January 7 - Sarga 69 (shlokas 70-96) and Sarga 70 of Yuddha Kanda.
I shall try and be brief today, as I am in a "Thank God it is Friday" mood, and have no appetite for detailed descriptions of the killing spree unleashed on his own folk by the intransigent and blindly selfish Ravana.
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ज्वलन्तं प्रासमुद्यम्य सङ्ग्रामाग्रे नारान्तकः ।
ददाह हरिसैन्यानि वनानिव विभावसुः ॥
"Like a blazing forest fire that burns every piece of forest life mercilessly, Narantaka unleashed his destructive fiery lance and killed entire swathes of vanara soldiers."
The vanaras had no time to gather their missiles and launch them. Many ran away, many lay low on the ground, but none escaped his deathly thrust.
Sugriva looked around and saw that this attack by Narantaka was no different from the one earlier by Kumbhakarna that had accounted for severe casualties among vanaras. He called out to Prince Angada and ordered,
गच्छैनं राक्षसं वीरं योऽसौ तुरगमास्थितः ।
क्षोभयन्तं हरिबलं क्षिप्रं प्राणैर्विसर्जय ॥
"Oh Prince, go at once and deal with this Narantaka, riding on his splendid horse, who is on a killing spree attacking our vanaras. Put an end to his life-breath, as otherwise our losses would be too great,"
Angada at once sprang into action. His very name meant one with divine bracelets. He now looked huge like a mountain that shines with precious minerals.
Angada, unarmed, confronted Narantaka, needling him to let go of ordinary soldiers and come instead with his lance at him. Narantaka thrust his lance at him in rage. But Angada's diamantine chest shattered that lance to pieces! Now Angada gave a terrific blow with his open palm to that splendid horse. That one blow killed the horse with his eyes and tongue gouged out. Narantaka was unable to take this, and he gave a hard blow to Angada's head, which started bleeding copiously. But unfazed, Angada attacked with his fist that went and shattered Narantaka in his chest. Narantka spat blood and collapsed to his death.
Narantaka's death at Angada's hands brought great cheer to the gods and the vanaras. Sri Rama himself commended the valorous prince.
***
Seeing Narantaka's end, the three - Devantaka, Trishiras, and Mahodara came together and attacked Angada. Angada was equal to their attack and counterattacked with a huge tree. Trishiras blew away that missile into bits. Then Angada rose in the sky and rained rocks and trees. But Mahodara used his parigha to destroy all those missiles. He also struck Angada on his chest with a thunderbolt-like tomara.
Devantaka also came and delivered a big blow to Angada and escaped. Angada was unperturbed. He now gave a fatal blow to Mahodara's elephant. He broke its tusk and rushed to attack Devantaka with it.
Devantaka took some time to recover, and then he struck Angada with his parigha. Angada was momentarily down but leapt up again. Meanwhile, Trishiras attacked Angada's forehead with deadly arrows.
Hanuman saw how Angada had to deal with a threesome attack. He rushed along with Nila there.
Trishiras successfully warded off the attack from Nila who rained rocks on him. Now Devantaka attacked Hanuman with his parigha. Hanuman leapt into the air to sidestep the blow and in turn gave a deadly blow with his diamantine fist to Devantaka's head while roaring terrifically. Devantaka's head shattered and he died a gruesome death.
Trishiras was still engaging Nila with his rain of arrows. Meanwhile, Mahodara found a new elephant to ride and mount his attack from. He also rained arrows on Nila. Nila fainted, presenting a bloody picture with the arrow wounds. But he soon recovered (remember these are not ordinary vanaras but special divine beings born to serve Sri Rama) and picked up a huge tree to strike Mahodara with. That one blow killed Mahodara as well as his elephant.
Trishiras was rattled, seeing his two brothers and uncle die. He attacked Hanuman with arrows. Hanuman launched a mountainous rock at him. But Trishiras was able to shatter that rock with his arrows. Hanuman now rained a whole lot of trees on him. But they were also futile. Hanuman now rushed and tore open (yes, tore open) the head of that splendid horse that Trishiras was riding, with his fingernails! Trishiras now resorted to a special Shakti to attack Hanuman. Hanuman saw that resplendent, divine Shakti coming at himself, caught it in midair, and broke it with his bare hands. This raised a huge cheer among the vanaras.
Trishiras picked up his sword and attacked. He struck Hanuman on his chest. Hanuman landed a big blow on Trishiras's chest with his fist. The rakshasa fainted. His sword slipped to the ground. Hanuman snatched that sword and struck terror among the rakshasas as he roared. That roar woke up Trishiras who now struck Hanuman with his fist. Hanuman was enraged. He caught Trishiras by his crown and using the same sword, cut off all the three heads of Trishiras with their crowns and ear ornaments. That was the end of Trishiras.
Mahaparshva had just witnessed the death of his brother and three of his nephews. He brought a huge iron mace, spiked and dripping with the remnants of his enemies, riding his elephant that compared to celestial elephants.
Rishabha, a famed vanara warrior who was the son of Lord Varuna, now confronted Mahaparshva. He was struck by that mace of Mahaparshva and tottered for a while. But soon, he was up and looked like a mountain as he rushed and gave a blow with his fist to Mahaparshva. Rishabha roared and snatched that mace as the rakshasa collapsed. But soon, Mahaparshva recovered and struck Rishabha. He lost consciousness momentarily but recovered to deal a blow to Mahaparshva with his own mace that he twirled a la Jadeja. The rakshasa tried his best to snatch back his mace but Rishabha was relentless. He soon killed Mahaparshva.
The rakshasa army had had enough. They dispersed in utter dismay, abandoning all their vehicles and weapons.
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
