Sunday 3 July 2016

363. Ravana got hurt fighting Rama.

            Ravana, on reaching his palace,  guzzled greedily his favorite booze, which made him to start thinking. He felt awfully ashamed that he had to sneak away from the battle field. Now that he got back his composure, he decided to go back to the battle field and kill Rama, Lakshmana, Vibhishana and all others. Accordingly he got into the best available chariot and the best available charioteer and, of course all the best weapons and missiles he had at his disposal. 
               While Ravana was nearing the battle field, Rama at the behest of Lakshmana, was getting ready to fight him.
             Seeing Rama with his bow et al., Ravana thought it was a good omen for him. With confident smiles on all his faces and standing in his chariot released very powerful missiles on Rama. Rama, with his usual nonchalance, smashed those arrows and followed it by showers of his missiles and arrows, looking like blazing flames of fire, on Ravana. The divine spectators watching the fight from the firmament thought that it was not fair that Ravana was fighting from a chariot against Rama who was opposing him from the ground.
             Indra, agreeing in toto the sentiments of the other spectators, told his personal chauffeur, Matali "Taking my personal chariot go to Rama, standing below on the earth, pronto, and invite him to use the chariot to fight that rakshash, Ravana. You also mention that killing that rakshash, Ravana by him would give a great pleasure to us. Offer him my bow and other weapons for use."
           Taking the glorious and excellent chariot of Indra, having variegated body decked in gold, and was fitted with hundreds of tiny bells, with its pole of cat's eye gems shining like the morning sun, yoked to excellent green horses with golden chaplets on their heads and having white whisks, covered with nets of gold, shining like the sun and bearing a flag-staff raised on a golden bamboo, Matali went to Rama and told him "Indra has sent this chariot for you to use it for fighting that rakshash, Ravana. Here are the great bow of Indra, the armour shining as fire, some arrows as bright as sun and a stainless auspicious spear. These will make you to fight and vanquish and kill that rakshash with great ease."
            Rama accepted that offer. Then ensued a tumultuous and thrilling battle between Rama and Ravana.
            Whatever astra hurled by Ravana, Rama repulsed them with ease.
           The frustrated Ravana then pierced Matali with a multitude of arrows. Then he tore off the golden flag-staff from the top of the chariot down to the seat of the chariot.  He struck even Indra's horses with a multitude of arrows. This was very much resented by the spectators in the firmament.
         The crooked action by Ravana irritated Rama very much and he got angry, very much. Due to his monumental anger, Rama was not able to fit his arrows to his bow. This made his anger to grow further due to which, Rama, knitted his eye-brows and his eyes turned slightly blood-red. This enormous anger of Rama started to frighten all the living beings. The earth too began to tremble. The mountains, with lions, tigers and swaying trees, trembled. Even the ocean, the lord of rivers, became agitated. Dense clouds, emitting harsh sounds and assuming a stern aspect, roamed all over in the sky, thundering. The intolerable rage of Rama together with the concomitant terrific fearsome portents made all living beings frightened. Ravana started getting jitters, too.
            The spectators in firmament were divided this time. The asuras cheered Ravana and the the devas, Rama.
         Ravana had one spear which was not required to be used by him hitherto. This was superbly powerful as a thunderbolt, made a loud noise when hurled at a target, capable of exterminating all enemies with its sharp points dreadful to conceive and to behold, resembling a smoke-crested mass of fire blazing like eh.. whatever it is, exceedingly furious, was unassailable, a terror for all beings, capable  of tearing and splitting the enemy. He decided to use that now at Rama. With great deliberation, he took hold of that spear at its middle. With blood-red eyes in anger, Ravana with his colossal body, duly raising the spear. Keeping that spear ready for use, Ravana shouted at Rama: "You have kindled my fury beyond tolerance, O Rama! With this spear I am going to separate the lives of your brother and yours from your respective bodies." 
          He, then hurled that spear. That spear, wreathed in a circle of lightning and eight bells, making a loud noise, zoomed into the sky toward its target, Rama.
          With his characteristic cool and fascinating smile, Rama tried to ward off that horrendous spear with his arrows. The spear proved to be superior to the arrows hurled by Rama against it. That spear of Ravana consumed those arrows of Rama, as fire would consume moths.
           Seeing that, Rama got irritated that Ravana was endowed with such a spear. He, then took hold of that spear brought by Matali, hurled it against the spear zooming toward him. The spear of Indra proved to be superior to that of Ravana. The spear of Ravana fell on the ground, with its lustre extinguished.
         With a view to end the battle, Rama pierced the horses of Ravana. He then followed it up with his very powerful arrows pierced the chest-region of Ravana. Rama then decided to give some headache to all the ten heads of Ravana. He struck, quite deliberately, all the foreheads of Ravana with three arrows per head. With all his limbs torn down by arrows and with blood flowing from his limbs, Ravana was shining like a blooming Ashoka tree in the midst of a multitude of trees. With his limbs severely injured by Rama's arrows and with his body bathed in blood, Ravana was not in a position to do anything but getting angry, which he did, promptly.
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