Hari Om.
Let us begin the thirty eighth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
An elaborate attempt was made by rAvaNa to spy on the camp of rAma and know their strategies. All the spies were apprehended, thrashed and were sent back with information which rAma never withheld! His approach was to announce his arrival and attack them rather than doing so through tricks. All the spies were in awe of what they saw and told their master that he stood no chance and returning sItA to rAma was the best option. He frowned at them all for the suggestion which was not sought and only asked for the information of who was who. Knowing the warriors in the enemy camp made him nervous but he tried to put a brave face, even tried to trick sItA but the advancing enemy forced him to abandon all other approaches and confer with his ministers and generals. He laid out a plan to guard lanka. On the other side, the associates of vibhIshaNa also infiltrated into the army of lanka and came back with useful information. Accordingly rAma instructed his army to take positions. Then rAma saw the mountain suvEla that presented a pretty sight. Having decided the strategy, rAma decided to scale the mountain and get a good view of lanka and the battle grounds before the action begun. Onwards…
Having decided to scale the mount suvEla, rAma then turned to lakshmaNa, sugrIva and vibhIshaNa who knew what dharma is and the manner of accomplishing. The demon was dear to rAma, followed him and was a great counsellor. Addressing them he said –
“This mountain suvEla is lovely and is endowed with a variety of minerals. Let us scale this and spend this night on top of the mountain. From there let us have a good view of lanka and the abode of that demon king. That evil, lowly demon, ignorant of dharma and unbecoming of his birth, he committed the heinous act of abducting my wife to bring about his own end. The very mention of this lowly and vile demon makes me angry and due to his heinous act I shall see the destruction of all the demons. Due to the sin committed by one whose time is up, his entire clan is bound to be destroyed”.
Thus articulating his anger and determination to destroy rAvaNa, rAma began to scale the mountain suvEla followed by lakshmaNa, sugrIva, vibhIshaNa, hanumAn, angada, nIla, mainda, dvivida, gaja, gavAksha, gavaya, Sarabha, gandhamAdana, jAmbavAn, sushENa, Rshabha, durmukha, Satabali and several other swift moving vAnaras who were all eager and excited for the battle. lakshmaNa was armed with bows, arrows and was attentive . The vAnaras who were experts in navigating the mountains reached the place where rAma was in no time. They found a plain land of two yOjanas on top of the mountain and camped there facing the southern direction. Soon they beheld the great city of lanka on top of a mountain and it looked as if the city was floating in the skies. They saw the high boundary walls, large thresholds. They noticed a number of demons of dark complexion guarding the thresholds and the city itself teeming with them. In excitement of having sighted the enemy the vAnaras let out roars as rAma watched them. In the meantime, the sun set and the moon rose. Night had fallen on the suvEla mountain. There, rAma accompanied by lakshmaNa, the vAnara warriors camped, well served by vibhIshaNa spent the night comfortably.
Here we conclude the thirty eighth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Click on the above link for word by word meaning from IITK website
Click on the above link to listen to the audio by SrIrAma ghanApATi
Next: 6.039. The astonishing lanka in the lap of nature
Previous: 6.037. rAma marks out the enemy warriors
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 