{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry473.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry473.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry473.htm","text":"The groans and cries of dames who wailed\n The ears of Lank\u00e1's lord assailed,\n For from each house and home was sent\n The voice of weeping and lament.\n In troubled thought his head he bowed,\n Then fiercely loosing on the crowd\n Of nobles near his throne he broke\n The silence, and in fury spoke:\n 'This day my deadly shafts shall fly,\n And Raghu's sons shall surely die.\n This day shall countless V\u00e1nars bleed\n And dogs and kites and vultures feed.\n Go, bid them swift my car prepare,\n Bring the great bow I long to bear:\n And let my host with sword and shield\n And spear be ready for the field.'\n \n \n From street to street the captains passed\n And R\u00e1kshas warriors gathered fast.\n With spear and sword to pierce and strike,\n And axe and club and mace and pike. \u00a02\n \n \n Then R\u00e1van's warrior chariot \u00a01b wrought\n With gold and rich inlay was brought.\n Mid tinkling bells and weapons' clang\n The monarch on the chariot sprang,\n Which, decked with gems of every hue,\n Eight steeds of noble lineage drew.\n Mid roars of drum and shell rang out\n From countless throats a joyful shout.\n As, girt with hosts in warlike pride.\n Through Lank\u00e1's streets the tyrant hied.\n Still, louder than the roar of drums,\n Went up the cry 'He comes, he comes,\n Our ever conquering lord who trod\n Beneath his feet both fiend and God.'\n On to the gate the warriors swept\n Where Raghu's sons their station kept.\n When R\u00e1van's car the portal passed\n The sun in heaven was overcast.\n Earth rocked and reeled from side to side\n And birds with boding voices cried.\n Against the standard of the king\n A vulture flapped his horrid wing.\n Big gouts of blood before him dropped,\n His trembling steeds in terror stopped.\n The hue of death was on his cheek,\n And scarce his flattering tongue could speak,\n When, terrible with flash and flame,\n Through murky air a meteor came.\n Still by the hand of Death impelled\n His onward way the giant held.\n The V\u00e1nars in the field afar\n Heard the loud thunder of his car.\n And turned with warriors' fierce delight\n To meet the giant in the fight.\n He came: his clanging bow he drew\n And myriads of the V\u00e1nars slew.\n Some through the side and heart he cleft,\n Some headless on the plain were left.\n Some struggling groaned with mangled thighs,\n Or broken arms or blinded eyes. \u00a02b\n \n \n488:1 I omit two Cantos in the first of which R\u00e1ma with an enchanted Gandharva weapon deals destruction among the R\u00e1kshases sent out by R\u00e1van, and in the second the R\u00e1kshas dames' lament the slain and mourn over the madness of R\u00e1van.\n488:2 I omit several weapons for which I cannot find distinctive names, and among them the Sataghn\u00ed or Centicide, supposed by some to be a kind of fire-arms or rocket, but described by a commentator on the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata as a stone or cylindrical piece of wood studded with iron spikes.\n488:1b The chariots of R\u00e1van's present army are said to have been one hundred and fifty million in number with three hundred million elephants, and twelve hundred million horses and asses. The footmen are merely said to have been 'unnumbered.'\n488:2b I omit Cantos XCVII., XCVIII,and XCIX, which describe in the usual way three single combats between Sugr\u00edva and Angad on the V\u00e1nar side and Vir\u00fapaksha, Mahodar, and Mah\u00e1p\u00e1rs'va on the side of the giants. The weapons of the V\u00e1nars are trees and rocks: the giants fight with swords, axes, and bows and arrows. The details are generally the same as those of preceding duels. The giants fall, one in each Canto.","title":"BOOK VI: Canto XCVI.: R\u00e1van's Sally.","type":"page"}