The Ramcharitmanas 3
Page 17
That he fell like a mountain struck by a thunderbolt.
When he woke up from the swoon,
He began to praise the monkey’s great strength.
‘Fie on my strength, fie on me,
That you still live, you enemy of the gods!’
Thus exclaiming, the monkey carried Lakshman away—
To the astonished wonder of the ten-headed one.
Said Raghubir, ‘Dear brother, know in your heart,
You are the devourer of death and the protector of the gods.’
Upon hearing these words, the gracious one sat up at once,
And that terrible spear vanished into the sky.
Picking up his bow and arrows again, Lakshman rushed forth,
Eager and impatient to confront the enemy.
Once again, with great despatch, he broke Ravan’s chariot,
Killed his charioteer, and threw him into confusion.
He pierced his heart with a hundred arrows, and wounded,
The ten-headed one fell to the ground.
Another charioteer threw him into his chariot
And immediately carried him away to Lanka,
While Raghubir’s brother, accumulation of splendour,
Once again bowed at the Lord’s feet.
In Lanka, Dashanan recovered,
And began to perform a sacrifice.
Obstinate and exceedingly foolish,
The wretch sought victory even while opposing Ram!
(84)
Vibhishan heard all the news,
And hurrying to Raghupati, said to him,
‘My lord, Ravan is performing a fire sacrifice.
If he completes it, the unfortunate wretch will never die.
So send at once your monkey warriors, my lord,
That they may destroy his sacrifice, and Dashkandhar return to the fight.’
As soon as it was morning, the Lord sent out his brave warriors—
Hanuman, Angad and others, all set forth.
Leaping as though in play, the monkeys climbed up into Lanka,
And fearlessly entered Ravan’s palace.
When they saw him engaged in his sacrifice,
The monkeys all grew furious.
‘Shameless wretch! You run away from battle and come home,
And sitting here, you pretend to be engaged in divine contemplation!’
So saying, Angad kicked him,
But the wretch, completely absorbed in gaining his own end, did not even look at him.
When he did not even look at them, the monkeys
Grew even angrier and began to bite and kick him.
They seized his women by their hair and dragged them
Outside—the women cried out piteously in their distress.
Then Ravan rose, like Death enraged,
And grabbing them by their feet, began hurling the monkeys away.
In the midst of all this, the monkeys ruined his sacrifice—
When he saw this, he lost heart and gave way to despair.
Having ruined his sacrifice, the monkeys
Safely returned to Raghupati.
The Rakshasa set out in fury,
Having abandoned all hope of life.
(85)
As he set forth, dreadful ill omens occurred,
And vultures flew and alighted on his heads.
In the grip of death, he heeded no omen,
But ‘Sound the drums of war!’ he ordered.
The endless demon army set forth,
With its innumerable elephants, chariots, foot soldiers and horsemen.
The wretches rushed to confront the Lord,
Like a multitude of moths into the flame.
Meanwhile, the gods invoked the Lord,
‘He has inflicted terrible misfortunes upon us.
Now play with him no more, Ram,
For Vaidehi is suffering greatly.’
Hearing the gods’ words, Raghubir smiled,
And rising, made ready his arrows.
His matted hair is twisted firmly upon his head,
Adorned with the flowers caught in it here and there.
With his bright eyes and body dark as a rain cloud,
He delights the eyes of all the worlds.
He fastened his quiver with his sash around his waist,
And took in his hand his unbending bow, Sarang.
He took Sarang in his hand, and fastened about his waist
His beautiful quiver that never emptied of arrows.
His arms were mighty, and his broad and handsome chest
Was adorned with the mark of the Brahman’s foot.8
When the Lord, says his servant Tulsi, began
To twirl his bow and arrows in his hands,
The universe, the elephants of the eight quarters, the celestial tortoise,
The divine serpent, the earth, the ocean and the mountains all trembled.
Seeing his beauty, the gods rejoiced,
And rained down flowers endlessly,
Crying, ‘Victory, victory, victory to the compassionate Lord,
Abode of all beauty, strength, and virtue!’
(86)
Meanwhile, the vast demon army
Arrived, jostling and shoving.
Upon seeing it, the monkey warriors set forth,
Like massing clouds at the end of the world.
Countless swords and daggers glittered,
Like gleams of lightning in every direction.
Elephants, chariots and horses made a dreadful clamour,
Like storm clouds rumbling, frightening and terrible.
The monkeys’ huge tails spread across the heavens,
As though brilliant rainbows had appeared in the sky.
The dust rose up in clouds,
And an unceasing rain of arrows fell.
Both sides hurled huge boulders at each other,
Which fell like thunderbolts again and again.
Raghupati, in battle fury, let fly a storm of arrows—
The demon hordes were wounded.
As the arrows struck, the warriors screamed,
And, reeling, fell to the ground.
Rivers of blood flowed like great mountain-torrents
Terrifying the cowardly.
A river of blood, terrifying to cowards,
And most impure, began to flow.
Between the two warring sides that were its banks—with the war chariots sand
And their wheels its whirlpools—that terrible river flowed.
The war elephants, foot soldiers, horses, mules,
And the many diverse vehicles beyond count were the water creatures upon that stream.
Arrows, spears and lances were the water snakes, bows the waves,
And shields the numerous turtles in that flood.
Warriors fall like falling trees on the river’s banks,
And the flowing marrow of their bones becomes the foam upon its surface.
Cowards are terrified at the sight,
The valiant pleased at heart.
(87)
Ghouls, ghosts and goblins bath in that river,
And Shiv’s fiendish attendants,9 and frightful imps with matted hair.
Crows and kites fly off with severed arms,
Which they snatch from each other and eat.
Says one, ‘There is such abundance,
You rogue, but still your wretched neediness does not abate!’
Wounded warriors lie groaning on the banks of that river everywhere,
Half in, half out, as though left on the side of a sacred stream to die.10
Vultures upon the banks pull out entrails from that river,
Like fishermen plying their rods with full attention.
Many dead soldiers float down that stream with birds perched upon them
As though boating for pleasure on a river.
Joginis fill skulls with blood,
While the wives of ghouls and goblins dance in the air.
Chamundas c
lash warriors’ skulls like cymbals
And sing in diverse strains.11
Packs of jackals gnash their teeth and tear at the corpses,
Snarling, quarrelling, devouring till glutted.
Countless bodies without heads reel and totter about,
While the heads, lying on the ground, call ‘Victory, victory!’
Severed heads call ‘Victory, victory!’
While terrifying torsos without heads rush about.
Birds quarrel and squabble amongst the skulls,
As warriors bring down warriors.
The monkeys, made arrogant by Ram’s might,
Crush the demon hordes.
The heroes struck by Ram’s arrows lie
In eternal sleep on the field of battle.
Ravan thought to himself,
‘The demons are destroyed,
I am alone, the bears and monkeys many—
Let me put forth my unbounded maya.’
(88)
When the gods saw the Lord was fighting on foot,
Great anguish arose in their hearts.
The king of the gods sent his own chariot at once,
Which his charioteer, Matali, joyfully brought there.
Upon that celestial chariot, unparalleled in splendour,
The king of Koshalpur mounted, rejoicing.
Harnessed to it were four spirited, handsome horses,
Ever youthful, deathless, and as swift as thought.
Seeing Raghunath mounted upon the chariot,
The monkeys rushed forth with renewed strength.
The monkeys’ attack was impossible to withstand,
So Ravan then used his powers of illusion.
Raghubir recognized his illusions for what they were,
But Lakshman and the monkeys thought they were real.
The monkeys saw amongst the demon army,
Many kings of Koshal with his brother.
Seeing these numerous illusory Rams and Lakshmans,
The bears and monkeys grew terrified.
Together with Lakshman, they stood staring, transfixed wherever they were,
As still as figures in a picture.
Seeing his own army so bewildered, the king of Koshal
Smiled and fitted an arrow to his bow.
In an instant did Hari destroy Ravan’s maya,
And the entire monkey army rejoiced.
Then Ram looked at everyone,
And gravely said,
‘My brave warriors, you are all very tired—
So now watch my duel with Ravan.’
(89)
So saying, Raghunath urged forward his chariot
After bowing his head at the Brahmans’ lotus feet.
Then great fury arose in the king of Lanka’s breast,
And, challenging Ram in a thunderous roar, he rushed to meet him.
‘The warriors whom you have vanquished in battle,
Listen, ascetic, I am not like them!
My name is Ravan, whose fame the whole world knows,
And in whose dungeons lie imprisoned the guardians of the eight quarters!
You have slain Khar and Dushan and Viradh,
And killed poor Baali like a huntsman his prey.
You have destroyed hosts of demon heroes,
And killed Kumbhakaran and Meghnad.
Today I will have my revenge,
Provided, king, you do not flee the field of battle.
Today, wretch, I will hand you over to Death,
For now you have to deal with remorseless Ravan!’
Hearing Ravan’s angry words and knowing him to be in the clutches of his own doom,
The abode of mercy laughed and said,
‘It’s true, all true, all your power and majesty,
But now brag no more and show me your strength.
Do not destroy your glorious fame by boasting,
But pardon me if I relate to you a basic truth.
There are three kinds of men on this earth,
Resembling the patala, the mango and the jak fruit trees.
One bears flowers, the second flowers and fruit,
And the third bears only fruit.
The first kind of man only talks, the second talks and acts,
And the third kind acts but says not a word.’
Upon hearing Ram’s words, Ravan laughed and said,
‘So you would teach me wisdom?
You were not afraid to wage war on me then,
But now you hold your life dear!’
(90)
With these insulting words, the furious Dashkandhar
Began to let loose his arrows harsh as thunderbolts.
Arrows of diverse forms and shapes flew
And filled sky and earth in every direction.
Raghubir let fly his arrow of fire,
And in an instant the demon’s arrows were reduced to ashes.
Enraged, he hurled his sharp spear,
But the Lord turned it back with an arrow.
Millions of discs and tridents he threw,
But the Lord without effort turned them aside.
Ravan’s arrows were as fruitless
As are the desires of the wicked.
He then struck Matali with a hundred arrows,
Who fell to the ground crying, ‘Victory to Ram!’
Ram in his mercy lifted up his charioteer,
But a terrible fury now possessed the Lord.
Raghupati grew enraged in battle against his foe,
And the arrows in his quiver grew restless.
Hearing the wrathful twang of his bow,
The man-eating demons were terrified,
Mandodari’s heart trembled, the celestial tortoise,
The earth, and the mountains grew afraid,
And the elephants guarding the eight quarters trumpeted, scoring the earth with their tusks.
The gods laughed to see this spectacle.
Drawing his bow to his ear,
Ram let loose his terrible arrows,
Which flew, brightly flashing,
Like serpents.
(91)
Ram’s arrows sped forth like winged serpents.
First they killed Ravan’s charioteer and horses,
Then shattered his chariot, and tore down his flags and banners.
Though inwardly weary, Ravan gave a terrible roar,
And mounted another chariot at once. Full of rage,
He let fly weapons and missiles of every description.
But all his efforts were as fruitless
As those of a mind bent only upon harming others.
Then Ravan hurled ten spears at once,
Which struck Ram’s four horses and threw them to the ground.
Raghunayak raised the horses, and full of wrath,
Drew his bow, and let fly his arrows.
At the cluster of lotuses that was Ravan’s heads,
Like a string of bees flew Raghubir’s shafts.
Each of the ten heads he struck with ten arrows—
Great spouts of blood began to flow.
Though streaming with blood, the mighty Ravan came rushing,
And the Lord once again fitted arrows to his bow.
Thirty shafts did Raghubir let fly,
And Ravan’s twenty arms and ten heads all fell, severed, to the ground.
But as soon as they were cut off, they grew anew—
Ram once again struck off his arms and heads.
The Lord cut off his arms and heads many times,
But each time, the instant they were struck off, they grew again.
Again and again did the Lord cut off his arms and heads,
For Koshal’s king is very fond of play.
The sky was covered with heads and arms,
Like countless Rahus and Ketus.
It seemed as though innumerable Rahus and Ketus,
Streaming with blood, were rushing through the sky,
For struck by Raghubir’s
terrible arrows,
They could not fall to the ground.
The arrows, as they flew through the air,
Each stringing together a set of heads, shone
Like the rays of an angry sun,
Beaded here and there with Rahus.
As quickly as the Lord struck off Ravan’s heads,
They grew again without end,
Like sensual desires when indulged
Grow daily more and more.
(92)
When Dashmukh saw his heads thus multiply,
He forgot about his own death and was seized by a deep rage,
And, roaring, the arrogant fool
Rushed forward with all his ten bows drawn.
Ravan, raging upon the field of battle,
Let loose a rain of arrows such that it hid Raghupati’s chariot from sight.
For a full half hour, the chariot could not be seen—
It was as though the sun had been obscured by mist.
When the gods cried out in dismay,
The Lord, full of wrath, picked up his bow,
And turning Ravan’s arrows, cut off his heads,
Which covered sky and earth in every direction.
The severed heads flew through the air,
Producing terror with their shouts of victory
And cries of ‘Where is Lakshman, where Sugriv, the monkey-king,
And where the Raghu hero, Koshal’s sovereign?’
Calling ‘Where is Ram?’ the crowd of heads
Rushed about. Seeing them, the monkeys began to flee.
Making ready his bow, the jewel of the Raghu clan
Smiled, and with his arrows pierced the heads right through.
With garlands of skulls in their hands,
Horde upon horde of Kalikas12 gathered
And bathed in the river of blood
As though setting off to worship the banyan tree that was war.
Then the ten-headed one, enraged,
Threw his terrible spear.
It flew straight towards Vibhishan
Like the staff of death itself.
(93)
When he saw that dreadful spear coming,
Ram thought, ‘It is my sacred vow to destroy the distress of the suppliant!’
He at once put Vibhishan behind him,
And, stepping forward, endured that spear himself.
When the spear struck him, he fell insensible for a while.
At this sport of the Lord’s, the gods grew distraught,