Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 80

Meaning

Possessed with violent anger, on hearing of Makarākṣa having been killed, and grinding his teeth in rage, reflecting as to what should be done on that occasion and in that situation, Rāvaṇa, who had (always) been victorious in war, and was filled with fury, forthwith enjoined in the following words his eldest son, Indrajit, to take the field: (1-2)

Meaning

“Remaining invisible or visible (as you please), make short work, O heroic prince, of the two brothers, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, who are endowed with extraordinary prowess; for you are in every way superior to them in might. (3)

Meaning

“You have conquered in combat even Indra, the ruler of gods, of incomparable deeds. Will you not then be able to kill two mortals on seeing them on the battlefield?” (4)

Meaning

Bowing to the command of his father when enjoined as aforesaid by Rāvaṇa, the ruler of ogres, the said Indrajit poured oblations into the sacred fire with due ceremony on the sacrificial ground. (5)

Meaning

Even as he was pouring oblations into the sacred fire, ogresses working as female attendants at the sacrifice and carrying red turbans (for the use of the priests), nay, seized with a flurry, arrived on the spot where the son of Rāvaṇa was. (6)

Meaning

Weapons such as a lance served as blades of Śara grass for being spread around the sacrificial fire, chips of wood of the Bibhītaka tree (a species of myrobalan tree) which serve as wooden sticks to feed the sacrificial fire, in its place red robes and iron ladles were used in that sacrifice. (7)

Meaning

Having strewn the ground on all sides of the fire with other weapons accompanied by lances, the ogre seized hold with reeds of the neck of a live goat entirely black and consigned it to the fire. (8)

Meaning

Such omens as betokened triumph, appeared in the smokeless fire which burst into mighty flames when it was fully aroused by that single offering. (9)

Meaning

Burst into view in person, the god of fire, who was shooting out flames towards the right and who shone brightly like refined gold, received that offering. (10)

Meaning

Having offered oblations to the fire and gratified the gods, devils and ogres connected with a sacrifice carried out with a malevolent intention, Indrajit ascended an excellent and splendid chariot capable of going out of sight. (11)

Meaning

Drawn by four horses, nay, provided with whetted shafts and with a mighty bow placed on it, that excellent chariot looked charming. (12)

Meaning

With its appurtenances of gold the aforesaid chariot glittered on account of its frame and was decorated with carved images of antelopes, full moons and crescents.(13)

Meaning

Provided with large rings of gold and adorned with cat’s-eye gems, the standard of Indrajit shone like a flaming fire. (14)

Meaning

Nay, protected by that chariot, effulgent as the sun, as well as by the missile presided over by Brahmā (the creator), the aforesaid son of Rāvaṇa, who was endowed with exceptional might, was difficult to overpower. (15)

Meaning

Issuing out of the city and having acquired the power of going out of sight by pouring oblations into the sacred fire with the utterance of spells sacred to Nirṛti (the progenitor of the race of ogres), the said ogre, Indrajit, who had always been victorious in war, bragged as follows: (16)

Meaning

“Having made short work of two mortal princes, who have passed their exile in the forest in vain, I shall indeed secure an eminent victory for my father, Rāvaṇa, today. (17)

Meaning

“Having rid the earth of monkeys and dispatched Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, I shall bring supreme felicity to my father today.” Saying so, he became invisible. (18)

Meaning

Directed by Rāvaṇa, the ten-headed monster, and equipped with a fierce bow and steel shafts, the ardent adversary of Indra, for his part now rushed furiously into the fray. (19)

Meaning

He beheld the two heroic princes (Śrī Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa), who were endowed with extraordinary prowess and resembled two three-headed serpents* standing in the midst of monkeys and discharging volleys of arrows. (20)

Meaning

Concluding that they were the two princes whom he was seeking, nay, stringing his bow, the ogre covered the quarters with streams of arrows as a raining cloud would with torrents of rain. (21)

Meaning

Seated in his aerial car, and remaining out of sight, Indrajit for his part pierced with whetted shafts the two princes, Śrī Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, standing on the battlefield below. (22)

Meaning

Fitting arrows to their bows when covered by the fury of his shafts, Śrī Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa revealed divine missiles. (23)

Meaning

Though covering the sky with streams of arrows, the two princes, who were endowed with extraordinary might, could not even touch Indrajit with their arrows, charged with mystic missiles and effulgent as the sun. (24)

Meaning

Nay, the glorious prince actually brought about, by dint of conjuring tricks, darkness accompanied by smoke, thereby obscuring the sky and also rendered the quarters invisible, enveloped as they were by him with the darkness of fog. (25)

Meaning

Even though he kept moving about, neither the sound produced by the impact of his palm on the bow-string, nor the sound of his chariot’s wheels or the clattering of hoofs of the horses, could be heard, nor did his form come to view. (26)

Meaning

In the midst of the thick darkness, which rendered one blind, the mighty-armed prince appeared to discharge a marvellous shower of rocks with hails of his steel arrows. (27)

Meaning

Getting enraged, the aforesaid son of Rāvaṇa grievously pierced Śrī Rāma on the battlefield in all limbs with arrows, effulgent as the sun, which had been bestowed (on him) by way of a boon. (28)

Meaning

While being hit with steel arrows as a pair of mountains with torrents, the two celebrated tigers among men shot piercing golden-shafted arrows. (29)

Meaning

Duly reaching the son of Rāvaṇa in the air and piercing him, those shafts, adorned with the plumes of a buzzard, fell to the ground soaked in blood. (30)

Meaning

Shining beyond measure with a mass of arrows (clinging to their body), the two foremost of men began to tear asunder those arrows which were falling on them with numerous arrows called by the name of Bhallas. (31)

Meaning

Those two sons of Daśaratha for their part directed their excellent missiles in the direction from which they saw the aforesaid sharp arrows dropping. (32)

Meaning

Indrajit, son of Rāvaṇa, for his part, who was a superior car-warrior, and was swift in discharging missiles, coursed in his chariot on all sides, pierced the aforesaid two sons of Daśaratha with whetted shafts. (33)

Meaning

Pierced deeply with well-crafted golden-shafted arrows, those heroic sons of Daśaratha appeared like two Kiṁśuka trees in blossom. (34)

Meaning

None could perceive the rapid movement nor the form, much less the bow and arrows of Indrajit. Nor could anything about him be known any more than the position of the sun when the sky is thickly overcast with clouds. (35)

Meaning

Nay, pierced and struck down by him on the battlefield, monkeys dropped dead on the earth’s surface in hundreds. (36)

Meaning

Roused to anger, Lakṣmaṇa for his part thereupon submitted as follows to his eldest brother, Śrī Rāma: “I shall now fall back upon the mystic missile presided over by Brahmā (the creator) with a view to the destruction of all the ogres.” (37)

Meaning

Thereupon Śrī Rāma admonished in the following words the aforesaid Lakṣmaṇa, who was endowed with auspicious bodily marks: “To get square with one individual you ought not to exterminate all the ogres on the surface of the earth. (38)

Meaning

“You ought not to kill on this earth one who is not actually fighting, lies hidden, has come for protection with joined palms, is fleeing for life or is intoxicated. (39)

Meaning

“I for one shall make an earnest endeavour for the destruction of Indrajit alone, O mighty-armed one! We two shall press into service mystic missiles endowed with great impetuosity and resembling venomous serpents. (40)

Meaning

“On seeing him the commanders of monkey troops will forcibly kill this petty ogre, who is skilled in conjuring tricks and whose chariot remains invisible. (41)

Meaning

“Consumed by my mystic missiles, he will fall dead on the ground even if he makes his way into the earth or into heaven, enters the subterranean world or penetrates the vault of heaven, and remains completely hidden in the aforesaid manner.” (42)

Meaning

Having made the foregoing speech, which was full of great significance, the high-souled Śrī Rāma, the foremost hero of the Raghus, who was surrounded by the foremost of the monkeys, now began to reflect on the speedy means of putting an end to the fierce ogre of cruel deeds. (43)