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An Incident in the Royal Court
115
and security; and now this Yama has inflicted these indignities and agonies upon them. I am Dashmukh Ravan. I will not have peace of mind until I take revenge against Yama. I will destroy all the defences of Yama's kingdom; and I will do justice to Suryaraja and Yaksharaja, the sons of my friend".
And Ravan who was out to make a war ordered the beating of war-drums. On hearing the sound of the drums and the bugles, the Rakshasa warriors were amazed.
“We do not know who is in for trouble today”, said the talkative Kumbhakarna, waving his mace in the air and peering at his younger brother, Vibhishan.
"He who is swollen with pride !" “But who is he?"
“Who else can it be? It is the pretender-Yama, the Dikhpalak (ruler of one of the eight directions) of the pretender-Indra".
Then, Dashmukh Ravan sat in his Pushpak Viman and set off in the direction of Kishkindha, with his vast army
On the way, he saw the hell-like prison-houses built by Yama. His heart shook with compassion and grief when he saw the oppression and humiliation that his dear friend's sons and the Vanara warriors were experiencing in that veritable hell.
ey were being subiected to tremendous tortures there. The
madoots (the servants of Yama) were making Yaksharaja and Suryaraja drink boiling liquid of lead. They were beating them on rocks as if they were clothes; and with their sharp swords, they were cutting off their limbs. How could Dashmukh Ravan, the very embodiment of extraordinary courage and compassion bear to see those heart-rending sights? Within a moment, he used his miraculous devices and decimated those servants of Yama and destroyed his hell !
Even after great men arrive, quarrels, wranglings, fights and anguish continue just as even after a light is brought, darkness continues to exist.
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