Hari Om.
Let us begin the sixtieth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.The battle was reaching its final stages with the long drawn list of warriors of the army of rAvaNa being eliminated one after the other by a determined and enterprising vAnara army of rAma. Finally rAvaNa came out accompanied by his yes men – mahOdara, mahApArSwa and virUpAksha, who could no longer hide! The demon king came out blazing putting the vAnara army into total disarray. They ran helter skelter finding it hard to face his attack. In the meanwhile, their king sugrIva saw their struggle and stepping into the battle, encountered the demon virUpAksha. They fought hard and finally sugrIva prevailed over him. There were two more to fall before rAvaNa could be targeted. Onwards…
In that great battle as the forces clashed with each other and kept eliminating their enemies, their numbers dwindled like the lilies in a hot summer. Seeing the strength of his army sliced and virUpAksha fall, rAvaNa was ever angrier. Reckoning that the tide had turned against him as he watched his army that was getting thinner, he addressed mahOdara who was by his side and said –
“O mighty armed, in such a time, I entrust you with my hope of victory. Come on, exhibit your valour and vanquish the enemy forces. Fight well, this is the time to repay your master”.
प्रक्षीणं तु बलं दृष्ट्वा वध्यमानं वलीमुखैः ।
बभूवास्य व्यथा युद्धे दृष्ट्वा दैवविपर्ययम् ।
उवाच च समीपस्थम् महोदरमरिन्दमम् ॥
Pressed thus, the great demon mahOdara entered the enemy forces like a firefly enters fire! That mighty warrior, spurred by the words of his master and his own valour, fought valiantly. As the vAnaras entered the army of demons and continued to heap misery on them by hurling boulders after large oulders at them, mahOdara was outraged and attacked them with his bow and arrows and dismembered them. Attacked fiercely by that demon, some vAnaras fled while others took shelter in sugrIva. Seeing his army lose its morale in the battle with mahOdara, sugrIva stepped in and approached mahOdara with an expansive boulder and threw it aiming mahOdara. Watching the oncoming boulder, mahOdara aimed at it and blasted it off with his precise arrows such that the boulders broke into splinters and scattered all over like a bunch of eagles. Outraged with his failed projectile which was negated thus, sugrIva plucked out a huge sAl tree and threw it aiming at the demon in the battle. Even that gigantic tree was knocked off with his arrows by the heroic mahOdara. Enraged by this additional failure, sugrIva looked around and found an iron beam (parigha) that was lying on the battlefield and picked it up. With the other end of that parigha, sugrIva assaulted his horses and knocked them off. Deserting his chariot that was without horses, mahOdara jumped off holding his mace and rushed to sugrIva.
The two warriors let out war cries wielding the mace and the parigha and hurled their weapons aimed at each other. The mace of mahOdara clashed with the parigha thrown by sugrIva in the skies and knocking it off kept traveling towards sugrIva. Then the illustrious sugrIva quickly picked an iron club that was plated with gold from the battlefield and hurled it at the oncoming mace. The two weapons clashed in the skies and fell in splinters. Copping many blows in the battle, the two heroes rose up like flame burning brightly and engaged in the combat with their arms. They kept hitting each other with their hands and roared loudly and got tired.
Then mahOdara noticed a sword fallen on the ground at some distance and picked it up. The ever so swift sugrIva also picked up another sword and squared up. Both of them faced off with each other moving in circular paths, ready to strike and both of them invested in and inspired by their victory. As mahOdara was still trying to pull the sword out of the leather scabbard, sugrIva took his sword and struck him severing his head from his body in one swoop!
As his corpse fell on the ground, the forces of the demon king quickly retreated. Having vanquished mahOdara, sugrIva let out joyous shouts along with the vAnaras that angered rAvaNa and delighted rAghava. The demons were much frightened and with long faces fled from there.
महोदरं तं विनिपात्य भूमौ महागिरेः कीर्णमिवैकदेशम् ।
सूर्यात्मजस्तत्र रराज लक्ष्म्या सूर्यः स्वतेजोभिरिवाप्रधृष्यः ॥
Having toppled the mighty mahOdara like breaking a peak of a mountain, the son of the sun (sugrIva) shone resplendently like the sun beams down (when the mountains can no longer block him). The victorious sugrIva was congratulated by the scores of gods, yakshas, sidhhas as also the earthlings who were ecstatic at his win.
Here we conclude the sixtieth 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: 6.098. angada clears the way for rAvaNa
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 