Hari Om.
Let us begin the nintieth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
The battle between the princes lakshmaNa and indrajit was raging big time. Both of them were adept at the art of war and expert archers. indrajit usually attacked from the safety of invisibility without scope of retaliation and tried to prevail. Now that his ability to go invisible was negated by the destruction of the nikumbhilA sacrifice, he was forced to fight from the same ground and took quite a beating from lakshmaNa even though he hit back. The gods and the demons had never seen indrajit on the backfoot thus and were surprised. Momentarily vibhIshaNa took on the reins of the battle and tried to give lakshmaNa a breather. But the prince was back and fought indrajit on his own destroying his charioteer and horses. The vAnara warriors pitched in by destroying the horses and the chariot and completely grounded indrajit. Clearly lakshmaNa had the upper hand and it seemed the battle was going to be decisive. Onwards…
The night-ranger, the luminous indrajit, was livid with anger as he stood on the ground with his horses dead. The fight between him and lakshmaNa, eager to secure victory over the other, resembled that between two tusker in the forest. Even their armies fought each other valiantly and didn’t desert their leaders. Then, putting the demons into cheer, the son of rAvaNa praised them and said –
“O great demons, pitch darkness has enveloped everywhere and it is hard to distinguish our ranks from theirs. Keep the vAnaras engaged in this fight and I shall soon be back into the battle with a new chariot. Ensure that you keep the vAnaras busy and that those wicked fellows do not step up the attack after I have gone into the city”.
Saying so, he hoodwinked the vAnaras and the slayer of the unfriendly got into chariot that decked in fine gold tastefully and contained hundreds of darts and swords and yoked to strong horses and was being manoeuvred by an expert charioteer. Accompanied by large forces of the rAkshasas, the son of mandOdarI left the city for the battleground spurred by the power of the lord of death. The repressor of enemies, indrajit rode his chariot to where lakshmaNa and vibhIshaNa were. Both of them were surprised at the swiftness of indrajit to change his chariot so fast. The son of rAvaNa was seething with anger and he took a circular stance with his bow and began to dislodge the vAnaras with his attack. Unable to withstand his attack, the vAnaras sought refuge in lakshmaNa like people seek refuge in lord brahma at times of crisis.
The scion of raghu, responding to the vAnaras call, hurled unerring arrows displaying great skill at indrajit and broke his bow. indrajit immediately picked another bow and got ready which was also broken by lakshmaNa employing three arrows. As he looked at his broken bow, saumitrI unleashed five arrows that were seething like serpents, spitting venom and struck the son of rAvaNa. The five arrows pierced him and soaked in blood fell on the ground. With his bow broken and himself badly hit. Indrajit vomited blood and grabbing another more robust bow, he rained arrows on lakshmaNa. Feeling no panic whatsoever lakshmaNa shot all of them down and demonstrating his great mastery and control, he hit each demons with three arrow each and at the asme time overwhelmed indrajit with his attack. Hit all over with lakshmaNa’s arrows, indrajit was unable to even aim at lakshmaNa and shoot arrows that could reach him. Shooting his arrows down, lakshmaNa stepped up the attack severed the head of his charioteer. However, the well trained horses were unfazed and still moved very gracefully and accurately without a charioteer. Getting impatient with that, saumtrI struck the horses with arrows which enraged rAvaNI and he hit lakshmaNa with ten arrows. Those swift arrows, strong like the thunderbolt fell on the glittering golden armour of lakshmaNa and were destroyed. Sensing the armour to be impenetrable, indrajit hit three feathered arrows at the forehead of lakshmaNa and showed his mastery and deftness in deploying weapons. With those three arrows struck on his forehead, lakshmaNa shone forth like a three-peaked mountain. Swiftly, lakshmaNa responded to the demon with five arrows that hit the face and the ear studs of indrajit. Thus, attacking each other relentlessly, eager to win, hit all over their bodies with sharp and strong arrows, both lakshmaNa and indrajit were drenched in blood and shone like a kimsUka tree in full bloom.
Then taking aim at vibhIshaNa, a livid indrajit hit his face with three arrows and struck every vAnara warrior with one arrow. Displaying even more anger, vibHishaNa hurled his mace at indrajit and that killed his horses. Bereft of charioteer and horses, the wicked indrajit took the astra Sakti and hurled it aiming vibhIshaNa. Watching the irrepressible Sakti progressing towards vibhIshaNa, the delight of sumitrA, shot it down with unerring arrows and the weapon fell down on the earth broken into tens of pieces.
Taking his strong bow, vibhIshaNa shot five arrows at indrajit which were hard like the thunderbolt which pierced into his heart and fell down blood stained. Enraged at his uncle vibhIshaNa, indrajit summoned a divine astra given by yama and hurled it at him. Watching the great arrow approaching vibhIshaNa, lakshmaNa also summoned a mighty arrow that was given to him by kubEra himself in a dream which couldn’t be shot down even by the gods. The two intimidating arrows unleashed from strong bows faced each other screaming like the krauncha birds, collided repeatedly, gave rise to a bright fire in the skies and letting out smoke broke into a hundred pieces and fell on the ground.
Both the warrior felt embarrassed and enraged by the way their weapon was knocked down by the other. The very alert saumitrI immediately shot the wonderful weapon vAruNI which was struck down by the Raudra weapon of indrajit who was well set in the battle. Then the excited indrajit hurled the AgnEya astra as if wanting to destroy the worlds. The heroic lakshmaNa knocked that down using the saura weapon. Outraged by the way his weapon was knocked off, he deployed the devastating weapon Asura which spewed out several clubs, hammers, spears, maces, swords and other weapons and could bring the destruction of all beings and enemies. Beholding that oncoming weapon, lakshmaNa deployed the effulgent mAheSwara astra which nullified the projectile of indrajit.
The tumultuous battle between the two raised quite a terrifying din and was keenly watched by all the beings in skies with wonder. The Rshis, pitR dEvas, gods, gandharvas, garuDas, uragas as instructed by the lord indra were guarding lakshmaNa from above.
Then the younger brother of rAma set another arrow which had the touch of fire, sharp, round, feathered, golden and capable of tearing apart the son of rAvaNa and slay him. Unstoppable, unbearable, causing utter panic among the demons, this arrow which spitted venom is worshipped by the gods, since using this, in the gods-demons conflict of the yore, the great lord indra slayed the demons. That astra by name aindra (of indra) the best among the arrows, was set on the best of the bows by the best of the men!
तदैन्द्रमस्त्रं सौमित्रिः संयुगेष्वपराजितम् ।
शरश्रेष्ठं धनुः श्रेष्ठे विकर्षन्निदमब्रवीत् ।
लक्ष्मीवाँल्लक्ष्मणो वाक्यम् अर्थसाधकमात्मनः ॥
धर्मात्मा सत्यसन्धश्च रामो दाशरथिर्यदि ।
पौरुषे चाप्रतिद्वन्द्वः शरैनं जहि रावणिम् ॥
Having primed his bow and the unassailable arrow to slay the enemy, the embodiment of auspiciousness, lakshmaNa, bent upon achieving his mission, spoke meaningful words –
“If rAma is the son of daSaratha, if he is dharmAtma (righteous), if he abides by the truth and if he is peerless in his heroism, then may this arrow slay rAvaNi (indrajit)”. Saying so, he pulled the string of the bow all the way and hurled the arrow, aindrAstra aiming indrajit in that battle. The arrow travelled and as it hit him, his head, crown and dazzling ear studs severed from his body and fell down on the ground! That severed head poured out blood and the earth where it fell was drenched. At once, the armoured body of indrajit collapsed on the earth with his bow and other weapons thrown afar. Immediately all the vAnaras and vibhIshaNa yelled in joy like the dEvas did when the demon vRtra was slain. Likewise, the gods, Rshis and greats celebrated in the skies as did the gandharvas and apsaras.
Noticing that indrajit had fallen, the large army of the demons was chased by the vAnaras who were glowing in that glory. Chased thus, the demons, left their weapons and fled in all directions. Some of them entered lanka, some of them jumped off into the sea, some of them ran away into the mountains as the vAnaras went after them and not one of the thousands of the demons could be seen there. Just as the rays of light disappear upon setting of the sun, so did the demons disappear as indrajit fell. With his life force gone, indrajit resembled a set sun or a doused fire. The worlds secured peace as the son of the demon king was slain and lord indra was ecstatic along with the other gods.
The blowing of the trumpets could be heard from the skies and the apsaras and gandharvas indulged in celebratory dances. All the celestial beings were praising lakshmaNa and showered flowers from the skies. The elements were purified and the gods and (other) demons were delighted and descended. They pronounced the benediction for the brAhmaNas to give up their panic and be peaceful.
The vAnara warrior hanumAn , Rksha lord jAmbavAn, vibhIshaNa were joyous and congratulated lakshmaNa for slaying the best of the demons. The vAnaras yelled, roared and danced in delight as the scion of the raghus accomplished the mission and surrounded him. They made their tail taut and lashed it on the ground and hailed lakshmaNa. They hugged each other in great delight and loudly spoke about the exploits of rAghava.
The other gods (who were not watching the battle) heard about the great deed of slaying of the enemy of indra in the hands of their dear well wisher lakshmaNa and their minds attained supreme peace.
Here we conclude the nintieth 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: 6.091. lakshmaNa secures praise that matters
Previous: 6.089. indrajit grounded in an engaging battle
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
