Hari Om.
Let us begin the seventh sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Just the stretch of the ocean separated the unprecedented vAnara army along with countless warriors led by sugrIva under the protection of rAma and lakshmaNa and the city of lanka. Although, normally thought to be unassailable and beyond reach, the daring advent and the heist of hanumAn made rAvaNa nervous. Having done an abominable abduction and rubbing rAma the wrong way, he perhaps didn’t expect the prince of ayOdhyA to undertake this mission. And that too with innumerable vAnara warriors led by sugrIva, the brother of vAlI who subjugated him. Arguably the ten headed one was nervous. He called for the council of his meeting and with a bit of shame recalled the devastation unleashed by the single vAnara. He called upon his ministers to deliberate well and advise him on the path ahead in what seemed to be a potential conflict with rAma and his forces. Having seen hanumAn, he was sort of sure that somehow the army would be able to cross over the ocean and reach lanka. It was now the turn of the council to breathe some advice into him. Would they be up to the task? Onwards…
Thus asked by rAvaNa to deliberate and advise him on the path ahead, the ministers folded their hands and began to voice their thoughts to the demon king. Without quite understanding the enemy, seemingly moral yet ignorant and unwise, the demons said –
द्विषत्पक्षमविज्ञायनीतिबाह्यास्त्वबुद्धयः ।
राजन्परिघशक्त्यृष्टिशूलपट्टिशकुन्तलम् ।।6.7.2।।
O king, the enemy is endowed with crow bars, javelins, double edged swords, spears and ploughs. Why are diffident – our forces are very well endowed and mighty. You have seized the city of bhOgavatI in the past having won over the serpents in the battle. You had fought valiantly with the kailasa dweller kubEra who is surrounded by yakshas and made him surrender to you. He was proud of his friendship with lord Siva. You wreaked havoc in his ranks, imprisoned them and usurped the aerial chariot, the pushpaka vimAna from him.
On another occasion, you fought with the husband of kumbhinAsI, the demon madhu who was thought to be unbeatable and got him under your control. Your advent to the nether lands defeated the nAgas (serpents) vAsukI, takshaka, Sankha and jaTI. O king, you have waged war against many demons who were heroic and were endowed with many boons. You fought them for over a year and defeated them by your own strength. You learnt many deceitful tricks from them.
The offsprings of varuNa with all their four fold forces have been defeated by you. Then you have dared to cross over the unassailable ocean of death of lord yama that is infested with the crocodiles in the form of the shaft of death, full of SAlmali trees, the serpentine attendants of yama and warded of death. The whole world was thrilled at this achievement of yours.
O king, kshatriyas warriors who were unassailable, equal to indra in heroism and were deep rooted all over the world were defeated by your prowess. rAghava is not equal to them in heroism, qualities or enterprise. O king, why do you even have to think about the war and exert yourselves, this Indrajit who has observed great sacrifices and won favours from lord mahESwara is alone adequate to win over the vAnaras.
This Indrajit had launched a huge attack on the dEva lOka, the world of the dEvas that was protected by army wielding a variety of weapons, and also by the rudras, Adityas, elephants, tortoise, horses, frogs, serpents. He had won over them all, daringly entered the heavens, took indra as captive and came back to lanka with him. It was only upon the intervention of lord brahma, the creator, indra secured his release much to the relief of the gods. Therefore, O king, send Indrajit to lead the battle and he will conquer not only the vAnaras but also rAma.
O king, this danger is coming from a very ordinary enemy. Don’t take it to your heart. You shall vanquish rAghava”.
Here we conclude the seventh sarga of the yuddha kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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Next: 6.008. The demons exude overconfidence
Previous: 6.006. The demons confer
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
