araNya kAnDam – The mission in motion

• 3.1. rAma reigns in the danDaka forests
• 3.2. Entering the forest treacherous!
• 3.3. Into the forest with the ogre!
• 3.4. virAdha vanquished
• 3.5. Salvation of sage Sarabhanga
• 3.6. The mission is not just personal
• 3.7. Stopping by sage sutIkshNa
• 3.8. Off to tour the hermitages
• 3.9. sItA raises red flag
• 3.10. Of bounden duty and promise
• 3.11. A decade passes… in the company of the sages
• 3.12. agastya extends his arms for the mission
• 3.13. Destination panchavaTi
• 3.14. jaTAyu’s narration of the creation
• 3.15. And they delighted in panchavaTI
• 3.16. A winter morning in the forest
• 3.17. A terrible proposal!
• 3.18. The violent ogress punished but spared
• 3.19. khara brags about!
• 3.20. Fourteen demons in one shot!
• 3.21. She upbraids and incites khara
• 3.22. The fourteen thousand march ahead
• 3.23. khara charges along ignoring the omens
• 3.24. rAma is ready for them!
• 3.25. Now he aimed, now he destroyed!
• 3.26. Fourteen thousand annihilated in no time by One!
• 3.27. triSIrA hurtles to his end
• 3.28. The solitary One fights the remaining one!
• 3.29. Verbal war before the final flourish
• 3.30. Endgame for khara, rAma celebrated
• 3.31. rAvaNa plans a misadventure, mAricha counsels
• 3.32. The ogress escalates the matter
• 3.33. The ogress schools the ten heads!
• 3.34. She seeds and feeds poison
• 3.35. The view from above as rAvaNa flies to mAricha
• 3.36. rAvaNa reveals his plan, shocks mAricha!
• 3.37. mAricha counsels, cautions and warns rAvaNa
• 3.38. Don’t mess with rAma, mAricha says
• 3.39. For mAricha “rA is for rAma”!
• 3.40. Between a rock and a hard place!
• 3.41. mAricha tries one last time
• 3.42. The scheme in action…
• 3.43. lakshmaNa demurs, rAma overrules
• 3.44. Trickster dies tricking and yet tricks!
• 3.45. sItA insinuates lakshmaNa…
• 3.46. rAvaNa’s endgame begins…
• 3.47. Devout sItA lambasts rAvaNa
• 3.48. sItA warns the ten-headed braggart
• 3.49. sItA propels the mission!
• 3.50. jaTAyu dares rAvaNa
• 3.51. Call him hero, call him loyal, call him jaTAyu!
• 3.52. The world devastated, the seers delighted
• 3.53. Chastity castigates the crook
• 3.54. Delighted in delusion!
• 3.55. Deed accomplished, dream unrealized
• 3.56. Braving terror sItA is focused on rAma
• 3.57. Evil portents haunt rAma
• 3.58. Despair descends
• 3.59. lakshmaNa explains, rAma disapproves
• 3.60. Mad in her search
• 3.61. The Mighty laments…
• 3.62. Grief, unbearable
• 3.63. lakshmaNa musters courage to console and counsel
• 3.64. rAma set to unleash his wrath!
• 3.65. lakshmaNa reasons
• 3.66. lakshmaNa’s timely sermon
• 3.67. A clue and more grief!
• 3.68. rAma, the liberator
• 3.69. In the clutches of kabandha
• 3.70. Astute duo amputate kabandha
• 3.71. kabandha offers a definite direction
• 3.72. kabandha recommends sugrIva of same feather!
• 3.73. The path to pampa
• 3.74. SabarI’s penance ripens
• 3.75. Hope springs in rAma’s heart

Posting two sargas a week – Updated on Mondays and Thursdays