6.103. Charioteer saves his fear-stricken master

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.As the battle pressed on between rAma and rAvaNa, the entire host of celestial beings hastened to witness it. As stated in the bAla kAnDam, the purpose of the descent of vishNU in the household of daSaratha was to slay rAvaNa whose atrocities were weighing down the good on the earth. Lord vishNU not only agreed but also said that he shall rule over the earth for a period of eleven thousand years when he incarnates as rAma. In any case, the first milestone of the incarnation was around the corner as rAvaNa and rAma engaged in a gripping battle. While rAma fought standing on the ground, rAvaNa fought from his stunning and well-equipped chariot. This didn’t seem to bother rAma but it bothered the gods whose remit rAma was carrying out! Hence they requested their lord indra to despatch his chariot from which rAma could fight rAvaNa. The lord of the gods readily agreed and summoning his expert charioteer mAtali, he ordered him to go to the service of rAma. The grand chariot arrived on the battlefield. rAma got on and expertly navigated by mAtali, he continued his battle to vanquish rAvaNa who was proving to be quite an obstacle. Onwards…

Overwhelmed and oppressed by rAma, rAvaNa, the celebrated warrior was infuriated. Reddening his eyes with anger, he brought forth his bow and rained arrows at rAma in the great battle. It was as if clouds were pouring without a break. rAvaNa hurled so many arrows at rAma that it could fill an entire lake! However, even if he was attacked relentlessly, rAma was not perturbed, just like a huge mountain treats rain with disdain, rAma also hurled the arrows back and negated the demon’s attack. Then launching a thousand arrows, rAvaNa hurt rAma on his chest. Bleeding from those hits, rAma shone like a fully bloomed kimSuka (forest flames) tree in the forest. Then, a furious rAma also hit back with extreme dexterity and a gripping battle ensued. The earth went dark as the sheer number of arrows in the skies blocked sunlight and hardly anything could be spotted.

Then an angry rAma sneered at rAvaNa and upbraided him –

“Your valour is in question, O worst among the demons since you abducted my wife from the janasthAna without my knowledge. Do you consider yourself a hero by abducting her in my absence from the huge forest? O warrior, coveter of others’ wives, womanizer, having resorted a cowardly act you consider yourself a hero?

You are a transgressor of moral conduct, bereft of shame, ignoble in your conduct! You have coveted death through your conceit and you are considering yourself a hero!?

भिन्नमर्याद निर्लज्ज चारित्रेष्वनवस्थित ।
दर्पान्मृत्युमुपादाय शूरोऽहमिति मन्यसे ॥

O great warrior, brother of kubEra, you have amasses such an army and fame and indulged in such great deeds (#sarcasm alert)! It is time for you to reap the results of the despicable and ignoble acts that you have committed out of your conceit. You are thinking of yourself as a hero, you wicked fellow, you had no shame whatsoever to steal sItA like a thief. If only you had tried to show your force on her in my presence, that very day you would have met your brother khara.

शूरोऽहमिति चात्मानम् अवगच्छसि दुर्मते ।

नैव लज्जाऽस्ति ते सीताम् चोरवद् व्यपकर्षतः ॥

You crook, fortunately you have fallen in my line of sight today and I shall despatch you to the abode of yama with my sharp arrows. Your heads studded with glowing ear pendants will be severed by me today and the scavengers shall feast on it as they lie scattered in the battlefield. The vultures will swoop on to your chest and delight in drinking your blood that emerges from the arrows which pierce you. The vultures will feast on your body felled by my arrows like they relish serpents. I shall release the pent up anger I suffered on account of the abduction of sItA on you”.

With these strong words, the demolisher of foes, rAma rained a torrent of arrows on rAvaNa. His valour enhanced manifold as his thrill multiplied in the battle and that reflected in the deployment of his weapons and his determination to vanquish the foe. His dexterity and fluency came to the fore and the astras appeared seamlessly and were deployed swiftly. He could feel the ease with which he was now battling and these surely seemed to good omens. Taking advantage of these, he pummelled rAvaNa with torrents of arrows. On one side, the rain of boulders from the vAnaras and on the other the downpour of arrows from rAghava – both these together sank the heart of rAvaNa. As his self esteem hit an all time low and he could not muster the strength to fight back and shoot an arrow, and even the arrows he shot could hardly make a dent, his diligent charioteer, the navigator of his chariot noticed his impotence and slowly withdrew the chariot out of the battlefield. Hit by rAma all over, a wary rAvaNa briefly had a fall and the thoughtful charioteer slowly deflected the chariot from the thick of action. His chariot made a rumbling sound like the clouds as he went off the field in response to the insipid display of rAvaNa in the fight.