Hari Om.
Let us begin the forty fourth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
The battle finally began. The demons came with their sophisticated weaponry, armory and were fighting from the elevation of the home turf. They were being given a tough fight by the improvising vAnara warriors who fought with bare hands and with trees, boulders and mountain peaks as their weapons. They were no less determined and never felt less equipped. They would not care for their lives and approach the attacking demons from close quarters and engage them in a hand-to-hand combat. They were proving to be tough nuts for the demons. Every warrior on both sides was engaged in the battle. On the first day as the evening approached, the vAnaras had clearly dented the morale of the demon army and made the night rangers desire for the sunset so that they could continue their battle with enhanced strength. Onwards…
As the demons and the vAnaras engaged in a fierce battle, the sun set and a terrible, life sucking night descended. Keen to win over the other, they continued their fight during the night. Calling each other out, both began to slay each other. In the night, clad in golden armours, the demons shone like mountains with herbs. Seething with anger, in that pitch darkness went after the vAnaras and swallowed them. Equally seething with anger, the vAnaras went after the demons, dragged them down from the horses, elephants and chariots and tore them apart with their sharp teeth and nails. Both lakshmaNa and rAma unleashed arrows that resembled poisonous snakes and took down important demon warriors, both visible and the invisible ones. In that hair raising battle that was happening presently, the shoes of the horses came off, flags of the chariots were flung around, ears and eyes were torn and scattered and blood flowed like a river not letting dust to rise. The blaring of the trumpets, blowing of the conches, shrill cries of the demons who were being torn apart, the yells of the vAnaras all gave rise to a terrible cacophony. The spears and the weapons with which the vAnaras were killed and the mountain tops with which the demons were decimated all lied on the ground like flowers that were used for its worship. With the pools and puddles of blood, the earth couldn’t be identified at places. That night seemed not to pass and became verily a night of death for both the vAnaras and the demons.
यमशत्रुश्च दुर्धर्षो महापार्श्वमहोदरौ ।
वज्रदंष्ट्रो महाकायः तौचोभौ शुकसारणौ ।
ते तु रामेण बाणौघैः सर्वे मर्मसु ताडिताः ।
युद्धादपसृतास्तत्र सावशेषायुषोऽभवन् ॥
In that absolute darkness, the demon warriors yamaSatru, durdharsha, mahApArSwa, mahOdara, vajradanshTra, mahAkAya, Suka and sAraNa surrounded rAma and began to rain arrows on him. rAma head the war cries of the seven warriors that resembled the roars of the seven oceans and negated them all within a moment with six arrows. All of them, badly hurt by rAma in their vital places, ran away from the battle and saved themselves for another day. The entire battle field glowed bright with the golden and flaming arrows of rAma. The other demons that faced rAma also were destroyed like the fireflies by the fire. The cries of war and pain were all mixed and gave rise to a great commotion that night. The black gOlangula vAnaras grabbed the demons and swallowed them.
In the battle angada faced his enemy indrajit and slayed his horses and the charioteer. With his horses and the charioteer dead, indrajit disappeared right in front of angada. That heroic act of angada was hailed and praised effusively by gods, Rshis, rAma, lakshmaNa, sugrIva, vibhIshaNa and other vAnara warriors. Forced to retreat by the mighty angada, indrajit was livid. In the meantime, rAma alerted the vAnaras and asked them to be with sugrIva. He told them that indrajit had the boon given by lord brahma and with that he will torment the three worlds. He asked them to take rest for that day.
In the meantime, indrajit vanished and being invisible began to hurl arrows. The arrows were unerring and were glorious like the thunderbolt. He aimed at rAma and lakshmaNa and hit them both with terrible serpentine arrows – nAgAstra. The demon, unable to stay in front in fight, took recourse to tricks and hitting rAma and lakshmaNa all over their bodies, immobilized them with the nAgAstra.
प्रकाशरूपस्तु यदा न शक्तः तौ बाधितुं राक्षसराजपुत्रः ।
मायां प्रयोक्तुं समुपाजगाम बबन्ध तौ राजसुतौ महात्मा ॥
Here we conclude the forty fourth 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: 6.045. Hiding behind magic, the coward attacks
Previous: 6.043. Rampaging vAnaras draw the first blood
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
