||Sri Ram Jeyram Jay Jay Ram ||

 

Chapter – 8 - Aranya Kandam

Rama’s battle against Khara, Dhooshana and fourteen thousands of demons

The huge army of demons screamed to get hold of Rama and encircled him. Alas! The enemies could not use their weapons before Prabu, they stood helpless watching his loveliness. At that moment Khara and Dhooshana said “This prince is the ornament to the human clan, we have seen Naga, Asuras, Deva, Manushya, and Sages, and we have fought with them and killed many of them. Oh! Brothers, I have not seen a most attractive person like him, even though he disfigured our sister, he does not deserve death. Oh! Demons, convey my message to him to give us the woman he has hidden, and ask the brothers to return home safely, bring back his reply immediately.” Rama smiled at the demons and replied “ We are born Kshatriyas, we hunt animals in the woods, in fact, we are searching for brutal animals like you to fight, we have no fear of the army of enemies. If Yama appears to battle with us, we will do it fearlessly, even though we are humans, and youthful, we are the destroyers of the demon clan. We are the protectors of ascetics and Sages, and destroyer of that who harm them and causes impediments to their austerities and religious rites. If you are not courageous enough to fight with me, you can return home. I will not kill the enemies who flee from the battlefield. You have come with a huge army of warriors to fight with me, and now you are showing kindness itself reveals your weakness.”

 

The emissaries of Khara and Dhooshana informed the message of Rama; they could not control their rage, ordered the demons “Oh! Powerful demons get hold of him and fasten him, carry all your weapons, bow and arrows, spears, trident, sword, axe, etc.” Prabhu fastened the string on the bow and stretched it near to his ears, the deafening sound of it put the warriors in extreme perplexity, they have become deaf, and the intellect did not support their actions or desires. The demons understood that the enemy is the most powerful one, so they hesitated to move further, they shot various weapons against Rama. The powerful arrows of Rama crushed the illusionary weapons of the demons, and he stretched the string of bow up to ears and showered powerful arrows like a heavy downpour, it darted like several serpents against the demons. Rama furiously continued to shot several powerful arrows, the demons started to flee in different directions, watching the warriors fleeing from the battlefield Khara, Dhooshana and Thrishirass voiced against them “Whoever runs away from the battlefield would face their deaths in our hands.” Immediately all those demons returned to the battlefield and decided to die there itself, Rama shot most powerful Astra, that sieved the heads of numerous demons, the battlefield gave out the terrible appearance of numerous limbs, heads, hands, bodies, legs, etc.. The demons utilized illusionary powers and fought against Rama, were brutally killed. There were several heads and hands flew on the sky, the demons started running aimlessly without heads on the battlefield. The cluster of crows, vultures, foxes, and eagles encircled the lifeless bodies and fought against each other. Bhootha, Pretha and Pishacha carried the blood in the skulls and gulped it, Vethala played drum with the bodiless heads, Yoginis danced in merriment. The powerful arrows of Rama pierced the heart of the demons, sieved off their heads, and hands of the chief of warriors, in this way, the battlefield gave out a dreadful appearance, the headless bodies ran around aimlessly. The vultures, eagle, foxes, and crows ran out of the war zone with the intestines, a huge army of Khara Dhooshana was destroyed. They became furious watching the destructions of the army, turned against Rama, followed with the remaining army of demons, and attacked Rama with spears, trident, axe, sword, etc. Alas! In a blink of the eye, Rama showered powerful arrows against the warriors that pierced their chests; they continued to fight against Rama with illusionary powers. The deities were alarmed watching Rama fighting against the fourteen thousands of demons singlehandedly. Rama saw the deities are frightened, soon Prabhu who is the controller of Maya, played a trick utilizing his Maya and the demons saw Rama in place of the co-warriors, eventually they fought against each other and got killed. They called out for ‘Ram Ram’ and left mortal coil, have attained the abode of Lord. In this way, the huge armies of demons were killed in seconds. The deities were immensely pleased and showered flowers upon Rama, the sounds of Dhundhubi echoed in the sky. The deities eulogized Rama and returned to their respective abodes.