December 19 - sargas 42 and 43 of Yuddha Kanda.
The war begins. The vanaras gain the upper hand.
***
The rakshasas went and reported to Ravana that the city was under siege. He lost his temper. He ordered that the forces defending the gateways be doubled in strength. Then he ascended the terrace to see for himself. He saw that the vanaras on the attack had covered every inch of land including forests and peaks.
स दृष्ट्वा वानरैः सर्वैर्वसुधां कपिलीकृताम् ।
कथं क्षपयितव्याः स्युरिति चिन्तापरोऽभवत् ॥
"Seeing that the vanaras had covered the whole earth with their reddish brown colour, Ravana fell into thought on how to ward off this attack." After a long chain of thought, he again looked at Sri Rama and his army on the attack.
राघवः सह सैन्येन मुदितो नाम पुप्लुवे ......जगाम सहसां सीताम् - "Sri Rama was in a cheerful mood, surrounded by his able army, and looked at how Lanka was being defended on all sides by rakshasas. But then again, his mind went to Sita", and how she was imprisoned and tormented constantly. His grief was immense.
He pulled himself together with great determination.
क्षिप्रमाज्ञापद्रामो वानरान् द्विषतां वधे - "Sri Rama gave the order to the vanaras to attack at once and destroy the enemy."
The vanaras filled the skies with their ear-splitting cries and attacked. They were going to rain rocks, huge boulders, trees, and use their iron-like fists and sharp teeth to destroy the rakshasas and all their buildings.
Ravana saw these mighty vanaras scale the ramparts of Lanka. The vanaras were ready to die for Sri Rama. They were shining in brownish golden colour. They started breaking down the gateways. They filled up all the moats and water bodies with trees, mud, and rocks. The huge vanaras were roaring, leaping into the air, and breaking down walls, shattering buildings and towers in plenty.
जयत्युरुबलो रामो लक्ष्मणश्च महाबलः ।
राजा जयति सुग्रीवो राघवेणाभिपालितः ॥
"The vanaras were repeatedly crying "Victory to the redoubtable hero Sri Rama, the immensely powerful Lakshmana! Victory to our great king Sugriva, who is under the care of Sri Rama himself!"
Nala, Panasa, Subahu, and Virabahu climbed on the big walls of Lanka and camped there. Kumuda lay siege to the eastern gateway with his immense vanara army. Soon other vanara warriors joined him. The southern gateway was attacked by Shatabali.
Queen Tara's father Sushena, a mighty warrior, attacked the western gateway. Sri Rama, Lakshmana, and Sugriva took hold of the northern gateway. Dhumra, the fantastic warrior, with his millions-strong bear army, stood on Sri Rama's side.
Vibhishana was wearing his armour and holding his gada, and stood with his lieutenants on Sri Rama's flank. Gaja, Gavaksha, Sharabha and Gandhamadana were giving cover to all the vanaras, moving around swiftly.
An enraged Ravana ordered the rakshasas to respond. They roared and beat their war drums. Millions of conches were blown. The dark-coloured rakshasas wearing gold ornaments and blowing white conches looked like clouds behind the flight of cranes. As the rakshasas descended into battle, the vanaras' roars grew even louder. Valmiki says that soon the medley of noises of chariots, elephants, horses and the cries of the warriors filled the sky. ocean, and land like never before.
Rakshasas met vanaras with deadly weapons and started hitting them. The vanaras were targetting them with huge rocks, and trees, and catching them and hurting them with their fierce teeth.
Cries of "Victory to Sugriva", "Victory to Ravana", rent the air. The rakshasas climbed the walls and aimed hard at the vanaras on the ground and hurt them. The vanaras leapt into the sky and hit the rakshasas from above and would crush them with their arms. Soon the earth was full of flesh and blood.
***
Both sides were highly provoked. Mighty rakshasas, wearing glittering ornaments, carrying shining deadly weapons, mounted on horses, elephants and chariots, were on the attack, crying, "Victory to Ravana." Undeterred, the vanaras counterattacked them, taking the name of Sri Rama.
Then it became a one-on-one fight.
Angada-Indrajit, Tryambaka-Andhaka, Sampati-Prajangha, Hanuman-Jambumali, Vibhishana-Shatrughna, and so on battled. Gaja fought with Tapana, Nila with Nikumbha. Sugriva fought Praghasa, Lakshmana with Virupaksha.
Agniketu, Rashmiketu, Suptaghna, Yajnakopa all attacked Sri Rama. Mainda fought with Vajramushti, Dvivida with Ashaniprabha, and so on. The redoubtable rakshasa Pratapana fought with Nala who had incredible speed. The vanara warrior Sushena encountered Vidyunmali. This way there were many matchups and fierce fighting.
There was a river of blood. Corpses floated down. The fallen hairs looked like algae.
Indrajit struck Angada hard with his mace. But Angada caught hold of that mace in an instant, and using it destroyed Indrajit's chariot, horses, and his charioteer too. Prajangha struck Sampati with three arrows. Sampati responded with an Ashvakarna tree and killed him. Jambumali on his chariot struck Hanuman with a weapon called rathashakti on his breast. Hanuman leaped up and with just a blow with his palm killed the raksasa.
Pratapana roared terrifyingly as he attacked and injured Nala with sharp arrows. Nala struck him so hard that his eyes popped out.
Praghasa was causing many casualties among vanaras. Seeing this, Sugriva picked up a huge tree called Saptaparna and smashed him to death.
Lakshmana shot many deadly arrows that incapacitated Virpaksha. Then with a final arrow, he killed him.
The four rakshasas all surrounded Sri Rama and hurt him with their arrows. Sri Rama was enraged and picked up arrows that shot flames and decapitated all four of them.
Mainda's one blow destroyed Vajramushti and his chariot and horses.
Nila who was charcoal black in colour faced arrows from Nikumbha who shot a hundred arrows with great success and roared in laughter. Nila decided to end the fight. He plucked one of the giant wheels of Nikumbha's chariot and used it like Vishnu's discus and killed Nikumbha and his charioteer.
Dvivida threw a giant mountain-like boulder at the rakshasa Ashaniprabha to the astonishment of the rakshasa army. But Ashaniprabha survived and shot diamantine arrows that pierced Dvivida. His body was studded with arrows and bleeding a lot. Dvivida was enraged and picked up a sala tree and with one stroke killed his enemy with his chariot and all.
Vidyunmali hurt Sushena badly with his arrows. Sushena flattened his chariot with a piece of a mountain. Vidyunmali ejected in time and approached him with a mace. Sushena chased him with a boulder. Vidyunmali managed to strike him on his chest. Sushena, unmindful, threw the boulder at the rakshasa's chest. Vidyunmali lost his life and lay dead, his heart shattered into a thousand pieces.
निहन्यमाना हरिपुङ्गवैस्तदा
निशाचराः शोणितगन्धमूर्च्छिताः।
पुनः सुयुद्धं तरसा समाश्रिता
दिवाकरस्यास्तमयाभिकाङ्क्षिणः॥
Thus the vanaras killed the rakshasas like the gods had once done to the demons. The battlefield was most gruesome with the corpses of soldiers from both sides, horses, elephants, weapons, and broken chariots. The rakshasas were stimulated by the smell of blood all around and bided their time as night approached.
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
