Rāmāyana | Yuddha Kaṇḍa | Chapter 43

43. Escalation of War

[The war between Rākṣasas and monkeys escalated between one to war between their leaders. Many Rākṣasa leaders were killed. Many monkey soldiers were also killed.]

Then those very wise monkeys and the Rākṣasas started getting engaged in a harsh battle and the ferocity of the army went up greatly. 43.1

Those Rākṣasas and the chiefs, doing terrific acts being eager to win in Rāvaṇa's name, marched ahead on horses with golden trappings or elephants resembling pointed flames, or in chariots flashing like the sun and themselves wearing beautiful armours, creating reverberant sounds in all the ten directions. 43.2-43.3.

The monkeys also wanting great victory, marched against the army of those Rākṣasas who can take any form they like. 43.4

Among those of the monkeys and Rākṣasas who ran against each other, individual fight started taking place. 43.5

The Rākṣasa Indrajit fought with Angada the son of Vali in a great battle which resembled the fight between Lord Shiva and Angada. 43.6

A monkey called Sampattī who can never be conquered in war fought with Prajangha and Hanuman was fighting with Jambumali. 43.7

The very angry Rākṣasa Vibhīṣaṇa who was the younger brother of Rāvaṇa fought with a Rākṣasa called Mithragna who was greatly fiery in battle. 43.8

Gaja of great strength fought with a demon called Tapana and Nila too of great energy fought with Nikumbha. 43.9

Sugrīva the king of monkeys fought with Praghasa and Lakṣmaṇa fought with Virūpākṣa who fought well. 43.10

The invincible Rākṣasas called Agniketu, Rashmiketu, Mitraghna and Yajnakopa confronted with Rāma. 43.11

Vajramushti fought with Mainda and Dvividhaḥ fought with Asaniprabha and thus the monkey chiefs were fighting with the horrifying Rākṣasas. 43.12

Pratapana, the valiant Rākṣasa, terrific and invincible in battle fought well with Nala of intense speed in battle. 43.13

The strong monkey well known as Suṣeṇa, the son of God of death, engaged in battle with Vidyunmālā. 43.14

Some of those fearful monkeys after fighting with several big Rākṣasas, got in to one to one fight with some other horrifying Rākṣasas. 43.15

There thus happened a horrifying battle which made hairs to stand erect between Rākṣasas and monkeys, both of wanting to win. 43.16

Streams of blood and tufts of hair flowed from the bodies of monkeys as well as Rākṣasas which carried dead bodies like a timber by a stream. 43.17

Indrajit struck with great anger on Angada, who can scatter the enemy army, by a mace and it looked like Indra was himself beating with Vajra. 43.18

The glorious Angada who was a fast moving monkey then stuck the golden variegated chariot, charioteer and horses of Indrajit. 43.19

Sampattī, who was struck by Prajangha with three arrows, killed Prajangha using an Aśvakarṇa tree, at the peak of the combat. 43.20

Jambumali who was riding on a chariot took out a very strong Shakthi from his chariot and banged the chest of Hanuman using it. 43.21

Hanuman the son of wind God then climbed in to his chariot and threw down the chariot along with the Rākṣasa. 43.22

The horrible Pratapana ran with a roar send several arrows and hurt the body of Nala but suddenly Nala scratched out the eyes of the Rākṣasa. 43.23

Pierced in the limbs by sharp arrows by Praghasa the swift-handed Rākṣasa, Sugrīva the Lord of the monkeys immediately killed Praghasa with a Saptaparna tree. 43.24

Lakṣmaṇa after making the terrible looking Virupaksha suffer greatly by his rain of arrows at the end killed him with one arrow. 43.25

The invincible Agniketu, Rashmiketu, Mitrughna and Yajnakopa wounded Rāma by their arrows. 43.26

Rāma who became angry, chopped off the heads of those four Rākṣasas by using four arrows which had fire like tips. 43.27

Struck with a fist by the monkey Mainda in the battle, Vajramushti along with his chariot fell on the ground like a watch-tower on a city-wall. 43.28

Nikumbha wounded Nila who was like the blue black collyrium by his sharp arrows similar to the rays of Sun hitting the cloud. 43.29

Then, Nikumbha the swift-handed demon again wounded Nila by a hundred arrows in the battle and laughed continuously. 43.30

Nila chopped the head of the charioteer of Nikumbha by the wheel of the same chariot in that fight, similar to Vishnu the Lord of preservation in a battle. 43.31

Even Dvividhaḥ, whose impact was like a flash of lightening of a thunder bolt, struck Ashaniprabha with a rock before the eyes of all the demons. 43.32

That Ashaniprabha wounded Dvividhaḥ the monkey leader by his thunder bolt-like arrows, while Dvividhaḥ was fighting with trees in the battle. 43.33

With his limbs struck by arrows, that Dvividhaḥ agitated as he was by anger, struck with a Sāla tree, Ashaniprabha, his chariot and the horses. 43.34

Vidyunmālā sitting on the chariot using arrows decorated with gold and which made great sound struck Suṣeṇa. 43.35

The great monkey Sushena, seeing that he was sitting on the chariot, by throwing a great piece of rock of the mountain upturned the chariot. 43.36

That Rākṣasa Vidyunmālā with great tact got out from the fallen chariot and stood there on the ground armed with a mace. 43.37

The great monkey Suṣeṇa along with great anger holding a huge mountain chased that Rākṣasa. 43.38

That Rākṣasa Vidyunmālā struck with the mace on the chest of the great monkey chief Suṣeṇa who was coming towards him. 43.39

That great monkey not bothering about the beating with the mace on his chest in that great battle, threw that stone at the Rākṣasa and hit his chest. 43.40

Stuck violently by that rock on his chest Vidyunmālā, with his chest crushed, fell down dead. 43.41

Thus many strong Rākṣasas were destroyed by those valiant monkeys there in a series of hand to hand encounters, similar to devas destroying Rākṣasas. 43.42

The battle-field thus became scary with extra-ordinary spears, arrows, maces, javelins, lances and tridents shattered chariots and military horses and elephants in rut, monkeys and Rākṣasas which had been killed, wheels axles and yokes broken and lying on the ground and frequented as it was by herds of jackals. 43.43-43.44

The headless trunks of monkeys and Rākṣasas sprang up here and there in the midst of that great war, which resembled the war between devas and asuras. 43.45

They after being attacked by great monkeys and their limbs being covered with blood due to that attack longed for sun set and again assembled for another combat. 43.46

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