6.043. Rampaging vAnaras draw the first blood

Hari Om.

Let us begin the forty third sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.

A lot of preparation happened for the battle. The way rAma and rAvaNa approached it were contrasting. On one side rAvaNa behaved like nothing could stop him from bulldozing the opposition presented by rAma. Most of his ministers also sang the same tune and strengthened his belief. On the other hand, rAma, supremely confident of taking on the demons, made elaborate preparations, meticulous strategies, studied the topography of lanka keenly and yet gave a last chance to diplomacy. His approach was measured, responsible and pragmatic. He had no doubt that he would vanquish rAvaNa but to do that he prepared well. A final warning was sounded through the prince angada. As rAvaNa didn’t come around, the vAnara warriors were ready for the battle. Onwards…

As the enterprising vAnaras attacked, the killer instinct of the demons was aroused and they mounted on horses and glittering chariots donning armors and attacked back desiring rAvaNa’s victory. The vast army of the vAnaras, also desiring victory, went after the demons who could change their forms. As they pursued each other, a tumultuous battle broke out.

angada took on Indrajit like lord Siva fought demon andhaka, prajangha (vibhIshaNa’s minister) and sampAti were engaged in a terrible combat, hanumAn started to attack jambumAli, rAvaNa’s brother vibhIshaNa fought the demon mitraghna, the mighty tapana fought the vAnara gaja, nIla fought nikumbha, the vAnara king sugrIva battled praghasa, the illustrious lakshmaNa took on virUpAksha, agnikEtu, raSmikEtu, suptaghna and yajnakOpa took on rAma. The demon duo vajramushTi and aSaniprabha fought the vAnaras mainda and dvivida. The terrible pratapana who was a menacing warrior engaged bitterly with nala. The son of yama, sushENa battled vidyunmAli. The vAnaras and the demons thus engaged in a bitter battle trying to outdo each other and secure victory. The bleeding of vAnaras and the demons flowed like a river and in that flow, the floating hair resembled moss and the corpses resembled logs.

In the meantime, indrajit who was fighting angada, got angry and like indra would strike with the thunderbolt, he struck him with his mace. Retaliating, the swift angada destroyed the well decked golden chariot, horses and the charioteer of Indrajit.

sampAti who was hit with three arrows by prajangha, hit him back with an aSwakarNa tree. Riding his chariot, jambumAli attacked hanumAn and hit him on his chest. Then hanumAn got onto his chariot and slapped him hard. The demon pratampana came yelling and hit nala. The vAnara in return hit him back and his eyes flew away from their positions. In the meantime, the demon praghasa was unleashing arrows and killing many soldiers. The vAnara king sugrIva came upto him and hit him hard with a saptaparNa tree. The rampaging virupAksha who was unleashing arrows was mitigated with a single arrow of lakshmaNa. The four demons agnikEtu, raSmikEtu, suptaghna and yajnakOpa were beheaded in one shot with four arrows by an angry rAma.

अग्निकेतुश्च दुर्धर्षो रश्मिकेतुश्च राक्षसः ।

सुप्तघ्नो यज्ञकोपश्च रामं निर्बिभिदुः शरैः ॥

तेषां चतुर्णां रामस्तु शिरांसि निशितैः शरै ।

क्रुद्धश्चतुर्भिश्चिच्छेद घोरैरग्निशिखोपमैः ॥

mainda unleashed his fist on vajramushTi and he fell down dead on the ground. The demon nikumbha shot nIla with a hundred arrows and laughed out loudly. nIla went to his chariot, pulled out the wheel and with that like lord vishNu beheaded the charioteer of nikumbha. As other demons watched, dvivida unleashed mountain peaks like thunderbolt like on aSaniprabha. The demon hit negated that with a barrage of arrows and hit dvivida. Livid, dvivida took a sAl tree and with that destroyed his chariot, killed his charioteer and the demon.

The demon vidyunmAli riding his golden chariot hit sushENa and roared again and again. Aiming at him, sushENa hurled a mountain peak. The demon deftly jumped off from his chariot and the it was pulverized by that blow. Angry that it missed the demon, sushENa went after vidyunmAli with a boulder and was hit on the chest with a mace by the demon. Smarting under that blow, sushENa dumped the boulder on the chest of the demon and he fell down dead on the ground. Thus the vAnaras and the demons fought a terrible war that was reminiscent of the battle between the demons and the gods.

The battlefield was filled with broken swords, maces, spears, javelins and other weapons. Slain horses and elephants, broken wheels, axles and chariots lied all around. Corpses flew around. Hordes of the scavenging jackals crowded there. The demons were torn apart by the rampaging vAnaras, regrouped and restlessly waited for the sunset (when their might would increase).