Chapter 282

“Markandeya said, ‘Having quartered his army in those groves aboundingwith food and water and with fruits and roots, the descendant ofKakutstha began to watch over them with care. Ravana, on the other hand,planted in his city many appliances constructed according to the rules ofmilitary science. And his city, naturally impregnable on account of itsstrong ramparts and gate-ways, had seven trenches, that were deep andfull of water to the brim and that abounded with fishes and sharks andalligators, made more impregnable still by means of pointed stakes ofKhadira wood. And the ramparts, heaped with stones, were made impregnableby means of catapults. And the warriors (who guarded the walls) werearmed with earthen pots filled with venomous snakes, and with resinouspowders of many kinds. And they were also armed with clubs, andfire-brands and arrows and lances and swords and battle-axes. And theyhad also Sataghnis[98] and stout maces steeped in wax.[99] And at all thegates of the city were planted movable and immovable encampments mannedby large numbers of infantry supported by countless elephants and horses.And Angada, having reached one of the gates of the city, was made knownto the Rakshasas. And he entered the town without suspicion or fear. Andsurrounded by countless Rakshasas, that hero in his beauty looked likethe Sun himself in the midst of masses of clouds. And having approachedthe hero of Pulastya’s race in the midst of his counsellors, the eloquentAngada saluted the king and began to deliver Rama’s message in thesewords, ‘That descendant of Raghu, O king, who ruleth at Kosala and whoserenown hath spread over the whole world, sayeth unto thee these wordssuited to the occasion. Accept thou that message and act according to it!Provinces and towns, in consequence of their connection with sinful kingsincapable of controlling their souls, are themselves polluted anddestroyed. By the violent abduction of Sita, thou alone hast injured me!Thou, however, wilt become the cause of death to many unoffendingpersons. Possessed of power and filled with pride, thou hast, beforethis, slain many Rishis living in the woods, and insulted the very gods.Thou hast slain also many great kings and many weeping women. For thosetransgressions of thine, retribution is about to overtake thee! I willslay thee with thy counsellors. Fight and show thy courage![100] Owanderer of the night, behold the power of my bow, although I am but aman! Release Sita, the daughter of Janaka! If thou dost not release her,I shall make the Earth divested of all Rakshasas with my keen-edgedarrows!’ Hearing these defiant words of the enemy, king Ravana bore themill, becoming senseless with wrath. And thereupon four Rakshasas skilledin reading every sign of their master, seized Angada like four hawksseizing a tiger. With those Rakshasas, however, holding him fast by hislimbs, Angada leaped upwards and alighted on the palace terrace. And ashe leaped up with a great force, those wanderers of the night fell downthe earth, and bruised by the violence of the fall, had their ribsbroken. And from the golden terrace on which he had alighted, he took adownward leap. And overleaping the walls of Lanka, he alighted to wherehis comrades were. And approaching the presence of the lord of Kosala andinforming him of everything, the monkey Angada endued with great energyretired to refresh himself, dismissed with due respect by Rama.

The descendant of Raghu then caused the ramparts of Lanka to be brokendown by a united attack of all those monkeys endued with the speed of thewind. Then Lakshmana, with Vibhishana and the king of the bears marchingin the van, blew up the southern gate of the city that was almostimpregnable. Rama then attacked Lanka with a hundred thousand crores ofmonkeys, all possessed of great skill in battle, and endued with reddishcomplexions like those of young camels. And those crores of greyish bearswith long arms, and legs and huge paws, and generally supportingthemselves on their broad haunches, were also urged on to support theattack. And in consequence of those monkeys leaping up and leaping downand leaping in transverse directions, the Sun himself, his bright disccompletely shaded, became invisible for the dust they raised. And thecitizens of Lanka beheld the wall of their town assume all over a tawnyhue, covered by monkeys of complexions yellow as the ears of paddy, andgrey as Shirisha flowers, and red as the rising Sun, and white as flax orhemp. And the Rakshasas, O king, with their wives and elders, were struckwith wonders at that sight. And the monkey warriors began to pull downpillars made of precious stones and the terraces and tops of palatialmansions. And breaking into fragments the propellers of catapults andother engines, they began to cast them about in all directions. Andtaking up the Sataghnis along with the discs, the clubs, and stones, theythrew them down into the city with great force and loud noise. Andattacked thus by the monkeys, those Rakshasas that had been placed on thewalls to guard them, fled precipitately by hundreds and thousands.

“Then hundreds of thousands of Rakshasas, of terrible mien, and capableof assuming any form at will, came out at the command of the king. Andpouring a perfect shower of arrows and driving the denizens of theforest, those warriors, displaying great prowess, adorned the ramparts.And soon those wanderers of the night, looking like masses of flesh, andof terrible mien, forced the monkeys to leave the walls. And mangled bythe enemies’ lances, numerous monkey-chiefs fell down from the ramparts,and crushed by the falling columns and gate-ways, numerous Rakshasas alsofell down to rise no more. And the monkeys and the brave Rakshasas thatcommenced to eat up the foe, struggled, seizing one another by the hair,and mangling and tearing one another with their nails and teeth. And themonkeys and the Rakshasas roared and yelled frightfully, and while manyof both parties were slain and fell down to rise no more, neither sidegave up the contest. And Rama continued all the while to shower a thickdownpour of arrows like the very clouds. And the arrows he shot,enveloping Lanka, killed large numbers of Rakshasas. And the son ofSumitra, too, that mighty bowman incapable of being fatigued in battle,naming particular Rakshasas stationed on the ramparts, slew them with hisclothyard shafts. And then the monkey host, having achieved success waswithdrawn at the command of Rama, after it had thus pulled down thefortifications of Lanka and made all objects within the city capable ofbeing aimed at by the besieging force.”