Hari Om.
Let us begin the sixty seveth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
As anticipated, the vAnaras were much distressed to behold the towering frame of kumbhakarNa! They wasted no time in fleeing as soon as they saw him advancing into the battlefield. If his form was not enough, his loud and deafening roar was unbearable and caused fear deep inside. The best of the vAnaras who had fought so valiantly until now began to flee at the very sight of the disproportionately huge giant kumbhakarNa. The prince angada rose to the occasion and displaying utmost valour dissuaded his mates from the ignominy of running away from the battleground. He warned them against ruining their reputation in one stroke after having fought so well not bothering about their lives. He coaxed, pleaded, threatened and was able to rally his mates and made them ready to face kumbhakarNa. Onwards…
The big bodied vAnaras returned from fleeing responding to the call of prince angada. They mustered their might and courage and began to fight giving up their fondness for their lives. They were determined to fight and even lay down their lives. Gathering trees and boulders, they approached kumbhakarNa, began their campaign and started attacking him. He was outraged and began whirling his mace and hit those vAnaras who were throwing the projectiles at him. Hundreds and thousands of them succumbed to his blows and fell while the giant also gobbled up tens of them as he moved along just like the angry garuDa hunted for the serpents in its flight. The vAnaras however recovered quickly and gathering their might started attacking him again. The valiant vAnara warrior dvivida hurled a mountain peak on kumbhakarNa. The projectile didn’t reach him but fell on his army and caused significant damage, killing the soldiers, destroying chariots, elephants and horses.
In the meantime, hanumAn began to rain boulders, mountain peaks and trees on kumbhakarNa’s head from the skies. The giant warded them all with his Sula (spear). Then as the demon chased the vAnaras whirling his spear, hanumAn blocked him with a huge mountain. Standing right in front of him, the son of the wind god hurled a huge mountain peak at kumbhakarNa who bled profusely and was drenched in his own gore. Livid at this blow, kumbhakarNa hit hanumAn with his spear on his chest. It was such a mighty blow that hanumAn vomited blood. Smarting under that blow, he gave out a loud roar that was like the thunder at the time of great delusion. The demon ranks rejoiced at this pain that hanumAn suffered while the vAnara ranks were terrified and ran away.
Then nIla stepped in and hurled a mountain peak at the giant which was smashed off by his fist and the pulverized peak fell off on the ground. Then five vAnara warriors – Rshabha, Sarabha, nIla, gavaksha and gandhamAdana attacked kumbhakarNa all over with mountain peaks, boulders and trees. He was hardly troubled by those projectiles, and they felt like a mere touch to him. Enraged by this attack, kumbhakarNa squeezed the swift Rshabha with his arms and felled him. He gave a fist blow to Sarabha, kicked nIla with his knees. The sworn enemy of indra, slapped gavAksha and kicked gandhamAdana angrily with his feet. All the warriors fainted and fell on the ground like axed kimSuka trees (forest flame) bleeding profusely.
Enraged by his felling of the vAnara warriors, a thousand vAnaras accosted him and climbing all over his mountainous body began to bite and scratch him inflicting blows and kicks on him. As they attacked him thus, the mountainous giant shone like a mountain with trees on it! He then became livid and grabbing them all with his arms, gobbled them off like garuDa gobbles serpents!! Having fallen in his mouth cavity that was deep like the nether world, the vAnaras emerged out of his ears and nostrils!!! Angered by this, kumbhakarNa ransacked them all hurting them badly and they fell on the battlefield bleeding. He reigned on the battlefield like the raging inferno at the end of time. Wielding his spear and wreaking havoc, the giant resembled indra wielding the thunder and yama wielding the noose and just like the wildfire wipes out the forests in the summer, he wiped out the vAnara army. The decimated vAnara army, without a leader being chased by the demon were terrified and screaming and screeching were downcast, ran and sought refuge in rAma.
Beholding the decimated vAnara army, the grandson of indra, vAli’s son, angada ran towards kumbhakarNa with a huge mountain peak and all the demons were scared to see him accost kumbhakarNa with such ferocity. He aimed that mountain peak at the giant and hit him on the head with it enraging the demon. In retaliation, kumbhakarNa hurled his spear at angada. The expert battler angada saw the spear approaching him and tactfully ducked to escape it and in the same breath jumped at kumbhakarNa and gave him a mighty slap on his chest rendering him senseless momentarily. Gathering himself, the giant got up and threw his fist at angada in contempt and made him unconscious. As the prince fell down senseless in the battlefield, kumbhakarNa collected his spear and ran to sugrIva. The vAnara lord grabbed a mountain peak and ran towards kumbhakarNa. Beholding the bleeding giant who was gobbling up the vAnaras, sugrIva said –
“O demon, you have felled many warriors and achieved something impossible. By gobbling up the vAnara ranks you have earned great fame. Leave them aside, what have you got to do with ordinary folks? Come on, take the impact of this peak that is falling on you”.
Hearing the words spoken with courage and substance, the giant among the demons said –
“Well being the grandson of the Prajapati and the son of Rksharaja, you are endowed with valour and hence roaring like that”.
Responding to the giant, sugrIva hurled the mountain peak that he was carrying aimed at the chest if the giant. The large mountain peak hit the giant between the arms and broke into pieces sending joy through the demon ranks and despair in the vAnara ranks. Angered by the attack with the mountain peak, kumbhakarNa took his spear and determined to vanquish the vAnara lord, hurled at him.
That spear made of iron, coated with gold, hurled from the mighty arms of kumbhakarNa was racing towards sugrIva when the great son the wind god, hanumAn, leapt, caught it mid air and landing on the earth, broke it into two pieces using his thigh!!! The vAnaras were enthralled and roared like lions at this brave act and felicitated hanumAn who broke that huge spear.
The great demon was infuriated to see his mighty Sula broken thus and attacked sugrIva with a huge mountain peak. The projectile hit sugrIva and rendered him senseless. The giant approached the fallen sugrIva and carried him like the wind carries the clouds and thought that with sugrIva fallen, the vAnara army would be demoralized and that would be the end of it. He thought of it as a defining moment and captured sugrIva. As he carried the vAnara lord, the giant appeared like the mEru mountain with a very prominent peak! The gods despaired and so did the vAnaras as their lord was held captive by kumbhakarNa and he started to walk away from the battlefield. As hanumAn heard those shrill cries of the vAnaras at the loss of their lord, he reflected about what he should be doing now. He thought –
“I could well assume a huge body of mountainous proportions and destroy kumbhakarNa. The vAnara king would be freed then and the vAnaras will rejoice. Or, again, perhaps the vAnara lord is capable to freeing himself. He is capable of dealing with even the gods and the demons. Hit by the peaks, the vAnara lord has lost his senses and might take a while to recoup and recover. The moment he regains his consciousness, he will do what is best for himself and the vAnaras. If I free him from kumbhakarNa, he wouldn’t like it a bit and it will disenfranchise him for ever and ruin his reputation”.
Contemplating thus with enormous maturity in that crisis, hanumAn began to pacify the vAnara army and offer them hope. In the meanwhile, kumbhakarNa entered lanka and showed off his prized catch to all there. People rained flowers and parched rice on him from the terraces and balconies to felicitate him. As the fragrant flowers fell on him, by virtue of the fragrance and the gentle breeze on the highway, sugrIva got back to senses. Squeezed in the arms of kumbhakarNa, sugrIva began to look around and take note of the highways of lanka. He reflected on what he should be doing when captured thus which would bring delight to the vAnaras. Contemplating his actions, he grabbed the ears and nose of the giant with his hands, bit and ripped them off. Taken aback at the loss of the nose and ears, injured badly, kumbhakarNa at once threw sugrIva hard on the ground. Released thus from his clutches, sugrIva at once took the skies and like fast moving ball flew to where rAma was and reunited with him.
kumbhakarNa, bereft of his nose and ears, bled profusely like the praSravaNa mountain that was wet. Then, realizing that he was without a weapon (the spear was destroyed), he grabbed a club and headed back to the battlefield angrily. He got into the vAnara army and began to gobble the vAnaras one after the other like death engulfs the creation at the end of time. As he began to gobble them in hundreds, the vAnaras sought refuge in rAma.
As he ravaged thus, the mighty son of sumitrA, lakshmaNa got angry and came in his way and shot seven arrows at him and then raining barrage of arrows covered his armour with arrows. Then the giant demon addressed the delight of sumitrA and said in a thundering voice –
“I have conquered even the god of death in the battle, but you are standing bravely in front of me and battling me and thus giving a good account of your valour. One must be applauded to be even standing thus in front of me, let alone battling me. Even the lord of the gods, indra never dared to face me in the battle mounted on airAvata. However, today, O saumitri, even if you are young, you dared to stand in front of me and fight. However I won’t fight you now, I acknowledge you and would like to fight rAma alone today. Once I vanquish rAma, I will then go after all those who remain to fight and vanquish them”. As kumbhakarNa spoke thus in a manner that acknowledged the valour of lakshmaNa, the brother of rAma acknowledged him back and showed rAma who stood unmoved like a mountain and kumbhakarNa ran towards him as if he was ravaging the earth.
Then the dASarathI, rAma launched the raudrAstra and planted unerring arrows on the chest of kumbhakarNa. Hit thus by the astra of rAma, in utter pain, the demon began to run around in the battlefield going after the vAnaras and gobbling them. Aiming arrows at the weapons of the giant, rAma blew off his mace and club and rendered him weaponless. Realizing that he is without a weapon to fight, kumbhakarNa resorted to fist fight and kicking and waged a great battle. With blood flowing all over he resembled a mountain with waterfalls. He kept attacking the vAnaras and grabbing a big mountain peak, hurled at rAma which was negated by him with seven arrows. The giant then continued to ransack the vAnara army and gobble hundreds of them.
Then lakshmaNa said to rAma that kumbhakarNa seems disoriented and can’t differentiate between demons and vAnaras and was gobbling them indiscriminately. He therefore thought, his end was not far and asked the vAnaras to mount on him and fell him on the ground. However as they began to do so, kumbhakarNa got furious and like a rogue elephant attacked them ferociously. Recognizing that, rAma picked another bow with a stronger string and cast a death glare at kumbhakarNa. That bow resembled a mighty serpent, wielding which rAma pacified the vAnara ranks and accompanied by the vAnaras and lakshmaNa apprehended kumbhakarNa. He sighted the crowned and mighty repressor of the foes who was bleeding all over his body but still was attacking the vAnara ranks and felling many of them at once, licking blood and creating havoc.
Seeing him, rAma twanged his bow which reverberated all around. Unable to bear that twang, kumbhakarNa ran towards rAghava. Beholding the approaching giant of mountainous proportions, rAma said to him –
“Come on O chief of demons, don’t be sad. I am standing here wielding the bow. Know me to be the slayer of the clan of demons who will render you lifeless soon”.
Realizing rAma was in front of him, kumbhakarNa broke out into a crooked laughter and said to rAma –
“Know that I am not virAdha, kabandha or khara. I am neither vAli nor mAricha, know me to be kumbhakarNa. Look at this unimaginable club with which I have vanquished the gods in the past. You should not underestimate me since I am without my nose and ears. There is hardly any pain due to this loss. Come on, show your might on me and then I shall swallow you”.
Then rAma aimed at kumbhakarNa and hurled arrows continuously which hardly caused any discomfort to the giant making rAma think as to why those arrows which could uproot the sAl trees and fell vAli in one go are becoming impotent on kumbhakarNa even if they are unleashed like thunder. The rain of the arrows of rAma was negated by the swirling club of kumbhakarNa. Then he began to smash the vAnara army with his club. Then rAma called his weapon vAyavya and hurled it at kumbhakarNa which cut off his hand that was wielding the club. The giant hand which was of mountainous proportions fell on the vAnara army and killed many of them. Then with his left hand, kumbhakarNa uprooted trees and began to fight with that. rAma then called his weapon aindra and aiming at the demon, cut off his other hand rendering him handless. Then he took two crescent moon shaped arrows and cut off the feet of kumbhakarNa. There was utter cacophony of screams and despair in the demon ranks as a heavily bleeding kumbhakarNa ran towards rAma, unable to speak anything, making cooing sounds, Then, rAma invoked the brahmAstra which was splendorous like the sun, was verily like the destruction unleashed by the great deluge, which brought glory to indra, which had golden feathers, and hurled it at the speed of wind. That golden arrow, equal to the thunder in its potency, glowing brightly, left the arms of rAma and lighting up the ten quarters hit the neck of the demon chief and severed his head that was decorated with golden ear studs just like indra’s vajra severed the head of the demon vRtra.
That head which was severed by the arrow of rAma, shone like the moon in the middle of the punarvasu stars and crossing the high rises and buildings of lanka fell well in the city destroying the posts. The huge body of the demon fell in the sea waters crushing many an aquatic creature.
As the mighty kumbhakarNa, the enemy of the gods and brAhmins fell, the earth and the mountains shook and the gods screamed in joy. Then the gods, Rshis, serpents, yakshas, gandharvas and other celestial beings rejoiced and marvelled at the valour of rAma. The kith and the kin of the demons couldn’t believe it and were scared at the sight of rAma just like demons feel terrified at the sight of vishNu. Having slain kumbhakarNa, rAma emerged and shone like the splendorous sun released from the clutches of rAhu. The vAnaras were joyous at the death of a deadly enemy and felicitated rAma for having accomplished what they wanted him to.
Having vanquished kumbhakarNa who has vanquished gods many times and was undefeated, the elder brother of bharata, rAma rejoiced like indra did when he felled the demon vRtra.
Here we conclude the sixty seveth 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: 6.068. Ruinous feeling hits rAvaNa
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
