Hari Om.
Let us begin the fifty eighth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
As three key warriors from rAkshasa army – dhUmrAksha, vajradanshTra and akampana bit the dust and the vAnara army fought with great purpose, determination and valour, rAvaNa became very worried. He inspected the city and the ranks and found that the vAnara army had advanced a lot and were almost laying siege to the city. This was a decisive phase of the battle. The vAnara army had made significant gains and that made the demon king become desperate. He wanted to count on the big names who had won him laurels in the past. He turned to his commander-in-chief, prahasta and told him that it was increasingly getting clear that this was not a battle for the less valorous ones and that either he or indrajit or kumbhakarNa or prahasta or a couple of others have to carry this on their shoulders. The chief prahasta was perhaps being cast too early into the battle. But being an obedient soldier, he bowed to the command and set out with a huge army. He saw ominous signs as he set out but there was no turning back from the battlefield. Onwards…
rAma had a smile on his face when he beheld prahasta of supreme valour who set out for the battle and said to vibhIshaNa –
“Who is this gigantic demon accompanied by a vast army, tell me about this heroic demon”. Upon hearing rAghava’s question, vibhIshaNa replied –
“He is the commander-in-chief of that king of demons in lanka. He heads a third of rAvaNa’s army. He is heroic, has a repertoire of weapons and is famed for his courage”.
The mighty vAnara army saw the gigantic and heroic prahasta with his larhe army of demons who were making huge roars and advancing towards them with fierceness wielding swords, spears, pikes, mallets, maces, iron bars and various bows that were shining. They were keen to win the war and ran towards the vAnaras. The determined vAnaras also took fully bloomed trees and large boulders and ran towards the demons eager to battle them. They engaged in a ferocious combat and as arrows and boulders rained, vAnaras got many demons and the demons also managed to kill many vAnaras. Some vAnaras were hit by the javelins, some with other weapons, some with iron beams and yet others were done apart with axes. Some were cut off, some were done with arrows, some were split into two with swords, and some vAnaras had their ribs opened up with spears. Even the vAnaras who were angry went after the demons, hit them with trees and crushed them under boulders. As they slapped the demons they vomited blood as if hit by the thunder bolt and fell down dead. Cries of despair and roars of battle could be heard and gave rise to a tumultuous sound. Both the vAnaras and the demons fought heroically and with eyes radiating anger acted fearlessly.
The ministers of prahasta narAntaka and kumbhahanu made loud noises and began vanquishing the vAnaras. The warrior dvivida saw it and struck narAntaka with a mountain peak. The vAnara durmukha smarting from the blows grabbed a huge tree and hurled it on the demon. Livid with anger, jAmbavAn took a huge boulder and threw it on the chest of the demon mahAnAda. Then tAra uprooted a giant tree and hit kumbhahanu with it and killed him. Unable to bear the death of his minister kumbhahanu, watching it from the chariot, prahasta fought hard with his bow and tormented the forest-dwellers. As prahasta stepped up his attack, the earth was filled with corpses and rivers of blood flowed as if they headed to the ocean of yama. Covered with blood the earth looked like the palASa tree in the month of vaiSAkha.
The heaps of the slain warriors formed the banks, the broken weapons resembled the trees, the livers and spleens were the mire, the severed heads were the fish, the fat formed the foam, the shrills of cries resembled gushing sounds as the river of blood flowed which was not for the cowards to cross. However, the warriors among the vAnaras and the demons criss crossed that river like elephants cross a lotus pond.
हतवीरौघवस्रांतुभग्नायुधमहाद्रुमाम् ।।6.58.29।।
शोणितौघमहातोयांयमसागरगामिनीम् ।
यकृत् प्लीहमहापङ्कान्वििकीर्णान्त्रशैवलाम् ।।6.58.30।।
भिन्नकायशिरोमीनामङ्गावयवशाद्वलाम् ।
गृध्रहंसगणाकीर्णांकङ्कसारससेविताम् ।।6.58.31।।
मेदःफेनसमाकीर्णामार्तस्न्तितस्वनाम् ।
तांकापुरषुदुस्तारांयुद्धभूमिमयींनदीम् ।।6.58.32।।
नदीमिवघनापायेहंससारससेविताम् ।
राक्षसाःकपिमुख्याश्चतेरुस्तांदुस्तरांनदीम् ।।6.58.33।।
यथापद्मरजोध्वस्तांनळिनींगजयूथपाः ।
Then the commander in chief of the vAnaras, nIla saw prahasta sitting on the chariot and wreaking havoc in his army and scattering them like clouds are scattered by the power of wind. The demon chief watched the vAnara chief approaching him and rained arrows on him from his chariot that shone like the sun. The sharp arrows struck nIla like hissing serpents hit the earth. As those arrows pierced into him, nIla took a huge tree and hit prahasta hard with that. Angry at the attack, prahasta retaliated with even more barrages of arrows and the vAnaras had to just bear it with closed eyes, much like the bull weathers a sudden spell of rain in the autumn with closed eyes. With closed eyes, nIla weathered the strike and with ferocity he hit the swift horses of prahasta with a sAl tree and killed them. And then accosting prahasta angrily, nIla snatched his bow and broke it into pieces and made loud roars again and again.
ततन्सचापमुद्गृह्यप्रहस्तस्यमहाबलः ।
बभञ्जतरसानीलोननादचपुनःपुनः ।।6.58.45।।
Bereft of his bow, prahasta then picked a club and jumped off his chariot and engaged with nIla in hand combat. They both fought like elephants and lions, injured all over the body. Both of them were valorous and heroic and never fled from a war. They engaged fiercely to earn fame like indra and vRtrAsura, trying to outdo each other. Then prahasta struck the forehead of nIla with his club. The vAnara chief bled profusely and then grabbed a humongous tree and hurled it at the chest of prahata. Taking that huge hit in his stride, prahasta ran towards nIla with his swirling club to hit the mighty vAnara hard. Gauging the moves of the club wielding prahsta, nIla took a huge boulder and aiming the head of prahasta hurled it at him. Hit by that huge boulder, prahsta’s head broke and at once he lost his senses and life and fell down dead like a tree cutoff at its roots. From his broken head and other parts of the body blood flowed out like streams flowing out of the mount praSravaNa.
The unshakeable army of the demons could not stay their ground any more with the fall of prahastha. Like water gushes out of a dam that is breached, they rushed to lanka and reaching the abode of the demon king turned numb with sadness and lost their senses. The mighty nIla, the victor was hailed for his heroics by everyone including rAma and lakshmaNa and that warrior delighted in the moment.
Here we conclude the fifty eighth 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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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
