that Rama is the eldest son of King Dasharatha, famous among men, the refuge of all creatures and able to carry out his father's commands.7
Deprived of his kingdom, Rama had come with Lakshmana to live in the forest, and a rakshasa who takes shapes at will had carried off his wife. Now, Lakshmana said, both brothers had sought Sugriva's shelter.8
Hanuman answered that Sugriva too had been driven out of his kingdom and had incurred the hostility of Vali; with his wife torn away from him, he lived in the forest in fear, harassed by his brother. Sugriva, with Hanuman and the others, would help in seeking out Sita.9
Then Hanuman departed, taking the two descendants of Raghu to present to the king of the vanaras. He gave up the guise of a beggar, took his vanara form again, and carried the two heroes away on his back.10