The Ocean Becomes Lanka's Moat
Bala Kanda, Sortha 178
Sortha 178 · Movement 2 of 2
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No ordinary trench circles Lanka. The fathomless ocean itself serves as moat on every side, separating the mountain fortress from approaching armies by a living immensity of depth, current, and wave.
Above the water stand golden ramparts set with gems. Sun and sea light travel across their surfaces, turning defence into splendour and making the boundary visible from far beyond the shore.
Their strength and beauty exceed words. Trikuta, ocean, gold, and jewel join into a capital that seems beyond invasion. The city awaits the ruler whose boon has already left only human and monkey hands outside his protection.
The sea closes around golden walls, and Lanka appears unreachable at the world's edge.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Sortha 178
Grouped source doha178क and soratha178ख; selected jeweled gold fort encircled by deep sea
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 181 · printed pages 179. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-179. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- First grouped part: deep sea surrounds the fort on all four sides as a moat; its strong gold jeweled ramparts have indescribable workmanship.
- Second grouped part retained: in whichever KALPA whoever becomes Rakshasa king at HARI'S PROMPTING, brave, mighty and incomparably strong, dwells there WITH HIS ARMY. Not generic age, not one individual Ravana in every kalpa, and no visible Hari avatar asserted.
- Stable reader ID179/type Sortha groups distinct source doha178क and soratha178ख; both verses and their local Hindi prose are entirely on PDF181, not continued on PDF182.
Artistic choices
- Approved C178 Lanka site convention reused: three-peaked single mountain island, central highest peak flanked by smaller peaks, gold pavilions on rocky terraces, extensive fort walls/gates, sea separation from imagined foreground shore.
- Gold wall plan, red/green/blue jewel decoration, gateways, exact scale, flower bough, sky and topography are artistic, not authenticated Sri Lanka geography. No people/army/god appear in selected first-part view; second part remains source context.
- C178 mountain-focused verse reading and local Hindi Brahma-built fort gloss remain unresolved source-layer distinction; no creator is pictured.
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
खाईं सिंधु गभीर अति चारिहुँ दिसि फिरि आव। कनक कोट मनि खचित दृढ़ बरनि न जाइ बनाव।।178(क)।। हरिप्रेरित जेहिं कलप जोइ जातुधानपति होइ। सूर प्रतापी अतुलबल दल समेत बस सोइ।।178(ख)।।
Its moat is the fathomless ocean, encircling Lanka on all four sides. Its golden ramparts, studded with gems, stand so strong and splendid that no words can describe their beauty.