When Visnu had decided to be born as the son of that great king (Dasaratha), the selfborn Lord (Brahma), addressed all devatas :

Create strong and powerful beings capable of assuming forms at free will to extend support to Visnu who is true to his word, heroic and benevolent.

Incarnate as monkeys in the womb of chiefs of apsarasas and gandharvas. Create sons who have the knowledge of deceitful tricks, who are brave, who match wind in speed, who are endowed with intellect and statecraft, who are determined, who are knowledgeable in various means of achieving victory, who are supernatural bodies, who possess capability of employing and resisting weapons, who resemble those who subsist on amrita (immortals) and are equal (to Visnu) in prowess.

Incarnate as monkeys in the womb of chiefs of apsarasas and gandharvas. Create sons who have the knowledge of deceitful tricks, who are brave, who match wind in speed, who are endowed with intellect and statecraft, who are determined, who are knowledgeable in various means of achieving victory, who are supernatural bodies, who possess capability of employing and resisting weapons, who resemble those who subsist on amrita (immortals) and are equal (to Visnu) in prowess.

Incarnate as monkeys in the womb of chiefs of apsarasas and gandharvas. Create sons who have the knowledge of deceitful tricks, who are brave, who match wind in speed, who are endowed with intellect and statecraft, who are determined, who are knowledgeable in various means of achieving victory, who are supernatural bodies, who possess capability of employing and resisting weapons, who resemble those who subsist on amrita (immortals) and are equal (to Visnu) in prowess.

Earlier Jambavan, the foremost among bears was suddenly emerged out of my face while I was yawning.

Instructed by Brahma in that manner, all of them gave birth to sons in the form of monkeys.

Distinguished rishis, siddhas, vidhyadharas, uragas, charanas procreated (in the form of monkeys) heroic sons who became forestdwellers.

Indra gave birth to Vali, chief of monkeys resembling Mahendra mountain and having a mighty body. Sun, great among those producing heat, begot Sugriva.

Brihaspati begot the intelligent monkey Tara who had none to surpass him among the monkey chiefs.

Kubera begot glorious Gandhamadana and Viswakarma begot a great monkey Nala.

Neela, the prosperous son of Agni the firegod who equalled him in glow surpassed other monkeys in energy, renown and prowess.

Aswini devatas, endowed with wealth and beauty, procreated Mainda and Dwivida who were highly esteemed for their beauty.

Varuna begot the monkey warrior Sushena and Parjanya, Sarabha of great strength.

Vayu, the windgod, begot a son named Hanuman, mighty and graceful, having a body as hard as a diamond and speed equal to Garuda's.

Thousands of warriors possessing immeasurable strength and courage and capable of assuming any form at will were created to kill Ravana.

Endowed with bodies similar to the Meru and Mandara mountains and having great strength, bears, monkeys, monkeys with cowtails quickly came into being.

The sons of devatas retained characteristics like beauty, form and prowess of their procreator (gods).

Some monkeys with acknowledged, valour were born to female monkeys with tails Similarly some other monkeys were born to female bears and female kinnaras.

The devatas, rishis, gandharvas, garudas, yakshas, kimpurushas, siddhas, vidyadharas, uragas and many others were immensely pleased. Thousands of gigantic monkeys wandering in forests were procreated from principal apsarasas vidhyadaris, nagas, and gandharvas.

The devatas, rishis, gandharvas, garudas, yakshas, kimpurushas, siddhas, vidyadharas, uragas and many others were immensely pleased. Thousands of gigantic monkeys wandering in forests were procreated from principal apsarasas vidhyadaris, nagas, and gandharvas.

The devatas, rishis, gandharvas, garudas, yakshas, kimpurushas, siddhas, vidyadharas, uragas and many others were immensely pleased. Thousands of gigantic monkeys wandering in forests were procreated from principal apsarasas vidhyadaris, nagas, and gandharvas.

They were endowed with the powers to assume any form at will. They possessed enormous strength and power to freely wander in forests. They were like lions and tigers in pride and prowess.

They all could strike with rocks, use nails and teeth and trees as weapons. They were skilled in the use of all kinds of weapons.

They could shake mountains and uproot deeprooted trees. With their speed they could cause disturbance to Samudra, the lord of the rivers.

They could cause cleavage to this earth with their feet, cross the mighty ocean with one leap and enter the sky and even seize the clouds.

They could capture wild elephants sojourning in the forest and make the flying birds drop down screaming.

A crore of monkeys capable of assuming any form at will, great monkeys and commanders of monkey forces were created.

Those monkey commanders created heroic monkeys among the chief monkey clans who later proved the best among clanleaders.

Thousands of monkeys dwelt on the plateaus on the top of mountains abounding in bears. Some others inhabited various hills and forests.

All those leaders, Nala, Neela, Hanuman and others dwelt near those two brothers Sugriva, the offspring of Surya and Vali, the son of Indra.

Endowed with the might of Garuda and wellversed in warfare, all of them moving around tormented ferouious lions, tigers and mighty serpents .

Mighty armed leader Vali endowed with immense prowess protected, with his strong arms all those bears, gopuchhas(cowtailed) and monkeys.

Born in many forms wih various characteristics (relating to the body and tribe), they pervaded this earth with its mountains, forests and seas.

In order to assist Rama, this earth was filled with commanders of those who led the monkey forces resembling masses of clouds and mountains. They loan endowed with immense strength and fearful forms and countenances. इत्यार्षे श्रीमद्रामायणे वाल्मीकीय आदिकाव्ये बालकाण्डे सप्तदशस्सर्ग:।। Thus ends the seventeenth sarga of Balakanda of the holy Ramayana the first epic composed by sage Valmiki.