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CHAPTER II
RĀVANA'S EXPEDITION OF CONQUEST
One day Daśamukha and his younger brothers saw King Vaisravana coming through the air, seated in an aerial car, very magnificent. Questioned by him, "Who is this?" their mother said: "He is the son of my elder sister, Kausika. He is the son of a Vidyadhara-lord, Viśravas; and he is the chief soldier of Indra, the lord of all Vidhyadharas. After Indra had killed in battle your grandfather's elder brother, Mälin, he granted him our city Lanka and Rākṣasadvipa. From that time the desire to recover Lanka has existed. Your father is here, son; for that is fitting in the case of a powerful enemy.
Bhima, the lord of Rākṣasas, gave Lanka and Rākṣasadvipa with Pātālalankā and the vidya called 'Rākṣasi' to King Meghavāhana, the first bulb of the Rakṣovansa, his son in a former birth, for revenge on enemies. As their ancestral capital has been seized by enemies, your father and paternal grandfather stay here like dead men. The thought that 'Enemies move about in it freely, like bulls in an unguarded field,' is a living wound in your father always. When shall I, unfortunate that I am, see you, having gone there with your younger brothers, seated on your grandfather's throne? When shall I, having seen the robbers of Lanka fettered in prison, be the crest-jewel among the mothers of sons? Because of these wishes, son, that are like heaps of flowers in the sky, I waste away from day to day, like a flamingo in a desert."
Then Bibhiṣaṇa, his eyes terrifying from anger, said: "Be depressed no longer, mother. You do not know the power of your sons. Who is Indra compared with the powerful elder brother, Daśakantha, queen? Who is Vaiśravaņa? Who are the other Vidyadharas? For this kingdom of Lanka to belong to enemies has been endured
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