by Tulsidas
So many ill omens have occurred that they are beyond telling.
No one has ever attained any benefit by opposing Ram,
Whose glory has been sung by the Vedas and the Puranas.
He who slew Hiranyaksh and his brother,xii
And Madhu and mighty Kaitabh,
That same compassionate God,
Has descended amongst us as Ram.
(48A)
He who is Time incarnate, the fire that destroys the forest of wickedness,
The abode of all virtue, the embodiment of wisdom,
And the one whom Shiv and Viranchi serve—
What enmity can there be towards him?
(48B)
Stop fighting, give back Vaidehi,
And worship the abode of mercy, the supremely loving Lord.’
His words pierced Ravan like arrows,
‘Blacken your face and get out of here, wretch!
You have grown old, or else I would have killed you.
Now do not show yourself to me again!’
Hearing his words, Malyavant came to the conclusion
That the all-merciful Ram now wanted to kill him.
Cursing Ravan, he rose and left.
Then Meghnad in a rage declared,
‘Watch the spectacle I shall put on at dawn—
Whatever I say will be too little to describe what I will do!’
Hearing his son’s words, Ravan’s confidence returned,
And he seated him lovingly on his lap.
Day broke while they were still thus deliberating,
And the monkeys attacked the four gates again.
As the angry monkeys surrounded the impregnable fort,
A great commotion broke out in the city within.
Armed with weapons of every description, the demons rushed forth,
And hurled down rocks as huge as mountain tops from the ramparts of the fort.
They hurled down thousands of rocks like mountain peaks,
And missiles of every kind began to fly,
Thundering down like lightning bolts,
As warriors roared like the clouds of doom.
The enormous monkey warriors closed in combat with their foe—
Though wounded, their bodies hacked and broken, they did not fall back,
But picking up those mountain tops, hurled them at the fort,
And the demons died where they stood.
When Meghnad heard that the monkeys
Had again attacked the fort,
The valiant hero stepped out of the citadel,
And with a beating of drums, set forth to confront them.
(49)
‘Where are the two brothers, the lords of Koshal,
Those archers renowned in all the spheres?
Where are Nal and Nil, Dwivid and Sugriv,
And Angad and Hanuman, the most mighty of all?
Where is Vibhishan, his own brother’s enemy?
I will kill him and all the rest today!’
So saying, he made ready his terrible arrows,
And in his great rage, drew the string to his ear.
He began to fire volley upon volley of arrows
Which flew like multitudes of winged serpents.
Monkeys could be seen falling everywhere,
And none dared face him at that moment.
Bears and monkeys fled away in every direction,
And forgot all their desire for battle.
Not a single monkey or bear remained on the battlefield
Whose life he had not taken.
He struck them all with ten arrows each,
And the monkey warriors dropped to the ground.
The mighty Meghnad, resolute in war,
Roared in triumph like a lion.
(50)
Seeing the army in disarray, the Wind god’s son
Was enraged and rushed forth like death incarnate.
He immediately uprooted a huge mountain,
And hurled it at Meghnad in great fury.
Seeing the rock hurtling towards him, Meghnad fled up into the sky,
Leaving his chariot, charioteer and horses, all to die.
Again and again Hanuman challenged him to fight,
But he would not come closer, for he knew the monkey’s true strength.
Meghnad then approached Raghupati,
And hurled every foul word at him.
He threw at him arrows, daggers and weapons of every kind,
But the Lord cut them down as easily as in play and destroyed them.
Seeing Ram’s power, the brute was infuriated,
And began to try all kinds of trickery and delusion,
Like one trifling with Garud
By trying to frighten him with a tiny snake.
He whose mighty maya holds sway
Over Shiv and Viranchi, over great and small—
It was to him that that evil-minded demon
Tried to show off his tricks and delusions!
(51)
Flying up into the sky, he rained down fire,
And streams of water sprang forth upon the earth.
Fiends and witches of various forms
Leapt and danced, crying, ‘Kill him, maim him!’
Now he would rain down dung, pus, blood, hair and bones,
Now hurl down an avalanche of rocks and stones.
Then he rained down dust and made it so dark
That one could not see one’s own hand spread out.
The monkeys grew uneasy at the sight of these illusions,
‘We are all doomed if this keeps up!’
But Ram smiled to see the show,
And seeing that the monkeys were all terrified,
He destroyed the delusion with a single arrow,
Like the sun destroys deep darkness.
He glanced with compassion at the monkeys and bears,
And they, empowered by his glance, grew eager once more for battle.
Taking Ram’s permission,
And accompanied by Angad and the other monkeys,
Lakshman wrathfully set forth,
Bow and arrows in hand—
(52)
With bloodshot eyes, broad chest and mighty arms,
And his fair-hued form shining like the snow-clad Himalaya tinged with red.
Dashanan, too, sent forth his best warriors,
Who rushed forth armed with weapons of every kind.
Bearing mountains, claws and trees as weapons,
The monkeys rushed forward, calling, ‘Victory to Ram!’
The two armies closed, warrior to warrior, equally matched,
Each side equally determined to win.
Raining down blows and kicks, and biting with their teeth,
The monkeys, winning, beat and threatened, crying,
‘Kill them, kill them, seize, seize and kill them!
Break their heads, tear out their limbs!’
Their shouts filled all the nine regions of the world,
And headless torsos full of fury rushed here and there.
Seeing this spectacle, the company of gods in the sky
Were filled sometimes with dismay, sometimes with joy.
Blood filled and dried in every hollow on the ground,
And dust hung in the air
Like smoke from burning corpses
Above the embers of funeral pyres.
(53)
The wounded warriors shone
Like kinshuk trees in full bloom.5
The two warriors, Lakshman and Meghnad,
Closed furiously in combat with each other.
Neither could win over the other,
And so the Rakshasa resorted to deceit and unfair means.
Then Lakshman, Anantxiii incarnate, became full of wrath,
And with a single blow broke Meghnad’s chariot and killed his charioteer.
Shesh struck him in so many ways
That the Rakshasa had barely any life left in him.
Ravan’s son came to the conclusion,
‘I am in trouble, he will take my life!’
And let fly his hero-destroying spear—
Shining with power, it struck Lakshman in the chest.
Hit with that force, Lakshman fell unconscious.
Then Meghnad drew near, no longer afraid.
Innumerable warriors as mighty as Meghnad
Attempted to lift him,
But could Shesh, the supporter of the universe,
Be thus lifted? They returned, mortified.
(54)
Listen, Girija—the fire of whose wrath
Consumes in an instant the fourteen spheres—
Can anyone conquer him in battle,
He, whom gods, men and all creation, moving and unmoving, serve?
He alone can understand this mystery
Upon whom rests Ram’s grace.
Dusk fell, and the two armies retired,
And the commanders called their scattered troops together.
The all-pervading Supreme Spirit, the compassionate
And invincible Lord of the universe asked, ‘Where is Lakshman?’
By this time, Hanuman had carried him back from the battlefield.
Upon seeing his younger brother, the Lord grew intensely sorrowful.
Jamvant said, ‘The physician, Sushen,
Lives in Lanka. Who should be sent to fetch him here?’
At once, Hanuman assumed his tiny form, and went
And brought him, house and all.
Sushen came and bowed his head
At Ram’s lotus feet,
And, giving him the name of a medicinal herb and the mountain upon which it grew,
Said to Hanuman, ‘Go, son of the Wind, and bring it here.’
(55)
With Ram’s lotus feet in his heart,
The son of the Wind set forth resolutely.
On the enemy side, a spy disclosed this secret,
And Ravan went to Kalnemi’s house.
The ten-headed one told Kalnemi, and hearing it,
Kalnemi beat his head again and again and cried,
‘He who burnt down your city in front of your eyes—
Who can stop his path?
Do yourself a good turn—worship Raghupati,
And cease this foolish bluster, my lord!
Hold in your heart that lovely form,
As dark as the blue lotus, and the delight of all eyes.
Give up this foolishness of “I”, “you”, “mine”,
And awaken from your sleep in the night of deep delusion.
He who devours the serpent that is Time—
Can anyone conquer him, even in dream?’
Hearing this, Dashkanth grew furious,
And Kalnemi thought to himself,
‘It will be better to die at the hands of Ram’s messenger,
Than to be killed by this scoundrel, who is steeped in sin!’
(56)
So saying, he set off, and using his power of illusion, created
A lake, a temple and a beautiful garden by the wayside.
The Wind’s son saw this charming retreat and thought,
‘Let me ask the muni’s permission and drink of the water so that my tiredness disappears.’
The Rakshasa was sitting there in fake hermit’s attire,
Wishing to delude the messenger of the Lord of delusion himself.
The Wind’s son went and bowed his head before him,
And the Rakshasa began to recite Ram’s praises.
‘A great war is raging between Ravan and Ram,
But Ram will win, of this there is no doubt.
I see all, my friend, while sitting here,
For my vision, untainted by ignorance or sin, is remarkably powerful and clear.’
Hanuman asked him for water, and he handed him his water-pot,
But the monkey said, ‘My thirst will not be quenched by this little quantity of water.’
‘Then go bathe in the lake and quickly return,
I will then give you a mantra, by which you will attain spiritual wisdom.’
As soon as the monkey stepped into the lake,
A female crocodile seized his foot in alarm.
He killed her, but she took on a celestial form,
And, mounting a chariot, rose up into the sky.
(57)
‘Dear monkey, upon seeing you I have become free of all sin
And the great sage’s curse has ended.
This is no muni but a dreadful demon—
Believe the truth of my words, monkey.’
The apsara left, uttering these words,
And the monkey returned to the demon.
‘Muni, first take your guru’s fee,
Then teach me the mantra!’ he cried,
And, wrapping his tail around the demon’s head, dashed him to the ground.
Dying, the Rakshasa revealed his true form,
And, calling ‘Ram, Ram’, gave up his life’s breath.
Hanuman rejoiced to hear Ram’s name and continued on his journey.
He found the mountain but could not identify the herb,
So, without another thought, he uprooted the mountain.
As he flew through the night sky holding the mountain,
The monkey passed over the city of Avadh.
Bharat, seeing his vast form in the sky,
Concluded that it was a demon,
And, drawing his bow to his ear,
Struck him with a headless shaft.
(58)
Hit by the arrow, Hanuman fell to the ground in a swoon
Calling, ‘Ram! Ram! Raghunayak!’ as he fell.
Hearing this dear name, Bharat rushed
At once to the monkey’s side.
Seeing him hurt, he clasped the monkey to his bosom,
But though he tried in every way to revive him, he would not wake up.
Deeply grieved, his face full of sorrow,
And his eyes streaming with tears, he spoke.
‘The same providence that alienated me from Ram
Has now given me this dreadful grief.
If in thought, word, and deed I have
True love for Ram’s lotus feet,
And if Raghupati is graciously disposed to me,
May this monkey become free of all weariness and pain.’
Hearing these words, the monkey chief at once sat up,
And cried, ‘Victory, victory, to Koshal’s king!’
Bharat took the monkey and clasped him to his heart,
His body trembling, his eyes full of tears.
He could not contain his love within his heart
As he thought of Ram, the glory of the Raghu clan.
(59)
‘Dear friend, tell me—is all well with Ram, the abode of bliss,
Our younger brother Lakshman, and mother Janaki?’
The monkey told him in brief all that had happened,
And hearing it, Bharat grew sad and began to lament,
‘Ah Fate, why was I born into this world?
I have been of no help at all to the Lord!’
But realizing the unfitness of the moment, that valiant hero
Steadied himself and spoke once again to the monkey.
‘Dear friend, you will be late reaching,
And your task will come to nothing once day breaks.
So climb onto my arrow with the mountain,
And I will send you straight to Ram, the abode of mercy.’
Hearing this, pride sprang up in the monkey’s heart,
‘How can his arrow fly with my weight?’
Then, reflecting upon Ram’s power,
The monkey touched Bharat’s feet, and spoke with folded hands.
‘Holding your majesty in my heart, my lord,
I will travel swiftly.’
So saying, and receiving leave to depart,
Hanuman bowed at Bharat’s feet and set off.
(60A)
And as he went, the Wind god’s son
Praised again and again to himself,
Bharat’s might of arm, his courtesy and goodness,
And his unbounded love for the Lord’s feet.
(60B)
Meanwhile, Ram, gazing at Lakshman,
Spoke words befitting a mortal man,
‘Half the night is gone and the monkey hasn’t returned!’
Ram raised his brother, and clasped him to his heart.
‘Brother, you could not bear to see me sad,
Your nature was always so tender and kind.
For my sake, you left father and mother,
And endured the forest, the cold, the heat and the wind.
Where is that love now, brother,
That you do not wake even upon hearing my grief-stricken words?
If I had known that I would lose my brother in the forest,
I would never have obeyed my father’s command.
Sons, wealth, wives, houses and kinsfolk
Come and go again and again in this world,
But a real brother cannot be found more than once—
Reflect upon this and wake up, dear one.
Just as a bird is utterly wretched without its wings,
A cobra without its jewel, a noble elephant without its trunk,
So is my life without you, my brother.
If unfeeling fate keeps me alive,
With what face can I return to Avadh,
Having lost my dear brother for a woman’s sake?
I would rather have endured disgrace in the world,
For the loss of a wife is no great loss in comparison to this.
Now both disgrace and grief for you, dear child,
My hard and cruel heart shall endure.
You were your mother’s only son, dear brother,
The stay and support of her life.
She took you by the hand and entrusted you to me,
Believing that I was your greatest benefactor and would make you happy in every way.
What answer will I give her when I return?
Why don’t you wake up, brother, and tell me what I should say?’
Thus greatly sorrowed the destroyer of sorrow,
And tears flowed from his lotus-petal eyes.
Uma, Raghurai is one and indivisible,
But ever compassionate to his devotees, he displayed the ways of mortals.
Hearing the Lord’s lament,