Hari Om.
Let us begin the fifty sixth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
The vAnaras were high on enthusiasm and determination and weaponized trees, boulders, mountain peaks, their teeth and nails effectively. They inflicted heavy loss to the enemy who also fought valiantly. It was an engaging and absorbing combat with both armies trying to outdo each other. The demons fought with more sophisticated weapons but were often falling short in front of the improvised weapons of the determined vAnaras. Their leaders tried to unleash their wrath on the vAnara army. When dhUmrAksha tried to do that, hanumAn came up and accounted for him. Then vajradanshTra came and was vanquished by angada. With two of the key demons biting the dust, akampana was sent next to the battlefield. The same pattern followed like the earlier two. As akampana went after the vAnara army, the key vAnara warriors also retaliated and caused destruction of the rAkshasa ranks. Onwards…
The heroic fight of the vAnara warriors that was destroying the demons caught the eye of akampana and he seethed with intense anger. Almost out of his senses due to the anger, he picked another bow and looking at the destruction being caused by the enemy, said to his charioteer –
“O charioteer, please take my chariot to that place where the vAnaras inflicting great damage on the demons. I want to vanquish these mighty and mountainous vAnaras who are fighting heroically wielding trees and mountain peaks and rescue the demon forces”. The charioteer followed the command and sped the chariot in the direction of the rampaging vAnaras. There akampana unleashed barrages of arrows that hit the vAnaras. They were so badly hit that they just couldn’t stand the onslaught, let alone engage in battle. They were beaten by the arrows of akampana and were scattered around. The vAnaras who were falling at akampana’s onslaught were noticed by hanumAn and came to the rescue of his army.
तंमहाप्लवगंदृष्टवासर्वेतेप्लवगयूथपा: ।
समेत्यसमरेवीरास्सहिताःपर्यवारयन् ।।6.56.9।।
अवस्थितंहनूमन्तंतेदृष्टवाहरियूथपा: ।
बभूवुर्बलवन्तोहिबलवन्तंसमाश्रिताः ।।6.56.10।।
Beholding the mighty vAnara, hanumAn come to their rescue, the other vAnara warriors were much enthused and reinvigorated. They felt mighty in the shelter of the mighty hanumAn! The demon warrior akampana noticed hanumAn who was of mountainous proportions and rained arrows on him like lord indra showers rain. Ignoring the impact of the arrows on him, hanumAn made up his mind to vanquish akampana. The son of the wind god ran towards the demon with a mountain peak in one of his hands and swirling it hard threw it on to him just like indra swirled the thunder on namuchi in the yore. The warrior akampana beheld the oncoming mountain peak and sighting it from a distance unleashed an arrow with crescent moon and destroyed it midair.
hanumAn was livid with anger to see his projectile demolished thus. Filled with pride and anger, he went and uprooted an aSwakarNa tree. He stomped on the earth and swirling the huge tree in his hand ran towards the demons, hitting elephants, horses, foot soldiers with it and killing them all. He was angry and looked verily like yama who was usurping lives. The demons were terrified to behold him thus.
Akampana noticed his ranks being destroyed thus by hanumAn and hit him with fourteen arrows. And he rained many more arrows. With those arrows pierced on hanumAn, he looked like a mountain with trees.
विरराजमहाकायोमहावीर्योमहामना: ।
पुष्पिताशोकसङ्काशोविधूमइवपावकः ।।6.56.28।।
The valiant and mentally strong hanumAn resembled a fully blossomed aSOkA tree and blazing fire sans smoke.
ततोऽन्यंवृक्षमुत्पाट्यकृत्वावेगमनुत्तमम् ।
शिरस्यभिजघानाशुराक्षसेन्द्रमकम्पनम् ।।6.56.29।।
He then uprooted another tree and ran hard towards akampana and hit him on his head with that. Hit hard by the angry hanumAn using the tree, the demon akampana fell down dead!
सवृक्षेणहतस्तेनसक्रोधेनमहात्मना ।
राक्षसोवानरेन्द्रेणपपातचममारच ।।6.56.30।।
Watching their leader akampana dead, the demons were very troubled and shivered like trees during the earthquake. All the defeated demons ran away into lanka, sweating, panting and in fear, chased by the victorious vAnaras. Bewildered. they kept looking back and pushed each other as they ran into lanka. As the demons fled into lanka, the vAnaras got together and felicitated hanumAn. The valiant and delighted hanumAn also felicitated other vAnaras who enabled this victory.
Having vanquished the demons, the great mAruti assumed the aura of a victor, like vishNU in the yore. He was praised, worshipped and felicitated by the vAnara army and verily by rAma, lakshmaNa, sugrIva and the mighty vibhIshaNa.
Here we conclude the fifty sixth 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: 6.057. Desperate rAvaNa casts his chief
Previous: 6.055. Out goes akampana, ignoring the omens
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 