6.045. Hiding behind magic, the coward attacks

Hari Om.

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

After much preparations on both sides, a terrible battle ensued. The well-armed demons and the determined vAnaras engaged in a ferocious combat. Exactly as appointed by rAma, the vAnara warriors took their positions on the four sides of the lanka and as per their strategy took on the demons present there. By the first evening of the war, a significant damage was inflicted upon the demons, something they never imagined in the worst of their nightmares. As the night fell, the night-rangers fought with a renewed zeal and the vAnaras responded. Prince angada who led section of the vAnara army got close to indrajit and smashed his horses and charioteers. The valiant son of rAvaNa was without a chariot and was overwhelmed and humiliated. But he recalled his ability to go invisible. Instantly he became invisible and began attacking the vAnaras and especially trained his bow completely on rAma and lakshmaNa, attacking them with the nAgAstra, the weapon that unleashes poisonous serpents. He hit the duo all over their body and hurt them badly immobilizing them. Onwards…

As indrajit attacked, the valiant and the mighty prince rAma desirous of grasping his whereabouts ordered ten vAnara warriors to search for him. Accordingly two of sushENa’s relatives, nIla, angada, Sarabha, vinata, jAmbavAn, sAnuprastha, Rshabha and Rshabhaskandha, each one heroic, enthusiastically took to the skies armed with trees and began searching for indrajit in all the ten directions. The son of rAvaNa restrained their force by innumerable arrows. Not able to sight indrajit, all of them were badly injured.

Then the victor of many wars, rAvaNI (rAvaNa’s son, indrajit) continued to hurl the venomous serpents in the form of arrows and hurt rAma and lakshmaNa all over their body. The duo bled profusely all over the body. They resembled a kimSuka tree which was in full bloom (has red flowers). Then the invisible rAvaNI reddened his eyes and addressing the duo said –

“When I fight thus, even the lord of the three worlds, indra can’t sight me, then what to speak of you (mortals). In my utter rage, I shall engulf you with my arrows and send you to the abode of the god of death”. Shouting thus, the expert marksman who knew where to hit repeatedly assaulted their vitals with his arrows and let out contemptuous roars. Hit by innumerable arrows, the duo were not even able to open their eyes on that battle field.

Hit all over the body without an inch spared anywhere by terrible and venomous serpent like arrows, the duo bled profusely like the water streams on the praSravaNa mountain. Resembling the un-hoisted flag of indra, they began to wobble and hit badly by the trickster demon who could assume any form and who had captured indra in the yore, among the duo, rAma fell first on the ground. The arrows that were unleashed downward in a torrent had all shapes – fine tipped, semicircular, like teeth of the calves, like folded palms, like the canines of the lion and its nails.

रुक्मपुङ्खैः प्रसन्नाग्रैः अधोगतिभिराशुगैः ।

नाराचैरर्धनाराचैः भल्लैरञ्जलिकैरपि ।

विव्याध वत्सदन्तैश्च सिंहदंष्ट्रैः क्षुरैस्तथा ॥

Facing this assault from the invisible enemy, rAma fell on the ground with his bow unstringed and thrown off. Beholding his brother falling thus, lakshmaNa lost all hope and grieved to see his lovely brother thus tied down by the arrows and fallen on the ground. The vAnara warriors were very distressed to behold the duo fallen on the ground thus and converging around them, they were devastated.