241. Hanuman sent the next better army to follow its predecessor.

                  Ravana became aghast to hear that the chief minister's sons were killed by that ANIMAL. Hiding his feelings with great difficulty  from all his faces, he ordered his five foremost generals Virupaksha, Yupaksha, Durdhara, Praghasa and Bhasakarna, who were all very brave rakshasas, skilled in strategy and eager to capture that animal.

        Ravana tersely told them "March, all of you O generals, take your full armies.  Approach that animal diligently. It seems that animal is not a mere   vanara. May be he is an evil spirit with an extraordinary might. This evil spirit might have been evolved for our sake by Indra the Lord of celestials with the strength of his askesis. Celestials, demons, sages along with Nagas the serpent-demons, Yakshas the spirits and Gandharvas the celestials musicians were conquered by me assisted by you all together.  It is such an evil spirit created by Indra. There is no doubt about it. Let it be captured forcibly. This vanara of a great prowess should not be underestimated by you.

       "I have seen some vanaras of a great prowess like Vali, Sugreeva, the mighty Jambavan, Nila, the Chief of army and  Dvivida.  But their way of performance is not so fearful as this; nor their efficacy, nor their prowess, nor their intellect, nor this capacity to change their form or energy at will. Keeping in view that it is a great evil spirit standing in the form of a vanara, exert a great effort and capture it. In the three worlds the strength of Indra, celestials, asuras and humans, individually or collectively cannot match yours in the battle-field.
      "Even then, the one who is skilled in strategy, desirous of a victory in a battle is to protect himself. Victory in a battle is indeed unpredictable. Go and come back victorious. Au revoir."

    All the generals with  great strength and  blaze like that of fire, augmenting their strength with chariots, elephants in rut, horses of extra ordinary swiftness and various kinds of sharp weapons  sallied forth confidently.

          Reaching the sanctuary they saw Hanuman the great vanara, encircled by his rays of splendour like a rising sun and shining, standing at ease  on the arched door-way. Immediately on seeing that vanara of great intellect, of great swiftness and of a gigantic body, all those rakshasas started to attack him with their terrific weapons from every side.
      Durdhara discharged five sharp and fierce steel arrows with a lustre of black lily-petals and yellow tops to descend into Hanuman's head. Pierced in the head by those fire arrows, Hanuman leapt roaring in the sky, making the roar reverberating in all directions. Then the mighty and the valiant Durdhara leapt into the sky with his chariot. Stretching his bow and throwing hundreds of sharp arrows, he attacked Hanuman. Hanuman warded off all those  arrows on him in the sky, as the wind wards off a rainy cloud from raining at the end of a monsoon. But Durdhara was persistent. This irritated our dear hero who then decided to stop it once and for all. Hanuman then emitted a roar once again and swiftly enlarged his body to an unimaginable size. Like a mass of lightning on a mountain, Hanuman instantaneously fell on Durdhara's chariot, by jumping up from far above with great speed causing predictable results.

          The chariot was completely broken along with its axle and pole and all his eight horses destroyed. Durdhara  dropped dead on the ground. Seeing him lifeless on the ground, the invincible(?) Virupaksha and Yupaksha, the so called annihilators of enemies, jumping up in the air all of a sudden struck Hanuman, who was standing in clear sky, in the chest with their clubs. Our hero, the mighty Hanuman whose prowess was equal to that of Garuda, the eagle, swiftly descended on to the ground. Uprooting a huge sala tree Hanuman hit those rakshasas with such a force that resulted in their death.

            Seeing their comrades killed by Hanuman, Praghasa with a great alacrity, forcefully attacked Hanuman. And at the same time the valiant Bhasakarna, highly enraged, attacked with a spear in his hand. Both the generals attacked Hanuman from each side. Praghasa pierced Hanuman with a sharp-pointed spear and Bhasakarna attacked him with a dart. With his limbs wounded by those two rakshasas, Hanuman with his body-hair anointed by blood, became enraged, which made his face blaze like that of a rising sun. He decided to kill them without any delay. 

         He then jumped up to the nearby mountain and plucking up the top of it with its various animals, serpents and trees,  killed those two rakshasas by hitting them with that top of the mountain. After eliminating the leaders, to wit, the five army-generals, Hanuman didn't have any problem in liquidating the remaining army. Like Indra, the thousand-eyed god destroying the asuras, Hanuman destroyed the horses by striking them with horses, the elephants with elephants, the warriors with warriors and the chariots with chariots.

          The earth had its path-ways blocked on all sides with the lifeless elephants, horses and the rakshasas along with the big chariots with axles and many other parts, broken.
       After enjoying the sight created by him Hanuman, the James Bond of Ramayanam, walked leisurely back to the archway and waited there for the next round.

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