{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry441.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry441.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry441.htm","text":"Still was the cry,'The V\u00e1nar foes\n Around the leaguered city close.'\n King R\u00e1van from the terrace gazed\n And saw, with eyes where fury blazed,\n The V\u00e1nar host in serried ranks\n Press to the moat and line the banks,\n And, first in splendour and in place,\n The lion lord of Raghu's race.\n And R\u00e1ma looked on Lank\u00e1 where\n Gay flags were streaming to the air,\n And, while keen sorrow pierced him through,\n His loving thoughts to Sit\u00e1 flew:\n 'There, there in deep affliction lies\n My darling with the fawn-like eyes.\n There on the cold bare ground she keeps\n Sad vigil and for R\u00e1ma weeps.'\n Mad with the thought, 'Charge, charge,' he cried.\n 'Let earth with R\u00e1kshas blood be dyed.'\n \u00a0 \n Responsive to his call rang out\n A loud, a universal shout,\n As myriads filled the moat with stone,\n Trees, rocks, and mountains overthrown,\n And charging at their leader's call\n Pressed forward furious to the wall.\n Some in their headlong ardour scaled\n The rampart's height, the guard assailed,\n And many a ponderous fragment rent\n From portal, tower, and battlement.\n Huge gates adorned with burnished gold\n Were loosed and lifted from their hold;\n And post and pillar, with a sound\n Like thunder, fell upon the ground.\n At every portal, east and west\n And north and south, the chieftains pressed\n Each in his post appointed led\n His myriads in the forest bred.\n \n \n 'Charge, let the gates be opened wide:\n 'Charge, charge, my giants,' R\u00e1van cried.\n They heard his voice, and loud and long\n Rang the wild clamour of the throng,\n And shell and drum their notes upsent,\n And every martial instrument.\n Forth, at the bidding of their lord\n From every gate the giants poured,\n As, when the waters rise and swell.\n Huge waves preceding waves impel.\n \n \n Again from every V\u00e1nar throat\n A scream of fierce defiance smote\n The welkin: earth and sea and sky\n Re\u00ebchoed with the awful cry.\n The roar of elephants, the neigh\n Of horses eager for the fray.\n The frequent clash of warriors' steel,\n The rattling of the chariot wheel.\n Fierce was the deadly fight: opposed\n In terrible array they closed,\n As when the Gods of heaven enraged\n With rebel fiends wild battle waged.\n Axe, spear, and mace were wielded well:\n At every blow a V\u00e1nar fell.\n But shivered rock and brandished tree\n Brought many a giant on his knee,\n To perish in his turn beneath\n The deadly wounds of nails and teeth.","title":"BOOK VI: Canto XLII.: The Sally.","type":"page"}