Hari Om.
Let us begin the seventy ninth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
As his own sons, brothers and those of kumbhakarNa fell, he had almost no options left. His trump card, indrajit had soon to go for a decisive battle. He had inflicted damage on rAma’s army twice, but both times, they dramatically recovered and how! They were revived and rejuvenated and it showed in the way they fought after receiving the hammering from indrajit. In the meanwhile, rAvaNa saw makarAksha, the son of the long gone khara whose annihilation in the far away janasthAna along with his fourteen thousand associates in the hands of rAma [see 3.30] sent alarm bells. It is not clear how rAvaNa thought khara’s son can accomplish what neither his father nor any of the other more noted warriors could, but he asked him to go to the battle. The son of khara, makarAksha set off braving the omens to face rAma himself in the battle. Onwards…
The vAnara warriors beheld the oncoming makarAksha and at once swug into action, eager for the battle. A fierce combat broke out between the demons and the vAnaras which was hair-raising. The trees flung by the vAnaras were meeting with the spears of the demons and the boulders were clashing with iron clubs. The demons fought with Sakti, swords, maces, javelins, darts, clubs and rained arrows. They also wielded noose, shafts, hammers and crowbars. They were unable to stand the barrage of arrows shot by the son of khara and were terrified by the assault. Beholding the enemy so terrified and looking for cover, the demons were ecstatic and celebrated with loud roars.
rAma put an end to their celebrations with his attack and seeing the celebration of the demons cut short by rAma, a livid makarAksha said –
“hey rAma, wait a moment, fight me and I shall relieve you of your life with the sharp arrows that I will unleash. Then in danDakAraNya you had vanquished my father and to see the culprit right in front of me I am enraged. You wicked one, the fire of revenge is sweeping through every limb of mine. Fortunately, you had not sighted me in the forest then. You have seen me today and I am like a hungry lion prowling on its prey. You shall be rendered dead by the fierceness of my arrows and unite with all those warriors whom you have slayed.
Oh, why waste so many words, listen O rAma, come on, let the whole world watch our combat. Come on carry your weapons or mace or come for a armed combat, in which ever you have expertise”.
rAma broke into a smile on hearing the sledges of makarAksha and perfectly capable of giving a befitting reply, he said –
“O demon, why are you blabbering so much, I have seen many like you! In a battle it is not possible to win by simply sledging without fighting. In the janasthAna, I had slain fourteen thousand demons including your father khara, triSirA and dUshaNa. You sinner, today the sharp nailed and strong beaked will feast on your flesh and be satiated”.
Replied thus by rAghava, the son of khara, makarAksha unleashed his arrows at him. That rain of arrows was intercepted by rAma’s own arrows and all those thousands of golden feathered arrows fell down on the ground, negated. The battle between the sons of khara and daSaratha was fierce and the clash of their arrows in the skies resulted in tumultuous sound like the clash of the clouds resulting in thunder.
All the gods, gandharvas and other celestial beings as well as demons converged in the skies to behold the great battle that was unfolding. When one the other with arrows, their zeal for a fight only enhanced and each was doing to the other what was being done to them! They unleashed so many arrows that the sky was full of them and it reduced the illumination.
Then stepping up his attack, the mighty armed rAma broke the bow of the demon and with eight other arrows slayed his charioteer. Then with another barrage of arrows, rAma killed the horses and destroyed the chariot of the demon. The son of khara, makarAksha was standing exposed on the ground bereft of his chariot, but wielding his weapon, the spear, he looked quite menacing and terrified all the beings in the creation as if he was going to herald the end of creation. That redoubtable spear was conferred on him by lord rudra and seeing this even the gods fled in fear. It was dazzling with a great glow and ready to raze. He swirled that spear and hurled it hard with rage aimed at rAghava in the battle.
The diligent rAghava sighted the oncoming spear and shot it down in the sky with three arrows and it fell down broken into pieces like a meteor on the ground. All the gods and celestial beings hailed and celebrated the spear shot down thus by rAma. Seeing his spear come to nought, the demon makarAksha clenched his fist and ran towards rAma challenging him to stay his ground.
Welcoming the oncoming demon with a smile, rAma deployed the weapon of the fire god, AgnEyAstra and hit by that divine weapon, the demon fell down dead. Watching their leader felled by rAma in the battle, the remaining demons ran away fearing the arrows of rAma. The gods beheld the slaying of the night ranger, the son of khara by the swift arrows of rAma and were joyous as it resembled a mountain splitting into splinters when hit by the thunderbolt.
Here we conclude the seventy ninth 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: 6.080. indrajit back to the battle
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 