This Canto no. 5 of the Book 'Ram Charit Manas: The Divine Story of Lord Ram' is called the Sundar Kand. Here we continue reading the Story from where we have left it in the previous Canto no. 4.

            The entire Story is divided into 7 Cantos: Baal Kand, Ayodhya Kand, Aranya Kand, Kishkindha Kand, Sundar Kand, Lanka Kand, & Uttar Kand respectively.

            This present Book covers the following topics:

Hanuman leapt across the ocean to reach the island of Lanka. He entered the capital of the demon race in the darkness of the night, and searched for Sita from door to door, but failed to trace her. At dawn he met Vibhishan. After cordial exchange of pleasantries, Vibhishan told Hanuman the location where Sita was confined as a captive--at the Ashok Garden, the royal garden of Ravana.

Hanuman sneaked quietly into it, and by-and-by he presented himself before Sita and gave her the signet ring which Lord Ram had given to him for identification. Convinced that Hanuman was indeed the Lord's messenger, Sita blessed him and asked him to go and bring the Lord quickly to grant deliverance to her from the horrors & torments she was subjected to.

Hanuman sought Sita's permission to go and eat fruits in the royal garden. Once the permission was granted, Hanuman went berserk, ransacking the garden and killing many demon warriors who dared to stop him.

When the news reached Ravana, he sent his son Akshakumar to capture Hanuman, but in the ensuing battle Akshakumar was killed. Thence, Ravana sent Meghanad, his other valiant son, who succeeded in capturing Hanuman and bringing him tied up in a snare into the royal court. Hanuman tried to convince Ravana to give Sita back to Lord Ram and prevent a ruinous war. This led to a heated exchange between the two. Infuriated Ravana ordered that Hanuman be deformed by getting his tail wrapped in cloth dipped in oil and setting it on fire as a warning to his patron, Lord Ram. Once this stupid order was implemented by the demons, Hanuman slipped out of the burning cloth by reducing the size of his body and tail, and then dragged the burning cloth behind himself as he jumped from one building of Lanka to another, thereby setting the whole golden city of the demons on fire, and reducing it to ashes.

Finally, he jumped into the ocean to douse the burning cloth and refresh himself. Then he came to pay his obeisance to Sita and assured her of speedy deliverance once he got back home to convey her news to Lord Ram, and bid her good-bye. 

            Hanuman returned to his friends waiting on the other side of the ocean. The group returned home to give the good news of Sita's discovery to Lord Ram and others.       Immediately preparations were made to launch a military campaign to free Sita, and a huge army of invincible monkeys and bears departed for Lanka. When they reached the shore of the ocean, Lord Ram tried to peacefully cross it, but the deity of the ocean stood stubbornly in the Lord's way. So the Lord threatened it with annihilation by drying up the ocean altogether, at which the deity relented and offered to let the Lord cross by constructing the legendary Bridge across its waters. 

With this we come to the end of Canto 5, i.e. Sundar Kand of the Book 'Ram Charit Manas-The Divine Story of Lord Ram'.

We shall continue with the reading of this magnificent Story in the next Canto no. 6 called the Lanka Kand, wherein we shall read in detail about the famous, epic War of Lanka which culminated in the elimination of the cruel & ferocious demons led by their king Ravana.