Setubandha

SR No.: 001384
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1976
Total Pages: 812
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English & Literature
File Size: 14 MB

Page 289

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SETUBANDHA 33. The craven arm themselves. Of what use is the load of armour to the strong? Their own strength was the armour of the apes, and their unvanquished arms the weapons.
34. The troops of Vibhīşana were placed in the forefront of the army: they were conversant with the path to Lankā, and familiar with the resources of the demons, and skilled in deceitful as well as straight-forward methods of war,
the path to Lanka, and
35. When Rāma took up arms, Sugrīva became sad, being at a loss to requite his kindness, now that he was hasting to the battle;20 while Vibhīşaņa grieved over the fate of the Rākşasa race.
36. As Rāma brandished his bow, convulsing the Suvela and rocking the sea, Lankā, with its wall and mansions quivering, seemed to tremble, Alinging its limbs about.
37. Sitā was solaced to hear the sound of Räina's bow that came like his initial greeting to her, her frail body thrilling with rapture, and her face beaming with unwonted joy.
38. The yelling of the apes, pleasing to Sītā's ears, confounded the people of Lankā, making the young women faint, and acting like a crash of thunder on the mountain that was Rāvana's heart.
39. Assailed by the sea, overflowing its shore on account of the violent onrush of the host of apes, 21 the Suvela whose caves were filled with water roared with the echoes dying away.22
40. The sound of the bow as it rumbled, when first swung by Rāma, drowning all other noise, fainted away slowly as Rāvana heard it with amazement and wrath.
41. Meanwhile, Rāvana woke at the end of his slumbers, taking no heed of the host of apes, glorious in war, who stood encircling Lankā's wall.
a
.
20. The idea is, Rāma's eagerness to fight deprived Sugrīva of the opportunity to show his gratitude by taking the initiative in the fighting.
21. The seashore is fancied as sinking under the weight of the apes, causing the sea to overflow.
22. i.e., the roar of the waters did not reverberate from the flooded caves of the mountain.