Hari Om.
Let us begin the fifty second sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Following dharma at every step and backing his own ability and effort, rAma and lakshmaNa along with the vast vAnara army began their battle against the demons in the latter’s fort. The first blood was drawn by the vAnaras and then the demons fought into the night and unleashed magical spells and trickery. That felled rAma and lakshmaNa briefly. rAvaNa celebrated too soon and sent sItA to behold the fall of her beloved which would dent her psyche. The good Samaritan trijaTa once again came to sItA’s rescue and gave solace to her. In the meanwhile, the garuDa arrived there galvanizing the entire atmosphere. His very arrival shooed away the reptiles that hurt rAma and lakshmaNa in the form of the arrows. The magical touch of the friendly garuDa healed the duo instantly. The vANaras went into a frenzy and celebrated boisterously and attacked lanka with renewed vigour. This enthusiasm perplexed rAvaNa as he thought the war was already over. His informers gave him the bad news which he dreaded and then to take on the rampaging vAnaras, he despatched dhUmrAksha along with a fully equipped army. Onwards…
The vAnaras who were raring to fight were delighted to see the mighty dhUmrAksha coming their way.
धूम्राक्षंप्रेक्ष्यनिर्यान्तंराक्षसंभीमविक्रमम् ।
विनेदुर्वानरास्सर्वेप्रहृष्टायुद्धकाङ्क्षिणः ।।6.52.1।।
The battle of the vAnaras and the demons produced tumultuous noise as the trees of the formers clashed with the spears and clubs of the latter. As the demons went after the vAnaras and steamrolled them, the vAnaras also attacked them with trees and felled them. Livid at this, the angry rAkshasas attacked the vAnaras with poisonous arrows. They hit them with mighty maces, spikes, clubs, iron beams, tridents and other weapons, and even though they were raining these weapons, the powerful vAnaras whose enthusiasm was kindled by the intense fight and their unforgiving nature fought back fearlessly. Their bodies pierced with arrows and spears, and yet they carried trees and boulders and smashed the demons ruthlessly and while doing so gave their introductions as well! The battle that ensued between the demons and the vAnaras using weapons and trees respectively was wow-worthy.
The fearless vAnaras went after the demons and hit them hard. Some of the demons vomited blood and some swallowed blood. Some had their sides torn apart and others became a heap of flesh pulverized by trees and boulders. As the mountainous and elephantine vAnaras attacked from the top of the mountains, the chariot of the demons broke, flags fell off, elephants and horses were dead and were scattered all over. The vAnars who swiftly jumped from one place to another used their teeth and nails to tear the demons apart. The demons were taken aback and turned pale. Yet other demons who were enraged at this slapped the vAnaras hard but were given back in kind by the vAnaras.
Observing the ranks getting decimated and demoralized, dhUmrAksha stepped up the offensive against the vAnaras who were keen for the combat. A few vAnaras fell to darts, yet other bled with blows of hammers, some were hammered with iron beams, some were hit with missiles, yet others were torn apart by spears and tridents as dhUmrAksha wreaked havoc. The fierce battle between the vAnaras and the rAkshasas produced the sounds with twangs of bows, neighing and tapping of horses, noises of the trees and boulders that were and sounded like a musical orchestra.
In the peak of that battle, dhUmrAksha let out a sneer and unleashed his barrage of arrows on the vAnaras. The mighty hanuman observed dhUmrAksha tormenting the vAnara ranks, was enraged, took huge boulders and with his might comparable to that of his father, the wind god, hurled it hard on the chariot of dhUmrAksha. The demon dhUmrAksha was caught unawares, took his mace up in confusion and quickly jumped of the chariot and stood on the earth. The boulder fell on his chariot and shattered it into pieces, killing the horses, destroying the axes, flags and wheels. Seeing the chariot shattered thus, hanuman stepped up the offensive and went after the demons with boulders and trees. Many a demon vomited blood and was felled on the earth with that assault.
Having unleashed destruction on the demons, hanumAn carried a mountain peak and accosted dhUmrAksha. Beholding the menacing hanumAn approaching him, dhUmrAksha ran towards him with his thorny mace and hit hanumAn on his head with that. Totally ignoring that strike, hanumAn hurled the mountain peak on dhUrAmksha aiming his head. On account of that mighty impact, dhUmrAksha fell down dead like a shattered mountain. Seeing their leader dhUmrAksha dead, the remaining demons ran away into lanka chased by vAnaras.
The great son of the wind god, having vanquished the enemies and made rivers of blood flow delighted in the fatigue caused by the great effort. He was facilitated by the vAnara warriors on this great achievement.
Here we conclude the fifty second 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: 6.053. vajradanshTra on his way…
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 