August 8 - Sargas 24 and 25 of Aranya Kanda.
Sri Rama sees that a huge dark cloud of a rakshasa army is descending on them. Meanwhile, he has sensed many omens that portend his victory over these rakshasas. Indeed the end to the rakashasa menace in Dandaka forest seems near at hand.
Sri Rama sternly instructs Lakshmana to proceed with Sita at once and protect her in the cave on top of the mountain nearby. He says he will deal with these rakshasas single-handed.
The gods assembled in the sky are somewhat worried to see Sri Rama facing such a mighty rakshasa army single-handedly.
There is a terrible battle. After hurling all their weapons at Sri Rama and sufficiently injuring his body, the rakshasas start seeing his superhuman prowess at war. He pretty much flattens the entire, diverse, army of Khara. Dushana has to deal with a decimated force and those warriors still alive but scared out of their wits.
***
सम्प्रहारस्तु सुमहान् भविष्यति न संशयः ।
अयमाख्याति मे भाहुः स्फुरमाणो मुहर्मुहुः ॥
"Dear Lakshmana, brave one, there is absolutely no doubt that there is going to be a huge battle. My right shoulder is repeatedly shaking in horripilation as a sign that the defeat of the enemy for certain."
तस्माद् गृहीत्व वैदेहीं शरपाणिधनुर्धरः ।
गुहमाश्रित्य शैलस्य दुर्गां पादपसंकुलाम् ॥
"Therefore, please escort Vaidehi to safety at once. Take all your weapons. Go to that cave surrounded by trees on top of the mountain."
प्रतिकूलितुमिच्छामि न हि वाक्यमिदं त्वया ।
शापितो मम पादाभ्यां गम्यतां वत्स मा चिरम् ॥
"My dear, you shall not counter my orders. I forswear you on the power of my feet (which Lakshmana has been always worshipping) that you shall obey my instruction to proceed with Sita to safety immediately."
Sri Rama says that he knows that Lakshmana is also entirely capable of dealing with the enemy, but Sri Rama wants to kill all these rakshasas single-handedly. Therefore Lakshmana should leave.
After Lakshmana and Sita leave, Sri Rama wears his armour, holds his weapons, and stand ready for battle. Valmiki compares Sri Rama arraigned with full weaponry, fiery with rage, to Lord Shiva himself holding the infallible Pinaki bow.
***
Khara attacks Rama with a thousand arrows. All his warriors hurl an uncountable number of weapons of all kinds, spears, battle axes, hammers, and so on, at Sri Rama. Sri Rama stands firm like Lord Shiva. He stands like the sea unaffected by the onrush of rivers. He looks like a majestic mountain unruffled by lightning bolts. Sri Rama starts to bleed from the many wounds that appear on his body as those weapons strike him, but he seems totally unconcerned.
***
ततो रामस्तु संकृद्धो मणडलीकृतकार्मुकः ।
ससर्ज निशितान् बाणाञ्छतशोऽथ सहस्रशः ॥
अन्तरिक्षगता रेजुर्दीप्ताग्निसमतेजसः ।
असङ्ख्येयास्तु रामस्य सायकाश्चापमण्धलात् ॥
तत्सैन्यं विविधैर्बाणैरर्दितं मर्मभेदिभिः ।
न रामेण सुखं लेभे शुष्कं वनमिवाग्निना ॥
"Then Sri Rama in terrible fury bent his bow almost full circle. He released extremely sharp arrows by the hundreds and thousands.
"Those arrows filled the sky and sparkled with a fiery glow. They were simply countless and continued to emerge from Sri Rama's bent bow in an unbroken flow.
"That army of Khara was pierced in its vitals by Sri Rama's arrows and each warrior was rent to death. Sri Rama's onslaught was unbearable as a forest conflagration and the army was decimated."
The soldiers that were alive ran helter-skelter. Some brave warriors rushed towards Rama with their weapons. In an instant, Sri Rama cut off all their heads with his arrows.
A few warriors that were left regrouped under Dushana. They now brought boulders, trees and other objects and started hurling them at Sri Rama. Sri Rama's arrows were countering those missiles even as they were in the sky and destroying them.
A stage came when the entire area was a terrible sight, full of broken chariots, shattered weapons, decapitated and rent bodies of thousands of soldiers and animals.
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
