August 9 - Sargas 26 and 27 of Aranya Kanda.
After Sri Rama decimates the large contingent of rakshasas with his Gandharvastra, Dushana decides to make another decisive effort.
After Dushana's death, another terrific warrior Trishiras (three heads) attacks Sri Rama and even hurts his forehead. Sri Rama finishes him off also.
Khara enters the fray.
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Dushana marshalls his forces again. He orders five thousand warriors to attack Sri Rama. They all hurl deadly missiles of all kinds - rocks, trees, maces, spears, swords, all at once on Sri Rama. Valmiki says that all these weapons did not bother Sri Rama and he stood firm in battle just as a bull stands in heavy rain unperturbed.
Sri Rama countered the attack with his shower of infallible arrows. Valmiki says that no one could see him actually releasing the arrows. It was all over in a flash. One only saw the rakshasa warriors dying.
Sri Rama then brought down Dushana's chariot. He killed the four horses. He released a crescent-tipped arrow that decapitated the charioteer. This enraged Dushana.
Stranded on the ground, he invoked his ultimate weapon, called paridha. It was a kind of spear but it had a multidimensional array of sharp objects and deadly parts. It had soaked up the marrow of many enemies. It was huge like a cloud. It could eliminate even an army of gods. It was sure to spell death to the enemy.
तं महोरगसङ्काशं पृगृह्य परिघं रणे ।
दूषणोभ्यपतद् रामं क्रूरकर्मा निशाचरः ॥
तस्याभिपतमानस्य दूषणस्य च राघवः ।
द्वाभ्यां शराभ्यां चिच्छेद सहस्ताभरणौ भूजौ. ॥
"Dushana, that merciless killer rakshasa, then picked up his parigha, which looked like a monstrous, dragon-like serpent.
" Just as Dushana was about to launch it, Sri Rama released two deadly arrows that cut off Dushana's two shoulders with ornamented hands."
The effect was that Dushana fell to the ground like a tusker falls when his giant tusks are broken. His parigha rolled to the ground like a fallen flagstaff. Dushana died on the spot.
Seeing him dead, a dozen warriors of Khara came and attacked Sri Rama. There is much detail about their names and how each one was attended to by Sri Rama. Suffice it to say that they were all killed soon.
I must at this point say how fascinating are all the battle descriptions by Valmiki. Obviously, we belong to a civilization with a big history of weaponry and war tactics and manoeuvres. At the same time, as we discussed early on about the weapons that were bestowed on Vishwamitra and subsequently given to Sri Rama, these were not passive elements. They were endowed with supernatural powers and did the bidding of the warrior who owned them rightfully.
So when the parigha is going to be released by Dushana, what does Sri Rama do? He incapacitates the warrior and hence nullifies that superweapon.
***
Khara is infuriated by the debacle so far. He picks up a thunderbolt of a weapon and begins to attack Sri Rama. But he is stopped by Trishiras, his mighty commander. He tells his king Khara, "please allow me to go and kill the enemy. If I kill Rama, you can go back happy to Janasthana. On the other hand, if I am killed, you can personally take on Rama."
Khara is pleased. Trishiras is like a mountain with three peaks. He boards a mighty chariot and goes towards Sri Rama. A terrific battle ensues. Each launches countless deadly arrows at the other. In fact, three of Trishiras's arrows go and wound Sri Rama's forehead. Sri Rama comments that Trishiras is indeed a great warrior and managed to cause three wounds that feel like flowers on his forehead.
Sri Rama then decides to end the game. He launches fourteen arrows at Trishiras. He decimates his four horses with four arrows. He kills the charioteer with eight arrows. He brings down the flagstaff with an arrow. Then Trishiras, seeing that he is being finished off, decides to make a run for his life. As he is running away, Sri Rama sends three sharp arrows at his three heads and kills him.
Khara's army runs helter-skelter.
तान् खरो द्रवतो दृष्ट्वा निर्वर्त्य रुषितस्वयम् ।
राममेवाभिदुद्राव राहुश्चन्द्रमसं यथा ॥
"Seeing his army dispersing in utter fear of death, Khara was enraged. He personally commandeered them to regroup and fight. He decided to attack Sri Rama himself and launched himself like Rahu engulfs Chandra during an eclipse."
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॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
