{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry464.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry464.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry464.htm","text":"They ran to R\u00e1van in his hall\n And told him of his brother's fall:\n 'Fierce as the God who rules the dead,\n Upon the routed foe he fed;\n And, victor for a while, at length\n Fell slain by R\u00e1ma's matchless strength,\n Now like a mighty hill in size\n His mangled trunk extended lies,\n And where he fell, a bleeding mass,\n Blocks Lank\u00e1's gate tbat none may pass.'\n The monarch heard: his strength gave way;\n And fainting on the ground he lay.\n Grieved at the giants' mournful tale,\n Long, shrill was Atik\u00e1ya's wail;\n Aud Tris'iras in sorrow bowed\n His triple head, and wept aloud,\n Mahodar, Mah\u00e1p\u00e1rs'va shed\n Hot tears and mourned their brother dead.\n At length, his wandering sense restored,\n In loud lament cried Lank\u00e1's lord:\n \n \n Ah chief, for might and valour famed,\n Whose arm the haughty foeman tamed,\n Forsaking me, thy friends and all,\n Why hast thou fled to Yama's hall?\n Why hast thou fled to taste no more\n The slaughtered foeman's flesh and gore?\n Ah me, my life is done to-day:\n My better arm is lopped away.\n Whereon in danger I relied,\n And, fearless, Gods and fiends defied.\n How could a shaft from R\u00e1ma's bow\n The matchless giant overthrow,\n Whose iron frame so strong of yore\n The crushing bolt of Indra bore?\n This day the Gods and sages meet\n And triumph at their foe's defeat.\n This day the V\u00e1nar chiefs will boast\n And, with new ardour fired, their host\n In fiercer onset will assail\n Our city, and the ramparts scale.\n What care I for a monarch's name,\n For empire, or the Maithil dame?\n What joy can power and riches give,\n Or life that I should care to live,\n Unless this arm in mortal fray\n The slayer of my brother slay?\n For me, of Kumbhakarna reft,\n Death is the only solace left;\n And I will seek, o'erwhelmed with woes,\n The realm to which my brother goes.\n Ah me ill-minded, not to take\n His counsel when Vibh\u00edshan spake\n When he this evil day foretold\n My foolish heart was overbold:\n I drove my sage adviser hence,\n And reap the fruits of mine offence.'","title":"BOOK VI: Canto LXVIII.: R\u00e1van's Lament.","type":"page"}