Hari Om.
Let us begin the fifty fourth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
With the vAnaras turning the heat on and going on a rampage against the demons, their leader dhUmrAksha who was deployed by rAvaNa stepped up. As he briefly went after the vAnaras, hanumAn came up and protecting his ranks engaged with him in a fierce battle. He first broke his chariot into pieces with a huge boulder. Then isolating dhUmrAksha, engaged with him in a one-on-one battle. hanumAn copped a mace hit from dhUmrAksha and ignoring it completely, dumped a mountain peak on him and killed him. rAvaNa was aghast. He then dispatched vajradanshTra another bow wielder to win the battle for him. Emerging from the western gate, vajradanshTra ran into angada and his army. They engaged in a terrific battle and the vAnaras again caused significant damages to the army of the demons. Seeing this, vajradanshTra stepped up his attack. Onwards…
As the rAkshasa army was getting decimated and angada was emerging victor, vajradanshTra seethed with anger. He pulled out his bow and its twang made a sound like indra’s thunder. He rained arrows on the vAnara army and made them run helter skelter. Taking a cue from the leader, other warriors of the demon army fought from their chariots using their sophisticated weapons. Those weapons clashed with the trees and boulders that the vAnara warriors employed to vanquish the enemy. Thus an intense battle ensued between the two armies. Several vAnaras and demons who were not brave enough in the battle had their heads severed, limbs cut off, and their trunks were scattered all over.
As vajradanshTra watched, the vAnara army went after the demons and killed them in large numbers. Other demons in the army were terrified at this massacre and their morale suffered. Beholding his scared ranks, vajradanshTra entered the vAnara army with his bow and rained straight and sharp arrows on the vAnaras. Possessed by anger, he hit seven or eight vAnaras at once each time. The vAnaras were now taking a back foot and ran to angada like the people would approach their lord in times of crisis. Beholding the battered vAnara army, angada cast an angry look at the demon. The vAnara and the rAkshasa leader glared at each other like wild elephants. Then vajradanshTra rained thousands of arrows on angada and hit him on the vitals. Enraged by the attack, angada hurled a huge tree at the demon which the latter mitigated with his arrows and the tree fell down on the ground without reaching its target.
समापतन्तं तं दृष्ट्वा रथादाप्लुत्य वीर्यवान् ।
गदापाणिरसम्भ्रान्तः पृथिव्यां समतिष्ठत ॥
अङ्गदेन शिलाक्षिप्ता गत्वा तु रणमूर्धनि ।
सचक्रकूबरं साश्वम् प्रममाथ रथं तदा ॥
Livid at this, now angada took a huge boulder and threw it aiming vajradanshTra. The demon jumped off his chariot with his upheld mace and tried to hit the oncoming boulder with it. But the boulder hurled by angada went fast, knocked off the upheld mace and crushed the chariot, along with its charioteer, horses and wheels. Then angada hurled a mountain peak full of trees and dumped it on the head of vajradanshTra. The demon fainted with that impact and lay unconscious on the earth with the mace in his embrace.
He recovered from the impact in some time and regaining senses, he hit angada hard on his chest with his mace. And then he cast aside his mace and both of them began fist fight and were keen to outdo and finish the other. Due to the blows, both of them were bleeding profusely and continued to engage like the planets mars and mercury. The supremely illustrious son of vAli, angada then uprooted a huge tree that was laden with fruits and readied for the strike. And then, seeing vajradanshTra ready with his sword and shield, angada also picked up his glittering sword and they began to fight each other again without any mercy whatsoever eager to vanquish the other. They were injured all over the body and the bleeding bodies looked like the fully bloomed kimSuka trees. Soon both of them, under fatigue, went down on their knees. Within a minute, the splendorous angada, rose again like a snake hit by a stick, with his eyes spitting fire. In one clean shot with his sword, he severed the head of vajradanshTra and separated it from his bleeding body. The remaining demons who beheld the severed and bloodied head, being chased by the vAnara army ran away to lanka in fear with their heads bowed down in shame.
The mighty son of vAli, whose prowess is like that of the thunder-wielding indra, delighted in the company of the vAnara army that surrounded him and looked verily like indra surrounded by the gods.
निहत्य तं वज्रधरप्रभावः स वालिसूनुः कपिसैन्यमध्ये ।
जगाम हर्षं महितो महाबलः सहस्रनेत्रस्त्रिदशैरिवावृतः ॥
Here we conclude the fifty 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: 6.055. Out goes akampana, ignoring the omens
Previous: 6.053. vajradanshTra on his way…
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 