Hari Om.
Let us begin the seventy eighth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Seeing the six warriors including the valiant kumbha felled by the vAnara warriors, the rAkshasa nikumbha jumped into the fray and began to thrash the vAnaras all around. Seeing them getting battered, hanumAn swung into the action. He took nikumbha head on. They clashed and even the mighty hanumAn was put under duress by the valiant nikumbha who even tried to carry him off. But blessed with great presence of mind, hanumAn landed a solid blow and freeing himself up, pummelled nikumbha and throwing him down on the ground, jumped on him and killed him by twisting his hands with his bare hands! The peerless might of hanumAn was seen with astonishment by everyone. It energized the vAnaras and the demons fled into lanka to report the matter to their king. Onwards…
The demon king rAvaNa, upon learning about the fall of both kumbha and nikumbha, leapt up like a flame in indignance and lost his senses in both anger and grief. He then summoned the son of khara, makarAksha who had broad eyes and ordered –
“O son, go at once accompanied by the forces and vanquish rAma, lakshmaNa and those forest dwellers”. Responding to the order of rAvaNa, the son of khara, who thought of himself as a great warrior, leapt in joy in agreement and bowed to the ten headed king after circumambulating him. He then exited the palace of rAvaNa and approaching the superintendent of the army depot, asked him to get him a chariot and the army ready.
Hearing his instruction, the chief of the depot arranged a chariot and army for him. He circumambulated the chariot and asked the charioteer to get ready quickly to carry him to the battle.
He then addressed the accompanying army and said –
“All of you fight in front of me, O demons. I have been instructed by the great demon king rAvaNa to vanquish both rAma and lakshmaNa today in the battle. I shall today slay rAma as well as lakshmaNa and also the beast of the branches sugrIva and his associates with the best of my arrows. The vAnara army will be annihilated by me today like the conflagration destroys the dried firewood”.
Responding to the call off makarAksha, mighty warriors carrying a variety of weapons came to the fore. They could assume any form, sported crooked canines and had brown eyes. With their hair dishevelled and flowing, they let out loud roars like intoxicated elephants and were terrifying. Accompanying the gigantic son of khara, they giants walked ahead causing tremors on the earth and blowing trumpets and blasting conches.
As the chariot set out, the whip slipped from the hands of the charioteer and the flag fell down! The horses yoked to the chariot lost their rhythm and with their steps not in unison, they presented a sorry figure and ambled aimlessly. Strong winds blowed kicking up quite a bit of dust as the wicked makarAksha set out to the battle.
Although the valiant demons witnessed these bad omens, yet, they didn’t think much of it and headed to where rAma and lakshmaNa were. The war veterans, demons, adept in the skills of war, scarred more than once in the past battles with swords and maces, dark in color like the buffaloes and elephants vied with each other to strike first.
Here we conclude the seventy 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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Next: 6.079. rAma slays makarAksha
Previous: 6.077. nikumbha nixed by hanumAn
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
