Rāmāyana | Yuddha Kaṇḍa | Chapter 100

100. Rāvaṇa Wounds Lakṣmaṇa

[The great one to one war between Rāma and Rāvaṇa continues. In between Lakṣmaṇa and Vibhīṣaṇa interfere and destroy the chariot of Rāvaṇa. When Rāvaṇa tries to kill Vibhīṣaṇa, Lakṣmaṇa saves him. Then Rāvaṇa wounds Lakṣmaṇa with a great spear. Rāma is upset and fights vigorously.]

When Rāvaṇa the king of Rākṣasas saw that his arrow was destroyed, his anger became two fold and in that great anger he sent another arrow. 100.1

That greatly lustrous Rāvaṇa started to release another horrifying arrow of anger built by Maya on Rāma. 100.2

Then from that bow came out spears, maces, blazing tridents and cubs which were as hard as Vajra from all directions. 100.3

Various types of sharp and terrible hammers, deceptive nooses and shining thunderbolts came out similar to the storm at the time of final deluge. 100.4

That very auspicious Rāghava who was an expert in great divine arrows, who has a very great lustre struck down that arrow by an arrow of Gandharvas. 100.5

When the great Rāghava destroyed that arrow of his, Rāvaṇa with eyes red due to anger sent the arrow of Sun God. 100.6

From that lustrous bow of the intelligent Rāvaṇa came shining large discuses with terrific speed. 100.7

When they came out falling from all sides the entire sky was shining and all the directions were well lit as by sun, moon and other planets. 100.8

Then Rāghava who was standing in front of Rāvaṇa's army split all those discuses and other strange weapons by using large number of arrows. 100.9

Seeing his arrow being destroyed by Rāma, Rāvaṇa, the king of Rākṣasas pierced Rāma in all his vital parts by ten arrows. 100.10

Even though that Rāvaṇa struck Rāma with those ten arrows released from his great bow, Rāma of extraordinary energy was not shaken. 100.11

Thus struck Rāma who was victorious in all battles became very angry and struck Rāvaṇa on all his organs with large number of arrows. 100.12

In the meantime, Lakṣmaṇa the very strong younger brother of Rāma who was a destroyer of his enemies took hold of seven arrows. 100.13

Those very fast arrows cut off the greatly shining flag of Rāvaṇa which had the picture of man's head. 100.14

Then that great Lakṣmaṇa with one single arrow tore off the head of the charioteer of Rāvaṇa which was adorned with shining ear rings. 100.15

Then with five very sharp arrows Lakṣmaṇa cut off the bow of the king of Rākṣasas which looked like the trunk of an elephant. 100.16

Bouncing forward, Vibhīṣaṇa killed, with his mace, the excellent horses of Rāvaṇa, which looked like black clouds and were as tall as mountains. 100.17

Rāvaṇa jumped out of his very large chariot whose horses have been killed and showed a severe anger towards his brother. 100.18

Then that king of Rākṣasas who had great strength hurled a spear which was shining like lightning on Vibhīṣaṇa. 100.19

Even before the spear could reach Vibhīṣaṇa, Lakṣmaṇa broke it with three of his arrows and all the monkeys loudly cheered him in the battle field. 100.20

That spear which was crowned with gold was torn in to three pieces and fell like a large meteor with sparks of fire from the sky. 100.21

Then that Rāvaṇa took a much larger spear which was the best with great lustre with its own splendour and was difficult to approach even by Kala, the God of death. 100.22

That bad soul Rāvaṇa with great strength and speed and which was shining like a thunderbolt hurled it swiftly. 100.23

At that time the valorous Lakṣmaṇa quickly rushed towards Vibhīṣaṇa who was in danger to his life. 100.24

To rescue him, the valorous Lakṣmaṇa went on showering arrows at Rāvaṇa who was holding the spear in his hand. 100.25

Made helpless by that shower of arrows by that great one, could not make up his mind to attack Vibhīṣaṇa. 100.26

Rāvaṇa who saw that his brother was rescued by Lakṣmaṇa stood before him and spoke the following words. 100.27

"Oh Lakṣmaṇa whose strength is great, you have now rescued Vibhīṣaṇa in this way, and now I am leaving out Vibhīṣaṇa and am sending weapons against you." 100.28

"This spear which would be hurled by my steel like arms, will make a mark of blood on you, pierce your heart and go away only after taking your life." 100.29

After seeing this that greatly enraged Rāvaṇa roared and hurled the unfailing spear towards Lakṣmaṇa, that which was adorned with eight loudly clamouring bells, which had been designed by Maya the demon by dint of his conjuring trick, capable of destroying adversaries and blazing as it was with splendour. 100.30-100.31

That which was hurled came with great speed like Indra's thunderbolt and fell on Lakṣmaṇa in the battle field. 100.32

Rāma kept on repeating as the spear was rushing towards Lakṣmaṇa, "Let Lakṣmaṇa be safe. May the spear be useless. May this effort become useless." 100.33

That spear, which was looking like a poisonous serpent, released by the angry Rāvaṇa in the battle, quickly entered the chest of Lakṣmaṇa, who stood fearless. 100.34

That spear which was shining like the king of serpents shined with great lustre and fell on the broad chest of Lakṣmaṇa with great speed. 100.35

Due to speed by which Rāvaṇa has sent it, that spear went deep in to the chest of Lakṣmaṇa and he fell to the ground with his heart being broken. 100.36

Rāma with great lustre who was stationed near by Lakṣmaṇa saw this and due to the love towards his brother became extremely sad. 100.37

With tear filled sorrowful eyes, Rāma thought for a moment became as angry as the fire at the time of final deluge. 100.38

Becoming aware that it was not the time for feeling sorrowful and looking at Lakṣmaṇa, Rāma resumed that highly tumultuous battle with a great and whole-hearted endeavour, determined as he was to destroy Rāvaṇa. 100.39

Rāma saw Lakṣmaṇa who was wounded by the spear in that great war, bathed in blood looking like a mountain with a snake in the middle. 100.40

In spite of great efforts, the monkeys were not able to pull out the spear [from Lakṣmaṇa] hurled by the strong Rāvaṇa, as they were being continuously tormented with the foremost among the Rākṣasas with large number of arrows. 100.41-100.42

That spear had passed through the body of Lakṣmaṇa and penetrated the earth; the mighty Rāma using his hands pulled it out and getting greatly angry broke it during the battle. 100.43

When Rāma was drawing out the spear the strong Rāvaṇa struck several arrows on his body which split the vital parts of Rāma. 100.44

Without any other thought about those arrows, Rāma embraced Lakṣmaṇa and then Rāma told Hanuman and Sugrīva. 100.45

"Oh great monkeys remain with Lakṣmaṇa and properly nurse him. Let this malicious Rākṣasa called Rāvaṇa be killed by me. The time for which I have desired for a long time has now come like the Chātakā bird waiting for rain is seeing the clouds at the end of hot season." 100-46-100.47

"In this auspicious time, I am binding myself by a great oath. Oh monkeys, without much delay you will see a world either devoid of Rāvaṇa or Rāma." 100.48

"Incidents like loss of the kingdom, life in forest, wandering about in Daṇḍaka forest and troubling of Sītā by the Rākṣasas have been encountered by me." 100.49

"But now, I have encountered a horrific sorrow and pain which is like the agony in hell. By killing Rāvaṇa in this battle, I shall relieve myself of all these agonies." 100.50

"The reason for which I had brought the monkey army here, the reason for killing of Vali and crowning of Sugrīva, the reason for crossing the ocean by building a bridge has now come before my eye sight in this battle field." 100.51-100.52

"This Rāvaṇa who has come within the range of my vision cannot survive any more than the one who has come within the range of vision of a snake injecting deadly poison with its very glance or the serpent who has come within the range of vision of Garuda, the king of birds and the enemy of serpents can survive." 100.53-100.54

"Oh great monkeys, sit with comfort on the mountain peaks and watch this great battle between me and Rāvaṇa." 100.55

"Let all the three worlds, Gandharvas, Devas and the Chāraṇas see during this war, the nature of Rāma today." 100.56

"I am going to do such an act today that all mobile and immobile beings of this world along with the Devas together will keep on narrating as long as this world is there and tell about how this battle went on." 100.57

The well composed Rāma after saying this, with sharp arrows decked with gold attacked that ten necked one. 100.58

Then Rāvaṇa rained shining steel arrows and maces, just like a cloud would give out rains. 100.59

When those excellent arrows sent by Rāma and Rāvaṇa met each other, a huge tumultuous sound emanated from there. 100.60

Both the arrows of Rāma as well as Rāvaṇa split and broke producing light and fell from the sky on to earth. 100.61

The loud sound produced by the bow string, pulled by the hands of those greatly valorous Rāma and Rāvaṇa, made all beings scared and was a great sight. 100.62

Torn badly by the rain of that net of arrows, by the great Rāma, who was armed with a shining bow, that Rāvaṇa ran away just like cloud is pushed away by the tempest. 100.63

This is the end of Hundredth Sarga of Yuddha Kanda which occurs in Holy Rāmāyaṇa composed by Vālmīki as the First Epic.