Chapter 285

“Markandeya said, “Then Kumbhakarna set out from the city, accompanied byhis followers. And soon he beheld the victorious monkey troops encampedbefore him. And passing them by with the object of seeking out Rama, hebeheld the son of Sumitra standing at his post, bow in hand. Then themonkey warriors, speedily advancing towards him, surrounded him on allsides. And then they commenced to strike him with numberless large trees.And many amongst them fearlessly began to tear his body with their nails.And those monkeys began to fight with him in various ways approved by thelaws of warfare. And they soon overwhelmed that chief of the Rakshasaswith a shower of terrible weapons of various kinds. And attacked by themthus, Kumbhakarna only laughed at them and began to eat them up. And hedevoured those foremost of monkeys known by the name of Chala, andChandachala, and Vajravahu. And beholding that fearful act of theRakshasa, other monkeys were frightened and set forth a loud wail offear. And hearing the screams of those monkey-leaders, Sugriva boldlyadvanced towards Kumbhakarna. And that high-souled king of the monkeysswiftly approaching the Rakshasa, violently struck him on the head withthe trunk of a Sala tree. And though the high-souled Sugriva alwaysprompt in action broke that Sala tree on the head of Kumbhakarna, hefailed to make any impression on that Rakshasa. And then, as if rousedfrom his torpor by that blow, Kumbhakarna stretching forth his armsseized Sugriva by main force. And beholding Sugriva dragged away by theRakshasa, the heroic son of Sumitra, that delighter of his friends,rushed towards Kumbhakarna. And that slayer of hostile heroes, Lakshmana,advancing towards Kumbhakarna, discharged at him an impetuous and mightyarrow furnished with golden wings. And that arrow, cutting through hiscoat of mail and penetrating into his body, passed through it outrightand struck into the earth, stained with the Rakshasa’s blood. Kumbhakarnathen, having his breast thus bored through, released the king of monkeys.And taking up a huge mass of stone as his weapon, the mighty warriorKumbhakarna then rushed towards the son of Sumitra, aiming it at him. Andas the Rakshasa rushed towards him, Lakshmana cut off his upraised armsby means of a couple of keen-edged shafts furnished with heads resemblingrazors. But as soon as the two arms of the Rakshasa were thus cut off,double that number of arms soon appeared on his person. Sumitra’s son,however, displaying his skill in weapon, soon by means of similar arrowscut off those arms also, each of which had seized a mass of stone. Atthis, that Rakshasa assumed a form enormously huge and furnished withnumerous heads and legs and arms. Then the son of Sumitra rived, with aBrahma weapon, that warrior looking like an assemblage of hill. And rentby means of that celestial weapon, that Rakshasa fell on the field ofbattle like a huge tree with spreading branches suddenly consumed byheaven’s thunderbolt. And beholding Kumbhakarna endued with greatactivity and resembling the Asura Vritra himself, deprived of life andprostrated on the field of battle, the Rakshasa warriors fled in fear.And beholding the Rakshasa warriors running away from the field ofbattle, the younger brother of Dushana, rallying them, rushed in greatwrath upon the son of Sumitra. Sumitra’s son, however, with a loud roar,received with his winged shafts both those wrathful warriors, Vajravegaand Promathin, rushing towards him. The battle then, O son of Pritha,that took place between those two younger brothers of Dushana on the onehand and the intelligent Lakshmana on the other, was exceedingly furiousand made the bristles of the spectators stand on end. And Lakshmanaoverwhelmed the two Rakshasas with a perfect shower of arrows. And thosetwo Rakshasa heroes, on the other hand, both of them excited with fury,covered Lakshmana with an arrowy hail. And that terrible encounterbetween Vajravega and Promathin and the mighty-armed Lakshmana lasted fora short while. And Hanumana, the son of Pavana, taking up a mountainpeak, rushed towards one of the brothers, and with that weapon took thelife of the Rakshasa Vajravega. And that mighty monkey, Nala, also, witha large mass of rock, crushed Promathin, that other younger brother ofDushana. The deadly struggle, however, between the soldiers of Rama andRavana, rushing against one another, instead of coming to an end evenafter this, raged on as before. And hundreds of Rakshasas were slain bythe denizens of the forest, while many of the latter were slain by theformer. The loss, however, in killed, of the Rakshasas was far greaterthan that of the monkeys.