The Ramayana by Valmiki (ink book reader TXT) 📕

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glory undefiled,
When Nandi(455) stands beside his lord,
And King Himálaya's child.(456)

Canto XVII. Súrpanakhá.

The bathing and the prayer were o'er;
He turned him from the grassy shore,
And with his brother and his spouse
Sought his fair home beneath the boughs.
Sítá and Lakshman by his side,
On to his cot the hero hied,
And after rites at morning due
Within the leafy shade withdrew.
Then, honoured by the devotees,
As royal Ráma sat at ease,
With Sítá near him, o'er his head
A canopy of green boughs spread,
He shone as shines the Lord of Night
By Chitrá's(457) side, his dear delight.

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his cap and coronet.

Borne on a bannered car that glowed

With golden sheen the warrior rode,

And footmen marched with spear and sword

And bow and mace behind their lord.

In pomp and pride of warlike state

They sallied from the southern gate,

But saw, as on their way they sped,

Dread signs around and overhead.

For there were meteors falling fast,

Though not a cloud its shadow cast;

And each ill-omened bird and beast,

Forboding death, the fear increased,

While many a giant slipped and reeled,

Falling before he reached the field.

They met in mortal strife engaged,

And long and fierce the battle raged.

Spears, swords uplifted, gleamed and flashed,

And many a chief to earth was dashed.

A ceaseless storm of arrows rained,

And limbs were pierced and blood-distained.

Terrific was the sound that filled

The air, and every heart was chilled,

As hurtling o'er the giants flew

The rocks and trees which Vánars threw.

Fierce as a hungry lion when

Unwary deer approach his den, [pg 467]

Angad, his eyes with fury red,

Waving a tree above his head,

Rushed with wild charge which none could stay

Where stood the giants' dense array.

Like tall trees levelled by the blast

Before him fell the giants fast,

And earth that streamed with blood was strown

With warriors, steeds, and cars o'erthrown.

Canto LIV. Vajradanshtra's Death.

The giant leader fiercely rained

His arrows and the fight maintained.

Each time the clanging cord he drew

His certain shaft a Vánar slew.

Then, as the creatures he has made

Fly to the Lord of Life for aid,

To Angad for protection fled

The Vánar hosts dispirited.

Then raged the battle fiercer yet

When Angad and the giant met.

A hundred thousand arrows, hot

With flames of fire, the giant shot;

And every shaft he deftly sent

His foeman's body pierced and rent.

From Angad's limbs ran floods of gore:

A stately tree from earth he tore,

Which, maddened as his gashes bled,

He hurled at his opponent's head.

His bow the dauntless giant drew;

To meet the tree swift arrows flew,

Checked the huge missile's onward way,

And harmless on the earth it lay.

A while the Vánar chieftain gazed,

Then from the earth a rock he raised

Rent from a thunder-splitten height,

And cast it with resistless might.

The giant marked, and, mace in hand,

Leapt from his chariot to the sand,

Ere the rough mass descending broke

The seat, the wheel, the pole and yoke.

Then Angad seized a shattered hill,

Whereon the trees were flowering still,

And with full force the jagged peak

Fell crashing on the giant's cheek.

He staggered, reeled, and fell: the blood

Gushed from the giant in a flood.

Reft of his might, each sense astray,

A while upon the sand he lay.

But strength and wandering sense returned

Again his eyes with fury burned,

And with his mace upraised on high

He wounded Angad on the thigh.

Then from his hand his mace he threw,

And closer to his foeman drew.

Then with their fists they fought, and smote

On brow and cheek and chest and throat.

Worn out with toil, their limbs bedewed,

With blood, the strife they still renewed,

Like Mercury and fiery Mars

Met in fierce battle mid the stars.

A while the deadly fight was stayed:

Each armed him with his trusty blade

Whose sheath with tinkling bells supplied,

And golden net, adorned his side;

And grasped his ponderous leather shield

To fight till one should fall or yield.

Unnumbered wounds they gave and took:

Their wearied bodies reeled and shook.

At length upon the sand that drank

Streams of their blood the warriors sank,

But as a serpent rears his head

Sore wounded by a peasant's tread,

So Angad, fallen on his knees,

Yet gathered strength his sword to seize;

And, severed by the glittering blade,

The giant's head on earth was laid.

[I omit Cantos LV, LVI, LVII, and LVIII, which relate how Akampan and Prahasta sally out and fall. There is little novelty of incident in these Cantos and the results are exactly the same as before. In Canto LV, Akampan, at the command of Rávaṇ, leads forth his troops. Evil omens are seen and heard. The enemies meet, and many fall on each side, the Vánars transfixed with arrows, the Rákshases crushed with rocks and trees.

In Canto LVI Akampan sees that the Rákshases are worsted, and fights with redoubled rage and vigour. The Vánars fall fast under his “nets of arrows.” Hanumán comes to the rescue. He throws mountain peaks at the giant which are dexterously stopped with flights of arrows; and at last beats him down and kills him with a tree.

In Canto LVII, Rávaṇ is seriously alarmed. He declares that he himself, Kumbhakarṇa or Prahasta, must go forth. Prahasta sallies out vaunting that the fowls of the air shall eat their fill of Vánar flesh.

In Canto LVIII, the two armies meet. Dire is the conflict; ceaseless is the rain of stones and arrows. At last Níla meets Prahasta and breaks his bow. Prahasta leaps from his car, and the giant and the Vánar fight on foot. Níla with a huge tree crushes his opponent who falls like a tree when its roots are cut.]

[pg 468]

Canto LIX. Rávan's Sally.

They told him that the chief was killed,

And Rávaṇ's breast with rage was filled.

Then, fiercely moved by wrath and pride,

Thus to his lords the tyrant cried:

“No longer, nobles, may we show

This lofty scorn for such a foe

By whom our bravest, with his train

Of steeds and elephants, is slain.

Myself this day will take the field,

And Raghu's sons their lives shall yield.”

High on the royal car, that glowed

With glory from his face, he rode;

And tambour shell and drum pealed out,

And joyful was each giant's shout.

A mighty host, with eyeballs red

Like flames of kindled fire, he led.

He passed the city gate, and viewed,

Arrayed, the Vánar multitude,

Those wielding massy rocks, and these

Armed with the stems of uptorn trees,

And Ráma with his eyes aglow

With warlike ardour viewed the foe,

And thus the brave Vibhishaṇ, best

Of weapon-wielding chiefs, addressed:

“What captain leads this bright array

Where lances gleam and banners play,

And thousands armed with spear and sword

Await the bidding of their lord?”

“Seest, thou,” Vibhishaṇ answered, “one

Whose face is as the morning sun,

Preëminent for hugest frame?

Akampan962 is the giant's name.

Behold that chieftain, chariot-borne,

Whom Brahmá's chosen gifts adorn.

He wields a bow like Indra's own;

A lion on his flag is shown,

His eyes with baleful fire are lit:

'Tis Rávaṇ's son, 'tis Indrajít.

There, brandishing in mighty hands

His huge bow, Atikáya stands.

And that proud warrior o'er whose head

A moon-bright canopy is spread:

Whose might, in many a battle tried,

Has tamed imperial Indra's pride;

Who wears a crown of burnished gold,

Is Lanká's lord the lofty-souled.”

He ceased: and Ráma knew his foe,

And laid an arrow on his bow:

“Woe to the wretch,” he cried, “whom fate

Abandons to my deadly hate.”

He spoke, and, firm by Lakshmaṇ's side,

The giant to the fray defied.

The lord of Lanká bade his train

Of warriors by the gates remain,

To guard the city from surprise

By Ráma's forest born allies.

Then as some monster of the sea

Cleaves swift-advancing billows, he

Charged with impetuous onset through

The foe, and cleft the host in two.

Sugríva ran, the king to meet:

A hill uprooted from its seat

He hurled, with trees that graced the height

Against the rover of the night:

But cleft with shafts that checked its way

Harmless upon the earth it lay.

Then fiercer Rávaṇ's fury grew,

An arrow from his side he drew,

Swift as a thunderbolt, aglow

With fire, and launched it at the foe.

Through flesh and bone a way it

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