Chapter 288

“Markandeya said, The Ten-necked (Ravana), excited to fury at the deathof his beloved son, ascended his car decked with gold and gems. Andsurrounded by terrible Rakshasas with various kinds of weapons in theirhands, Ravana rushed towards Rama, fighting with numerous monkey-chief.And beholding him rushing in wrath towards the monkey army, Mainda andNila and Nala and Angada, and Hanuman and Jamvuman, surrounded him withall their troops. And those foremost of monkeys and bears began toexterminate with trunks of trees, the soldiers of the Ten-necked(Ravana), in his every sight. And beholding the enemy slaughtering histroops, the Rakshasa king, Ravana, possessed of great powers of illusion,began to put them forth. And forth from his body began to spring hundredsand thousands of Rakshasas armed with arrows and lances and double-edgedswords in hand. Rama, however, with a celestial weapon slew all thoseRakshasas. The king of the Rakshasas then once more put forth his prowessof illusion. The Ten-faced, producing from his body numerous warriorsresembling, O Bharata, both Rama and Lakshmana, rushed towards the twobrothers. And then those Rakshasas, hostile to Rama and Lakshmana andarmed with bows and arrows, rushed towards Rama, and beholding that powerof illusion put forth by the king of Rakshasas, that descendant ofIkshwaku’s race, the son of Sumitra, addressed Rama in these heroicwords, ‘Slay those Rakshasas, those wretches with forms like thy own!’And Rama, thereupon slew those and other Rakshasas of forms resemblinghis own. And that time Matali, the charioteer of Indra, approached Ramaon the field of battle, with a car effulgent as the Sun and unto whichwere yoked horses of a tawny hue. And Matali said, ‘O son of Kakutstha’srace, this excellent and victorious car, unto which have been yoked thispair of tawny horses, belonging to the Lord of celestials! It is on thisexcellent car, O tiger among men, that Indra hath slain in battlehundreds of Daityas and Danavas! Therefore, O tiger among men, do thou,riding on the car driven by me, quickly slay Ravana in battle! Do notdelay in achieving this!’ Thus addressed by him, the descendant ofRaghu’s race, however, doubted the truthful words of Matali, thinkingthis is another illusion produced by the Rakshasas–Vibhishana thenaddressed him saying, ‘This, O tiger among men, is no illusion of thewicked Ravana! Ascend thou this chariot quickly, for this, O thou ofgreat effulgence, belongeth to Indra!’ The descendant of Kakutstha thencheerfully said unto Vibhishana, ‘So be it’, and riding on that car,rushed wrathfully upon Ravana. And when Ravana, too, rushed against hisantagonist, a loud wail of woe was set up by the creatures of the Earth,while the celestials in heaven sent forth a leonine roar accompanied bybeating of large drums. The encounter then that took place between theTen-necked Rakshasa and that prince of Raghu’s race, was fierce in theextreme. Indeed, that combat between them hath no parallel elsewhere. AndRakshasa hurled at Rama a terrible javelin looking like Indra’sthunderbolt and resembling a Brahmana’s curse on the point ofutterance.[104] Rama, however, quickly cut into fragments that javelin bymeans of his sharp arrows. And beholding that most difficult feat, Ravanawas struck with fear. But soon his wrath was excited and the Ten-neckedhero began to shower on Rama whetted arrows by thousands and tens ofthousands and countless weapons of various kinds, such as rockets andjavelins and maces and battle-axes and darts of various kinds andShataghnis and whetted shafts. And beholding that terrible form ofillusion displayed by the Ten-necked Rakshasa, the monkeys fled in fearin all directions. Then the descendant of Kakutstha, taking out of hisquiver an excellent arrow furnished with handsome wings and goldenfeathers and a bright and beautiful head, fixed it on the bow withBrahmastra mantra. And beholding that excellent arrow transformed byRama, with proper mantras into a Brahma weapon, the celestials and theGandharvas with Indra at their head, began to rejoice. And the gods andthe Danavas and the Kinnaras were led by the display of that Brahmaweapon to regard the life of their Rakshasa foe almost closed. Then Ramashot that terrible weapon of unrivalled energy, destined to compassRavana’s death, and resembling the curse of a Brahmana on the point ofutterance. And as soon, O Bharata, as that arrow was shot by Rama fromhis bow drawn to a circle, the Rakshasa king with his chariot andcharioteer and horses blazed up, surrounded on all sides by a terrificfire. And beholding Ravana slain by Rama of famous achievements, thecelestials, with the Gandharvas and the Charanas, rejoiced exceedingly.And deprived of universal dominion by the energy of the Brahma weapon,the five elements forsook the illustrious Ravana. And were consumed bythe Brahma weapon, the physical ingredients of Ravana’s body. His fleshand blood were all reduced to nothingness,–so that the ashes even couldnot be seen.'”