569(272)
‘Markandeya said, “On hearing that Kumbhakarna with his followers, the great archer Prahasta and the immensely energetic Dhumraksha had been killed in battle, Ravana spoke to his son, the brave Indrajit. ‘O destroyer of enemies! Kill Rama, Sugriva and Lakshmana. O good son! You have earned a blazing renown for me by vanquishing in battle Shachi’s consort, the thousand-eyed one and the wielder of the vajra.137 O destroyer of enemies! O supreme among those who wield weapons! Remain invisible or visible. Use the divine weapons obtained as boons. Kill my enemies. O unblemished one! Not to speak of the others, even Rama, Lakshmana and Sugriva are incapable of withstanding the touch of your arrows. O unblemished one! O mighty-armed one! Even Prahasta and Kumbhakarna could not complete the task of avenging Khara. Go and accomplish that in battle. Using your sharp arrows, kill my enemies and their soldiers today. O son! Increase my delight, as you have done in the past by making Vasava captive.’ O king! Having heard these words, Indrajit agreed. He donned his armour and mounted on his chariot, made his way towards the battlefield.
‘“The bull among rakshasas then announced his name and challenged Lakshmana, who bore auspicious signs, to a duel. Lakshmana grasped his bow and arrows and slapping the palms of his hands, rushed forward, creating terror, like a lion among small animals. A terrible and fierce battle started between those two, both of whom desired victory, were skilled in use of divine weapons and defied each other in prowess. When Ravana’s son, supreme among strong ones, could not get the better of his adversary through arrows, he tried harder. With great force, he hurled many javelins at him. But Soumitri sliced those down with his sharp arrows. Cut down with those sharp arrows, they fell down on the ground. Then Vali’s illustrious son, Angada, uprooted a tree and rushing at Indrajit with great force, struck him on the head with it. However, the brave Indrajit was unperturbed. He grasped a lance and hurled it at his chest. But Lakshmana cut it down. The brave Angada was near him and Ravana’s son struck the bull among monkeys on the side with a club. Vali’s brave son ignored the blow. The one who was victorious over his enemies wrathfully hurled the trunk of a shala tree at Indrajit. O Partha! That tree, angrily hurled for the purpose of killing Indrajit, destroyed his chariot, together with the horses and the charioteer. With the horses and the charioteer dead, he jumped down from the chariot. O king! Ravana’s son instantly disappeared through the use of maya. Knowing that the rakshasa was skilled in many forms of maya and could become invisible, Rama arrived at that spot to protect his army. He then aimed his arrows, obtained through boons, at Rama and pierced the immensely strong Lakshmana all over his body. The brave Rama and Lakshmana fought with Ravana’s son, who remained invisible through the use of maya and fought them with his arrows. In great anger, he unleashed hundreds and thousands of arrows at all the limbs of those lions among men. On seeing that he was invisible while showering down arrows, the monkeys grasped large rocks and took to the sky. However, the rakshasa was invisible. Ravana’s brave son used maya and oppressed them severely with his arrows. Struck by the arrows, the two brave brothers, Rama and Lakshmana, fell down from the sky to the ground, like the sun and the moon.”’
570(273)
‘Markandeya said, “When he saw that the infinitely energetic brothers had fallen down, Ravana’s son bound them down with arrows obtained through a boon. Those brave ones, tigers among men, were bound down by Indrajit’s arrows in battle, like birds trapped in a cage. On seeing them fallen down on the ground, covered in hundreds of arrows, Sugriva, the king of the monkeys, stood around them with all the other monkeys—Sushena, Mainda, Dvivida, Kumuda, Angada, Hanuman, Nila, Tara and Nala. Vibhishana, accomplished in his deeds, arrived at the spot. He brought the brave ones back to consciousness with the weapon known as prajna.138 Using the great herb vishalya,139 invoked with a divine mantra, Sugriva removed the thorns of arrows from their bodies. With the arrows removed from their bodies, those foremost among men recovered their senses. In a short while, the maharathas were freed from pain and fatigue. O Partha! Seeing that Rama was freed of his fever, Vibhishana joined his hands in salutation and told the descendant of the Ikshvaku lineage, ‘O destroyer of enemies! This guhyaka has arrived here from Mount Shveta. He has brought this water on the instructions of the king of the yakshas.140 O scorcher of enemies! The great king Kubera has sent this water so that you are able to see invisible beings. When this water has touched your eyes, you, and whoever else you give the water to, will be able to see all beings that are invisible.’ Having agreed to this, Rama accepted the consecrated water and purified his eyes with it. So did the great-minded Lakshmana, Sugriva, Jambavan, Hanuman, Angada, Mainda, Dvivida, Nila and almost all the chiefs among monkeys.
‘“Having accomplished his task, Indrajit went and told his father what he had done. Having told him this, he returned to the field of battle. Desirous of battle, he angrily advanced again. With Vibhishana’s advice, Soumitri attacked him. He was flush with victory and had not yet performed his daily rites.141 Having recovered his senses, Lakshmana was desirous of killing the enemy and angrily assailed him with arrows. Each warrior wished to vanquish the other and a battle began between them. It was extremely extraordinary, like that between Shakra and Prahlada. Indrajit pierced Soumitri with sharp arrows that penetrated the heart. Soumitri wounded Ravana’s son with arrows that were like fire to the touch. Touched by Soumitri’s arrows, Ravana’s son was senseless with rage. He discharged eight arrows at Lakshmana, virulent as serpents. But listen carefully as I tell you how the brave Soumitri killed the other one with three feathered arrows that were like fire to the touch. Through one of these, he sliced off the arm that wielded the bow from the body. With the second one, he dropped the arm that held the iron arrows on the ground. The third arrow was lustrous and wide. With this, he cut off the head, which had a beautiful nose and was adorned with earrings. Severed of the head and the arms, the torso looked terrible. Having killed him, the supreme among strong ones, killed his charioteer with arrows. The horses dragged the chariot to Lanka and Ravana saw the chariot, bereft of his son. Knowing that his son had been killed, Ravana was overcome by grief and his eyes widened in fear. He was about to kill Vaidehi. She was in the ashoka grove, yearning to see Rama. The evil-souled one grasped a sword and rushed to her. Listen. Seeing that the one with evil intelligence had decided on this evil act, Avindhya calmed down the enraged one, giving him these reasons. ‘You are established as a great king. You should not kill a woman. This woman is captive in your house and is already dead. In my view, she will not be killed through the destruction of her body. Kill her husband. When he is dead, she will be dead. Shatakratu is not your equal in valour. In battle, you have frightened Indra and the thirty gods several times.’ With these and similar words, Avindhya pacified the angry Ravana and he accepted the advice. The stalker of the night resolved to march out himself. Having sheathed his sword, he instructed that his chariot should be prepared.”’
571(274)
‘Markandeya said, “Angry at the death of his beloved son, Dashagriva ascended his chariot and marched out, adorned in gold and gems. He was surrounded by terrible rakshasas, with many weapons in their hands. He scattered the foremost among monkeys and advanced towards Rama. While he was angrily advancing, Mainda, Nila, Nala, Angada, Hanuman and Jambavan, together with their soldiers, surrounded him. In Dashagriva’s sight, those bulls among bears and monkeys destroyed his soldiers with trees. When he saw that his soldiers were being annihilated by the enemy, Ravana, the lord of the rakshasas and skilled in maya, resorted to maya. Hundreds and thousands of rakshasas were seen to emerge from his body. They held arrows, lances and swords in their hands. But Rama destroyed all those rakshasas with his divine weapons. The lord of the rakshasas then resorted to maya again. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Dashanana created forms that looked like Rama and Lakshmana and they rushed towards Rama and Lakshmana. O king! On reaching Rama and Lakshmana, those stalkers of the night descended on them, with long bows in thei
r hands. On witnessing the maya of the Indra among rakshasas, the dauntless Soumitri, the descendant of the Ikshvaku lineage, spoke these words to Rama. ‘Kill those evil-souled rakshasas, who have forms like yours.’ Rama then slew the ones who looked like him.
‘“Then, in that field of battle, Shakra’s charioteer, Matali, arrived before Rama in a chariot that was as radiant as the sun and was yoked to tawny horses. Matali said, ‘This is the supreme chariot that belongs to Maghavan himself. It is named Jaitra and is yoked to tawny horses. O Kakutstha! O tiger among men! Shakra used this splendid chariot in the war against daityas and danavas and killed hundreds. O tiger among men! Swiftly ascend this chariot, driven by me in battle. Defeat Ravana in battle. Do not delay.’ When he heard Matali’s words, Raghava was suspicious, thinking that this might be more maya on the part of the rakshasa. But Vibhishana told him, ‘O tiger among men! This is not the maya of the evil-souled Ravana. O immensely radiant one! Therefore, swiftly mount Indra’s chariot. Delighted, Kakutstha told Vibhishana that he would act accordingly. He mounted the chariot and angrily advanced towards Dashagriva. When Ravana advanced towards him, all the beings began to lament. The gods roared like lions in heaven and sounded drums. The stalker of the night hurled an extremely terrible javelin at Rama, like Indra’s vajra and like Brahma’s raised staff. Rama cut that javelin down with sharp arrows. On witnessing that difficult deed, Ravana was overcome by fear. Dashagriva was angered and released thousands and tens of thousands of sharp arrows and other kinds of weapons at Rama—bhushundis,142 javelins, clubs, axes, different kinds of spears, shataghnis and arrows sharp as razors. On seeing the distorted maya created by the rakshasa Dashagriva, all the monkeys were scared and fled in all the directions. At that, Kakutstha took a supreme arrow out of his quiver. It was excellent in the head and in the shaft and had a golden shaft. He invoked it with brahmastra and fixed it to his bow. When Rama invoked that excellent arrow with the mantra of brahmastra, on witnessing that, all the gods and the gandharvas, with Indra at the forefront, rejoiced. With the invocation of brahmastra, all the gods, gandharvas and kinnaras thought that the rakshasa only had a short span of life left now. Rama then released the arrow, unmatched in its energy. It was terrible and resembled Brahma’s raised staff, destined to kill Ravana. It enveloped the foremost among rakshasas, with his chariot, horses and charioteer, in a great mass of blazing flames. The thirty gods, together with the gandharvas and the charanas, were delighted to see that Ravana had been killed by Rama, whose deeds were unsullied. The five elements departed from the immensely fortunate Ravana. Through the energy of brahmastra, he was deprived of all the worlds. The ingredients of his body, together with his flesh and blood, were burnt so much by the brahmastra that even the ashes could not be seen.”’
572(275)
‘Markandeya said, “Having killed the mean Ravana, the Indra of the rakshasas and enemy of the gods, Rama, together with Soumitri, was extremely delighted. Dashagriva having been slain, the gods, with the rishis at the forefront, praised the mighty-armed one and pronounced benedictions of victory over him. All the gods praised the lotus-eyed Rama, as did the gandharvas and residents of heaven, and showered down flowers and words of praise. Having thus honoured Rama, they returned to where they had come from. O one without decay! It was as if a great festival was being held in heaven.
‘“Having killed Dashagriva, the immensely famous lord Rama, the destroyer of enemy cities, handed Lanka over to Vibhishana. The immensely wise and aged adviser Avindhya emerged, with Sita at the forefront, and with Vibhishana leading the way. With great humility, he told the great-souled Kakutstha, ‘O great-souled one! Accept this goddess. Janaki is of good conduct.’ Hearing these words, the descendant of the Ikshvaku lineage descended from his supreme chariot. He looked at Sita, who was enveloped in tears. Her limbs were beautiful and she was seated on a vehicle, oppressed by grief. All her limbs were covered with dirt. Her hair was matted. She was attired in a black garment. On seeing her, Rama was concerned that Vaidehi had been touched by another. He told her, ‘O Vaidehi! You are free. Go. I have done my duty. O fortunate one! You once had me as a husband and therefore, I did not think that you should grow old in the house of that rakshasa. Hence, I killed the stalker of the night. How can a man like me, who knows the ways of dharma, accept a woman, even for an instant, who has been held in another man’s arms? O Maithili! Whether you are of good conduct or evil conduct, I no longer have any interest in enjoying you now. You are like oblations that have been licked by a dog.’ On hearing these terrible words, the young goddess suddenly fell down on the ground, like a severed plantain tree. Her face had been flush with delight. But that disappeared in an instant, like breath on a mirror. Hearing these words spoken by Rama, all the monkeys, together with Lakshmana, stood around motionless, as if they were dead.
‘“Then the pure-souled and four-faced god, the grandfather and the creator of the world,143 descended from a celestial chariot and appeared before Raghava, as did Shakra, Agni, Vayu, Yama, Varuna, the illustrious lord of the yakshas and the unblemished saptarshis. King Dasharatha arrived in a radiant and divine form, astride an extremely expensive celestial chariot that was resplendent and was drawn by swans. The firmament was then crowded with all the gods and gandharvas. It was as beautiful as the autumn sky, studded with stars. The illustrious Vaidehi arose in their midst and the beautiful one spoke these words to Rama, whose chest was wide. ‘O prince! I do not blame you, because I know the ways of women and of men. But listen to these words of mine. The air that is inside beings is always in motion. If I have committed an evil act, let it free my breath of life. If I have committed an evil act, let fire, water, space, earth and air144 free my breath of life.’ Then a sacred voice spoke from the firmament. It echoed in all the directions and gladdened the great-souled monkeys. Vayu said, ‘O Raghava! This is the truth. I am the wind that is always in motion. O king! Maithili is without taint. Unite with your wife.’ Agni said, ‘O descendant of the Raghu lineage! I am the wind that resides in the bodies of all beings. O Kakutstha! Maithili has not committed a crime, even in the slightest way.’ Varuna said, ‘O Raghava! The juices in the bodies of beings owe their existence to me. I am asking you to accept Maithili back.’ Brahma said, ‘O son! This action on your part is not surprising. You are acquainted with the dharma of rajarshis. You are virtuous and follow the path of good conduct. Listen to these words of mine. O brave one! You have brought down the enemy of the gods, the gandharvas, the serpents, the yakshas, the danavas and the maharshis. Through my favours, he had earlier become invincible to all beings. For a specific reason, I ignored that evil one for some length of time. It was for the sake of his own death that the evil-souled one abducted Sita. But I protected her through Nalakubara’s curse. He had earlier been cursed by him145 that if he forced himself on any woman against her wishes, his head was certain to shatter into a hundred fragments as a consequence. O immensely radiant one! You should not have any doubt on this. You are the equal of the gods and the immortals and you have performed a great deed.’ Dasharatha said, ‘O son! O fortunate one! I am pleased with you. I am your father Dasharatha. O supreme among men! I grant you permission to rule the kingdom.’ Rama replied, ‘O Indra among kings! I bow down before you, if you are indeed my father. On your instructions, I will go to the lovely city of Ayodhya.’ O lord of men! On hearing these words, his father was delighted and said, ‘O Rama! O one with the red eyes! Go and rule Ayodhya.’ Bowing to the gods and worshipped by his well-wishers, he was united with his wife, like the great Indra with Poulomi.146 The scorcher of enemies then granted a boon to Avindhya and honoured and gave riches to the rakshasi Trijata. Brahma and all the gods, with Shakra at the forefront, then told him, ‘O son of Kousalya! What boons that you desire shall we grant you today?’ Rama chose devotion to dharma, victory over enemies and revival of the monkeys who had been killed by the rakshasas. O great king! When Brahma pronounced words granting this, all the monkeys regained their senses and arose. The immensel
y fortunate Sita granted a boon to Hanuman and said, ‘O son! You will live for as long as Rama’s fame lasts. O Hanuman! O one with the yellow eyes! Through my favours, divine delicacies will always be present before you.’ Then, while all those with unsullied deeds watched, the gods, with Shakra leading the way, vanished.
‘“On seeing Rama united with Janaki, Shakra’s charioteer was extremely delighted and, in the midst of his well-wishers, spoke these words. ‘O one for whom truth is valour! You have removed the misery of the gods, the gandharvas, the yakshas, men, asuras and serpents. Therefore, all the worlds, with the gods, the asuras, the gandharvas, the yakshas, the rakshasas and the serpents will speak of your deeds as long as the earth exists.’ Speaking these words to Rama, supreme among all wielders of weapons, he147 took his leave and having honoured him, departed in the chariot that was as resplendent as the sun. With Sita at the forefront, together with Soumitri, together with all the monkeys, with Sugriva leading the way, Rama arranged for the protection of Lanka. With Vibhishana at the forefront, he again crossed the bridge over the abode of sharks.148 Surrounded by his chief advisers who followed him, he used the Pushpaka vimana, which travelled through the sky and could go wherever it willed.149 With all the monkeys, the king with dharma in his soul stayed for a while on the shores of the ocean, where he had slept earlier. When the time was right, Raghava assembled them and honoured them. He satisfied them with gems and gave them leave to depart. When the chiefs among monkeys, the monkeys with tails like cows and the bears had left, Rama returned to Kishkindha with Sugriva. With Vibhishana following and with Sugriva, from Pushpaka vimana, he showed Vaidehi the forest. Having arrived at Kishkindha, Rama, foremost among warriors, instated Angada, who had accomplished his appointed tasks, as the heir apparent.150 Together with them, and with Soumitri, Rama followed the same road151 towards his city. Having reached Ayodhya, the lord of the kingdom sent Hanuman as a messenger to Bharata and he152 observed the signs and told him153 all the pleasant news. When Vayu’s son had returned, he154 went again to Nandigrama. He saw Bharata there, his limbs covered with dirt and attired in garments made of bark, seated on his seat, with Rama’s sandals before him. O bull among the Bharata lineage! Having been united again with Bharata and Shatrughna, valorous Raghava, together with Soumitri, rejoiced. On being reunited with their elder and on seeing Vaidehi, Bharata and Shatrughna were delighted. Having held the kingdom as a honoured trust, Bharata was extremely happy and returned it to the one who had come back. On an auspicious day, under the nakshatra Vaishnava,155 Vasishtha and Vamadeva consecrated the brave one. Having been consecrated, he granted leave to his well-wishers to depart for their homes—Sugriva, foremost among monkeys, and Vibhishana, the son of Pulastya. He honoured them with all kinds of jewels and they were extremely happy and rejoiced. Having done his duty, he unhappily gave them permission to go. Having shown homage to Pushpaka vimana, Raghava, the descendant of the Raghu lineage, happily returned it to Vaishravana.156 Assisted by the devarshis, he performed ten horse sacrifices, without any obstructions, on the banks of the Gomati, where three times the normal stipends were given.”’157
Mahabharata Vol. 3 (Penguin Translated Texts) Page 54