|| Sri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram ||

 

Chapter -18 - Lanka Kandam

The description of battlefield/ Rama’s advice on Neethishasthra/ Rama and Ravana Yuddham

 

The Bhootha, Pretha, Pishacha, Vethala, Shivagans who has the long matted hair locks took great pleasure bathing in the blood of the river on the battlefield. The crows and eagles carried away the different parts of the body; some of the warriors were half of the body in the blood pool and another half on the shore, waiting for their death. The eagles on the banks of the pool of the blood were enjoying their feast, and carefully picking up the meat, like the fisherman get caught the fishes. There were several corpses floating on the river of blood, birds sat on the water like enjoying the journey in the ferry, Yoginis filled the blood in the skull and took great taste in it. Bhoothas and Pishachas were dancing merrily in the sky. The Chamundas playing drums with the bodiless heads, Jackals took great taste in the meat and produced howl and cries, there were several corpses without head lying on the blood pool. The bodiless heads were cheering “Jaya Jaya”, the headless bodies were roaming aimlessly.  The valorous Vanaaras and bears attacked the enemies; with the grace of Prabhu, they have destroyed the huge army of demons. Ravana thought “I have lost the entire army, I have become all alone. There are huge numbers of Vanaras and bears, so I can use my illusionary powers to baffle them.”

 

The deities felt heartrending to watch Prabhu without a protective shield or sandals to cover his feet. Devendra sends his grand chariot for Prabhu, was brought by Mathali. Kosaladheesha took a seat on that grand chariot, it was driven by a highly auspicious breed of four horses that have the speed of the wind, has no aging, illnesses, or death. The Vanaras became enthusiastic watching Prabhu in that magnificent chariot, Ravana was exhausted and all alone could not battle against the Vanaras, so he started using illusionary powers, but none of his Maya was affected that Mayapathi, but Vanaras and even Lakshman were persuaded by his Maya. Vanaras and bears saw several thousands of Rama and Lakshman in the army of Ravana, got terrified and confused as well. The Vanaras, bears and Lakshman stood like a portrait, watching the illusionary powers of Ravana.  Prabhu smiled at them, Srihari shot an arrow and removed the Maya of Ravana, and thus Vanaras became happy. Rama affectionately spoke to them “Oh! Dear Lakshman, Vanaras, and bears, you have extremely tired, therefore watch my fight with Ravana.” Rama prostrated before the feet of the Brahmin, and got into the chariot, and moved forward.

 

Ravana produced a huge roar at Rama “Oh! Thapasvi, listen to me; I am not that warriors who have lost their lives in the battlefield. I am Ravana, the whole world knows my prowess, I have imprisoned that Lokapalakas. You have killed Khara, Dhoohana, Thrishirass and numerous armies of demons, you have hunted Bali like a hunter shot down his prey. You have killed Kumbhakarnna, Prahastha, Meghanatha, Akshakumara. Oh! Prince of Ayodhya, if you did not flee from the battlefield I would settle scores with you today. I will feed Kala with your death, today you are fighting against the mighty Ravana.” Prabhu smiled and replied “Oh! Dhashanan, your prowess are true, hence show them all in the battlefield, do not engage in self-praise, listen to my words from Neethishasthra, there are three kinds of people on the Earth, 1) People who are good in speech 2) People who are good in speech and actions 3) People who do not speak, but act, these are like three types of trees 1) flowering 2) flowering with fruits 3) bears fruits.” Ravana laughed boisterously shaking his huge body and spoke “Oh! Thapasvi, are you giving me knowledge in Neethishasthra? You were too anxious to kill me, now you have started loving your life.” Ravana shot Vajra like several arrows against Sri Ramachandra Prabhu, stood on the different directions of the sky; Rama shot Agneya Astra against it, that burned down all those arrows of Ravana, he got disappointed, crushed teeth in anger, shoved a powerful spear against Rama, that was returned to him with the arrow of Rama. Ravana used several thousands of  Chakras and tridents, against Prabhu, but those were broken into pieces with the powerful arrow of Sri Ramachandra. Ravana's arrows were like the wicked plans of the deceitful people, short-living. Ravana shot hundreds of arrows on Mathali/charioteer of Rama, he called out “Jai Sri Ram” and fallen on the ground took hold affectionately by Prabhu.

 

Raghupathi furiously entered in the battlefield, his powerful arrows darted to various directions, some the demons were fallen dead at the deafening sounds of the Saranga. Devi Mandodhari felt extremely distressed, the powerful ocean waves caused turbulence, Earth quivered, and mountains trembled. The deities felt immensely pleased watching the progress of the battle, Sri Rama shot several thousands of powerful arrows, those darted like serpents against the enemies, it took the life of Sarathi of Ravana and his horses, and then it completely destroyed the chariot, Dwaja, and Pathaka as well. Rama’s valor created trepidations in Ravana, but he ignored them all, produced huge roar and proceeded, he took place on another chariot, used all the Shathras and Asthras against Vanaras and Rama, but all his attempts were failed. He shot ten spears that lost the balance of the four auspicious horses of Rama’s chariot. Prabhu retrieved the horses with his affectionate touch, he shot several arrows against Ravana, were hit hard on his head and eyebrows, blood gushed out of his forehead, but Ravana did not stop chasing Prabhu.  Rama shot thirty arrows that sieved off his ten heads and twenty hands but it started growing immediately on its place. In this way, Prabhu performed various amusements in the battle with Ravana, shot arrows several times that sieved off his heads and hands, finally the sky filled with the hands and heads of Ravana resembled several Rahu and Kethu.