Hari Om.
Let us begin the sixty eighth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
As one warrior after the other kept falling in the hands of the determined vAnara army, rAvaNa thought of unleashing the brute force of his giant brother kumbhakarNa. Imagining that to be an unbeatable move, he employed thousands of demons to wake the sleeping giant with a great effort. The giant went to rAvaNa, admonished him for the misadventure of taking rAma on, but blackmailed emotionally by the self-serving king and the elder brother went to the battlefield and unleashed terror. There was no warrior who didn’t taste the wrath of kumbhakarNa. However they bravely engaged with him until they fell down without senses. The giant even captured the fallen hero sugrIva and began doing a victory lap on the streets of lanka with the senseless vANara warrior on his shoulders. The gentle breeze of the sea and the freshness of the flowers thrown on the assumed victor kumbhakarNa helped sugrIva to regain his senses and he bit off the nose and ears of kumbhakarNa before being thrown off and reuniting with rAma. Finally, rAma came and took kumbhakarNa on. His astras rendered kumbhakarNa weapon-less and finally with the supreme astra of lord brahma, rAma felled kumbhakarNa. The vAnara army took one more step, a huge one, towards their victory. Onwards…
Watching kumbhakarNa fall in the battle in the hands of the redoubtable rAma, the demons ran to rAvaNa and submitted to him –
“O king, your brother kumbhakarNa, who was verily like death, tormented by the arrows of rAma, became history. He showed his valour for quite a while and ransacked the vANara army, inflicted lot of damage and swallowed many but ultimately fell to rAma. Badly hit everywhere, tha mangled remains of his body, made for a terrible sight as he fell in the ocean. His severed without nose and ears fell in front of the entrance of lanka and blocked it. His end resembled that of a tree burnt down by fire”.
Learning about his brother’s fall in the battle, rAvaNa wailed and fainted. His sons dEvantaka, narAntaka, triSirA and atikAya wept as they were pained by their uncle’s death. mahOdara and mahApArSva grieved inconsolably as they learnt about the fall of their brother. With great difficulty rAvaNa regained his senses and wept inconsolably at this loss and lamented –
“O mighty kumbhakarNa, hero, the vanquisher of the enemies’ pride, alas, you are headed to the abode of yama leaving me behind. O my powerful brother, you removed my thorns as well as those your kin and where are you headed now leaving me behind? Alas, with my right hand gone, under whose shelter I never feared even the gods, I am now as good as dead.
इदानीं खल्वहं नास्मि यस्य मे दक्षिणो भुजः ।
पतितो यं समाश्रित्य न बिभेमि सुरासुरात् ॥
Alas, how did such a warrior who repressed the pride of the gods and demons like the fire at the end of time fell today to rAghava in the battle? Oh, how you could fall to the arrow of rAma when you were hardly troubled by even the vajra (thunderbolt) of indra?
यस्य ते वज्रनिष्पेषो न कुर्याद्व्यसनं सदा ।
स कथं रामबाणार्तः प्रसुप्तोऽसि महीतले ॥
These gods and the Rshis in the heavens would be rejoicing today at your fall. Your fall would have boosted the morale of the vANaras and in that excitement they would be all over lanka. Alas, I have no joy left in ruling this kingdom. What will I do with sItA or even with my very life with kumbhakarNa gone. If I don’t slay rAghava, the slayer of my brother in the battle, there is just no meaning in my being alive. I want to go today where my brother has gone and I have no interest in living even for a moment without him. Seeing someone who have tormented them before, the gods will now jeer at me. Alas, with kumbhakarNa fallen, how will I win over indra now?
तदिदं मामनुप्राप्तम् विभीषणवचः शुभम् ।
यदज्ञानान्मया तस्य न गृहीतं महात्मनः ॥
Here I reap the result of foolishly not heeding to the advice of the great vibhIshaNa. The consequence of ignoring the advice of vibhIshaNa, kumbhakarNa and prahasta is mortifying. I am indeed reaping the result of having expelled the dhArmika vibhIshaNa from my court earlier!
Here we conclude the sixty seventh 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: 6.069. Demons seek revenge, narAntaka nullified
Previous: 6.067. The undefeated giant falls to rAma
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
