Ramayana. Ravana's Son is Killed.
Meanwhile Vibhishana came to Rama and found him overwhelmed with grief, and Lakshman told him that Sita had been slain by Indrajit. But Vibhishana guessed this to have been a vain show, less possible than for the ocean to be dried up. "It is a device," he said, "to delay the monkey army till Indrajit shall have completed a sacrifice to Fire and have won as a boon to be invincible in battle. Therefore grieve not, but hasten to prevent his offerings, lest the very gods be in danger if he complete them." Then Rama rose, and with Lakshman and Vibhishana pursued the son of Ravana; and they overtook him ere he reached Nikhumbila, mounted on a fiery one. Then befell the worst and fiercest of conflicts that had yet been: Lakshman bore the brunt of that battle, and it is said that the ancestors and gods, the birds and snakes, protected Lakshman from the deadly shafts. And this was at last the manner of Indrajit's death: Lakshman took an Indra shaft, and making an act of truth, he prayed its indwelling deity: "If Rama be righteous and truthful, the first of all men in heroism, then slay this son of Ravana"; and drawing the straight-speeding arrow to his ear, he loosed it, and it severed the rakshasa's neck, that head and trunk fell to the ground, and all the rakshasas, seeing their leader slain, cast down their arms and fled. And all the monkeys rejoiced, for no rakshasa hero remained alive save Ravana himself. Then Rama welcomed the wounded Lakshman with great affection, and ordered Sushena to administer medicines to him and to the wounded monkeys; and the monkey-chief applied a potent drug to Lakshman's nose, and, smelling it, the outward-going of his life was stayed, and he was healed.
Bitterly Ravana grieved for his son. "The triple worlds, and this earth with all its forests, seem to me vacant," he cried, "since thou, my hero, hast gone to the abode of Yama, who shouldst have performed my funeral rites, not I thine"; and he burned with rage and sorrow. Then he determined to slay Sita in revenge, but his good counsellor Suparshwa held him back, saying: "Thou mayst not slay a woman; but when Rama is slain thou shalt possess her." All Lanka was resounding with the lamentations of the rakshasis for the rakshasas slain in battle, and Ravana sat in fury, devising means to conquer Rama: he gnashed his teeth and bit his lips and laughed, and went with Big-belly and Squint-eye and Great-flank to the field of battle, followed by the last of the demon army, and boasting: "I shall make an end of Rama and Lakshman today."
Meanwhile Vibhishana came to Rama and found him overwhelmed with grief, and Lakshman told him that Sita had been slain by Indrajit. But Vibhishana guessed this to have been a vain show, less possible than for the ocean to be dried up. "It is a device," he said, "to delay the monkey army till Indrajit shall have completed a sacrifice to Fire and have won as a boon to be invincible in battle. Therefore grieve not, but hasten to prevent his offerings, lest the very gods be in danger if he complete them." Then Rama rose, and with Lakshman and Vibhishana pursued the son of Ravana; and they overtook him ere he reached Nikhumbila, mounted on a fiery one. Then befell the worst and fiercest of conflicts that had yet been: Lakshman bore the brunt of that battle, and it is said that the ancestors and gods, the birds and snakes, protected Lakshman from the deadly shafts. And this was at last the manner of Indrajit's death: Lakshman took an Indra shaft, and making an act of truth, he prayed its indwelling deity: "If Rama be righteous and truthful, the first of all men in heroism, then slay this son of Ravana"; and drawing the straight-speeding arrow to his ear, he loosed it, and it severed the rakshasa's neck, that head and trunk fell to the ground, and all the rakshasas, seeing their leader slain, cast down their arms and fled. And all the monkeys rejoiced, for no rakshasa hero remained alive save Ravana himself. Then Rama welcomed the wounded Lakshman with great affection, and ordered Sushena to administer medicines to him and to the wounded monkeys; and the monkey-chief applied a potent drug to Lakshman's nose, and, smelling it, the outward-going of his life was stayed, and he was healed.
Bitterly Ravana grieved for his son. "The triple worlds, and this earth with all its forests, seem to me vacant," he cried, "since thou, my hero, hast gone to the abode of Yama, who shouldst have performed my funeral rites, not I thine"; and he burned with rage and sorrow. Then he determined to slay Sita in revenge, but his good counsellor Suparshwa held him back, saying: "Thou mayst not slay a woman; but when Rama is slain thou shalt possess her." All Lanka was resounding with the lamentations of the rakshasis for the rakshasas slain in battle, and Ravana sat in fury, devising means to conquer Rama: he gnashed his teeth and bit his lips and laughed, and went with Big-belly and Squint-eye and Great-flank to the field of battle, followed by the last of the demon army, and boasting: "I shall make an end of Rama and Lakshman today."
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Meanwhile Vibhishana came to Rama and found him overwhelmed with grief, and Lakshman told him that Sita had been slain by Indrajit. But Vibhishana guessed this to have been a vain show, less possible than for the ocean to be dried up. "It is a device," he said, "to delay the monkey army till Indrajit shall have completed a sacrifice to Fire and have won as a boon to be invincible in battle. Therefore grieve not, but hasten to prevent his offerings, lest the very gods be in danger if he complete them." Then Rama rose, and with Lakshman and Vibhishana pursued the son of Ravana; and they overtook him ere he reached Nikhumbila, mounted on a fiery one. Then befell the worst and fiercest of conflicts that had yet been: Lakshman bore the brunt of that battle, and it is said that the ancestors and gods, the birds and snakes, protected Lakshman from the deadly shafts. And this was at last the manner of Indrajit's death: Lakshman took an Indra shaft, and making an act of truth, he prayed its indwelling deity: "If Rama be righteous and truthful, the first of all men in heroism, then slay this son of Ravana"; and drawing the straight-speeding arrow to his ear, he loosed it, and it severed the rakshasa's neck, that head and trunk fell to the ground, and all the rakshasas, seeing their leader slain, cast down their arms and fled. And all the monkeys rejoiced, for no rakshasa hero remained alive save Ravana himself. Then Rama welcomed the wounded Lakshman with great affection, and ordered Sushena to administer medicines to him and to the wounded monkeys; and the monkey-chief applied a potent drug to Lakshman's nose, and, smelling it, the outward-going of his life was stayed, and he was healed.
Bitterly Ravana grieved for his son. "The triple worlds, and this earth with all its forests, seem to me vacant," he cried, "since thou, my hero, hast gone to the abode of Yama, who shouldst have performed my funeral rites, not I thine"; and he burned with rage and sorrow. Then he determined to slay Sita in revenge, but his good counsellor Suparshwa held him back, saying: "Thou mayst not slay a woman; but when Rama is slain thou shalt possess her." All Lanka was resounding with the lamentations of the rakshasis for the rakshasas slain in battle, and Ravana sat in fury, devising means to conquer Rama: he gnashed his teeth and bit his lips and laughed, and went with Big-belly and Squint-eye and Great-flank to the field of battle, followed by the last of the demon army, and boasting: "I shall make an end of Rama and Lakshman today."
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