Uttara Kanda, Sarga 23

Meaning

Having conquered Yama, the foremost of gods, Rāvaṇa, the ten-headed monster, for his part who boasted of his fighting, then saw his associates in war : so the tradition goes. (1)

Meaning

Thereupon the ogres felt amazed to see Rāvaṇa bathed all over with blood and shattered by blows. (2)

Meaning

Having felicitated him on his victory, and reassured by him in their turn, all the ministers headed by Mārīca then remounted the Puṣpaka. (3)

Meaning

In order to reach Rasātala (the penultimate subterranean region) the ogre then entered the ocean (the repository of waters) inhabited by giants and the hosts of Nāgas (semi-divine beings having the face of a man and the tail of a serpent) and duly protected by Varuṇa (the god of water). (4)

Meaning

Proceeding to the city of Bhogavatī, ruled by Vāsuki (the ruler of the Nāgas) and having subdued the Nāgas, he for his part joyously went to the city of Maṇimayī (made of gems). (5)

Meaning

In that city lived a race of giants, known as the Nivātakavacas, who had obtained boons (from Brahmā). Approaching them, the ogre challenged them to a combat. (6)

Meaning

The said mighty sons of Diti for their part, who were all exceedingly valiant, were armed with all sorts of weapons and were ferocious in combat, were transported with joy on getting this god-sent opportunity for fighting. (7)

Meaning

Provoked to anger, the ogres as well as the Dānavas pierced each his opponent with pikes, tridents, thunderbolts, sharp-edged spears, swords and battle-axes. (8)

Meaning

When they were fighting thus, more then a year actually elapsed and there was neither victory nor defeat for any of the two sides. (9)

Meaning

Seated in his excellent aerial car, the immortal Lord Brahmā, the refuge of the three worlds, then hurriedly came there. (10)

Meaning

Stopping the said bellicose activity of the Nivātakavacas, the ancient grandfather (of the creation) for his part spoke the following explicit words to them: (11)

Meaning

“Neither can this Rāvaṇa be got the better of in a conflict jointly by the gods and the demons nor can you be exterminated by the Dānavas including the gods. (12)

Meaning

“Nay, the friendship of the ogre with you finds favour with me. All blessings are held in common by friends : there is no doubt about it.” (13)

Meaning

Thereupon Rāvaṇa concluded an alliance with the Nivātakavacas in the presence of the sacred fire then and there and was much pleased. (14)

Meaning

Honoured by them according to the rules of propriety, Rāvaṇa (the ten-headed monster) then stayed there for a year and enjoyed pleasures indistinguishable from those of his own city. (15)

Meaning

There he duly learnt a hundred conjuring tricks after carefully observing them. Then he ranged Rasātala (the penultimate celestial region) in search of the city of Varuṇa. (16)

Meaning

Reaching the city named Aśmanagara, inhabited by the Kālakeyas, and making short work there of the latter, who were proud of their might, Rāvaṇa for his part thereupon cut to pieces with his sword then and there, his mighty brother-in-law Vidyujjihva, the husband of his sister, Śūrpaṇakhā, who was proud of his strength and was going to lick the ogre to death then and there on the battlefield. Having conquered him, Rāvaṇa exterminated four hundred of the Daityas in less than an hour. (17—19)

Meaning

Thereupon the suzerain lord of the ogres saw the heavenly abode of Varuṇa (the god of water) which looked like a white cloud and shone like Mount Kailāsa. (20)

Meaning

Rāvaṇa also saw stationed there the cow of plenty pouring out milk (from her teats) called Surabhi, the mother of the foremost of bulls (the mount of Lord Śiva), from the flow of whose milk comes into existence the ocean named Kṣīroda (the ocean of milk) from which springs up the moon of cool rays—who ushers in the night—nay, on which depend the highest Ṛṣis (the seers of Vedic Mantras) living on the froth of milk and in which appears nectar (the food of the immortals) and Swadhā, the food of the manes. (21—23)

Meaning

Walking clockwise round that most wonderful cow, whom human beings on this mortal plane speak of by the name of Surabhi, Rāvaṇa for his part deeply penetrated into the exceedingly formidable domain of Varuṇa (the god of water), protected by troops of various kinds. (24)

Meaning

Thereupon he saw on that occasion the excellent dwelling of Varuṇa, surrounded by hundreds of waterfalls, shining like an autumnal cloud and always highly delightful. (25)

Meaning

Having thereupon struck down the generals of Varuṇa’s army on the battlefield and struck in turn by them, Rāvaṇa then said to the former’s warriors: “Let your ruler be speedily notified (in the following words): (26)

Meaning

‘Seeking an encounter, Rāvaṇa has arrived at your door; battle may be given to him or admit with joined palms that you stand defeated. Then there is no fear for you.’ (27)

Meaning

In the meantime provoked to anger, issued forth the sons and grandsons of the high-souled Varuṇa as well as their two generals, Gau and Puṣkara. (28)

Meaning

Having harnessed their chariots, which were able to move wherever one liked and which shone like the rising sun, they, for their part, adorned as they were with all virtues appeared on the field of battle, surrounded by their troops. (29)

Meaning

Then ensued a fierce struggle, which caused one’s hair to stand on end, between the sons of Varuṇa, the god of water, and the clever Rāvaṇa. (30)

Meaning

And the whole of that army of Varuṇa was exterminated in an instant by the ministers of the ten-headed ogre, who were endowed with extraordinary valour. (31)

Meaning

Perceiving their army destroyed in battle, the sons of Varuṇa, who were overwhelmed by a shower of arrows, retreated from the conflict. (32)

Meaning

Seeing Rāvaṇa seated in the Puṣpaka car, even though they stood on the ground, they rose quickly to the skies in their fast-moving chariots. (33)

Meaning

On their attaining that position of equality, a tumultuous and fierce struggle then raged in the air between them, which resembled the fight between the gods and the Dānavas. (34)

Meaning

Having forced Rāvaṇa by their fiery shafts to turn his face away from the battle, they (the sons of Varuṇa) thereupon felt transported with joy and raised various kinds of shouts. (35)

Meaning

Provoked to anger on perceiving the king of ogres overpowered, and shedding all fear of death, the valiant Mahodara looked round, seeking an encounter. (36)

Meaning

Struck by the said Mahodara with a mace, on the battlefield, those well-known steeds of Varuṇa (yoked to the chariot of his sons), who could move according to the will of their master and were fleet as the wind, came to the ground. (37)

Meaning

Having killed the soldiers of the sons of Varuṇa as well as their aforesaid horses and perceiving them deprived of their chariots, he (Mahodara) soon raised a great roar. (38)

Meaning

Destroyed by Mahodara, the aforesaid chariots of the sons of Varuṇa for their part fell on the ground alongwith their horses and expert drivers. (39)

Meaning

Leaving their chariots, those heroic sons of the high-souled Varuṇa for their part stood firmly in the air by virtue of their divine power and did not feel afflicted. (40)

Meaning

Having strung their bows, and pierced Mahodara, they collectively surrounded Rāvaṇa on the field of battle, full of anger as they were. (41)

Meaning

Filled with rage, they began to pierce Rāvaṇa with fierce shafts, hard as adamant, shot from their bows, even as clouds would lash a hill. (42)

Meaning

Provoked to anger, Rāvaṇa (the ten-headed monster), who resembled the swollen fire of dissolution, showered an exceedingly formidable hail of shafts on their vital parts. (43)

Meaning

Firmly established in his chariot, Rāvaṇa (who was difficult to overpower) then hurled on them pestles of various kinds, hundreds of lances, sharp-edged spears and javelins too as well as huge Śataghnīs (stones studded with iron spikes and four Tālas in length).* Though pierced through and through, these valiant foot-soldiers rushed forth. The foot-soldiers, however, were reduced to straits due to that very hail of weapons as sixty-year old elephants would be on entering an extensive morass. (44—46)

Meaning

Seeing those sons of Varuṇa suffering and distracted, the notorious Rāvaṇa, who was endowed with extraordinary might, thundered in joy like a huge cloud. (47)

Meaning

Emitting great shouts, the ogre thereupon began to strike the sons of Varuṇa with various weapons in hand as a cloud would lash trees with torrents. (48)

Meaning

They all thereupon fell to the ground and, thus they were speedily taken from the battlefield to their homes by their own men. (49)

Meaning

The ogre then said to them, “Let my presence be announced to Varuṇa.” A counsellor of Varuṇa, Prahāsa by name, however, made the following reply to Rāvaṇa: “The great king Varuṇa, the ruler of the waters, whom you are challenging to a combat, has, really speaking, gone to Brahmaloka (the domain of Brahmā) to listen to the music of Gandharvas (celestial musicians). (50-51)

Meaning

“When the king has gone out, O hero, what will you gain by exerting yourself in vain? As for his valiant sons, who were present here, they already stand vanquished by you.” (52)

Meaning

Hearing this and proclaiming his name, Rāvaṇa, the king of ogres, for his part made good his exit from the domain of Varuṇa, shouting through joy. (53)

Meaning

Returning by the same route by which he had come, the said ogre rose into the heavens and proceeded towards Laṅkā.* (54)