Hari Om.
Let us begin the thirtieth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
The true colours of rAvaNa were to the fore again. As Suka and sAraNa gave a detailed account of the enemy camp with the profiles of all the chiefs and their past exploits, it sounded to the king like they were fanboying the enemy! He didn’t like this one bit and gave them a sound dressing down. He blasted them for being insensitive to the feelings of the king and speaking to him in a language that can well attract punishment. He showed off his magnanimity and said if it was not for their earlier services they would have been slayed by him for this imprudence of giving such frightening details of the enemy camp! Once again, rAvaNa had prioritized his anger over the reality and that was brought out beautifully in a compelling manner by mahaRshi in the earlier sarga. The demon king was not satisfied with the details he got from the duo. He again asked another bunch of spies led by SArdUla to get him more information. They went too, spied, were caught, thrashed and saved their lives due to the intervention of rAma and came back to report the scene and the strategy in rAma’s camp at the suvEla mountain. Onwards…
The spies led by SArdUla returned to rAvaNa and reported to him the unperturbable might of the army of rAma who was camping at the suvEla mountain. Hearing that, rAvaNa got a bit worked up and asked him – “O demon, your facial expressions don’t look usual. By any chance did you come in the possession of the unfriendly and terrorizing ones”?
Asked thus, the terrified SArdUla replied –
“O king, it is impossible to spy on the vAnaras. They are heroic, mighty and are protected by rAghava. I could neither speak nor was there a scope for a dialogue. The mountainous vAnaras are keeping a close vigil everywhere and no sooner we infiltrated into their army, they found us out. They forcibly took us captives and rained blows and kicks on us. I was thoroughly thrashed everywhere by the unforgiving vAnaras and was produced in the presence of rAma. I was bleeding everywhere and my senses were hurt badly as the vAnaras were bent on killing me. I pleaded for my life with folded hands to rAma for my life and it is by his magnanimous protection that I am alive.
This rAma has filled up the ocean (built the bridge) using mountain peaks and boulders and with all his arsenal is knocking at the doors of lanka. He has leading a garuDa formation and accompanied by vAnaras all around is coming towards lanka. Spare =me, O illustrious one and be quick before he mounts the offensive on your fort. Either return sItA or give a fitting reply”.
Grasping the message of SArdUla, the demon king thundered –
“Even if the gods, gandharvas and the demons battle with me, even for their fear or that of the entire world, I will not return sItA. Who among those vAnaras are heroes and warriors. What kind are they, how illustrious are they, who are hard-to-beat, whose progeny are they? O demon, since you have spied on them, tell me as a matter of fact about them. Once I am aware of their strengths and weaknesses and the numbers I will decide the offence strategy. Speak up”.
Hearing the command of rAvaNa, the able spy SArdUla began to narrate –
“The son of Rksharaja, the king sugrIva is hard-to-beat. The son of gadgada is famous by the name jAmbavAn. The other son of gadgada is dhUmra. Then there is the son of the guru of indra (and the gods), bRhaspati. His son is kEsari. This kEsari’s son is hanumAn who has single handedly vanquished many a demon. The son of yama, sushENa is valorous. The son of sOma is the gentle vAnara dadhimukha, O king. Then there is the trio – Sumukha, durmukha and vEgadarshi in whose form, verily death has been created by the lord brahma. The son of the lord of fire, agni is the vAnara nIla who is the commander-in-chief of the army. Then of course the son of the wind god, hanumAn. The invincible angada is the grandson of lord indra. The mighty duo mainda and dvivida are born to the aSwini dEvas. The five warriors gaja, gavAksha, gavaya, Sarabha and gandhamAdana are the sons of vaivasvata yama and are like the five hooded serpent that resembles death. As far as I could count there ten crore vAnaras eager for the battle, I can’t comment on how many of the illustrious offsprings of the gods are there still.
Here is the son of daSaratha, the youthful and lion like rAma who has vanquished khara, dUshaNa and triSirA. There is just no one who equal rAma in valour in the entire world. He killed virAdha and meant death to kabandha.
नास्तिरामस्यसदृशोविक्रमेभुविकश्चन ।
विराधोनिहतोयेनकबन्धश्चान्तकोपमः ।।6.30.29।।
It is impossible to enumerate the virtues of rAma who has eradicated all the demons that were present in the janasthAna. Then there is the righteous lakshmaNa who is like the best of the elephants. Even indra can’t survive if he crosses the trajectory of his arrows.
Then there the sons of the Sun god – SwEta and jyOtirmukha and hEmakUTa, the son of varuNa. The best among vAnaras, nala is the son of viSwakarma. Then the valiant and mighty son of vasu, sudurdhara. One of the key demons, a respected one among the demons, your brother vibhIshaNa has left lanka and is engaged in the welfare of rAghava. Here I recount to you the entire who’s who of the vAnara army that have camped on the mount suvEla. You have to decide the next steps now”.
Here we conclude the thirtieth 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: 6.031. The trickster is at it again
Previous: 6.029. Different spies, same story!
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 