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244
JAIN RAMAYAN
“Very good. Then we are not really weak or powerless. Maniratna, the Chief Minister shall encounter the enemies with ten thousand cavalry at the main gate of the city. Sugupta shall with twenty thousand soldiers stand on the fort and destroy the hostile armies. The Chief Commander Suman's task is to bring to our presence dead or alive, Virdev, the commander of the forces of Ayodhya whose army is coming like a cloud of locusts. I will proceed with two thousand soldiers on elephants and make the king of Ayodhya lick the dust and then the ten thousand soldiers shall be sent in two directions. Five thousand chariots shall be in the rear of the Chief Minister so that when an emergency arises they might take part in the war.”
After that, Emperor Yashodhar ordered his soldiers to blow the trumpets. As soon as the drum-beats of war were heard, all the healthy and able-bodied citizens of Magadha got ready for the war. Strict watch was kept on Shrishen, the Chief Minister of Ayodhya who had been imprisoned.
The city of Rajgrihi was enveloped in dense darkness. Nothing was visible. Dead silence prevailed everywhere. On that day, the homes of entertainment and the sky-high mansions of the dancers were not decorated with lights and were not reverberating with music and dances. On the other hand, everywhere the trumpeting of elephants and the neighing of horses were heard. Every nook and corner of the city was reverberating with the clangour of swords and the whizzing noises of bows.
The gates of the city of Rajgrihi were closed before time. Sugupta kept watch on the battlements of the impenetrable fort: with twenty thousand able soldiers looking for the arrival of the hostile forces. In the same manner as a part of the security arrangements the bridges that lay across the deep moat around the fort had been lifted. On one side of the moat, Chief Minister, Maniratna had pitched his camp on the eastern side. Ten thousand cavalry, five thousand chariots and soldiers were ready on the bank of the moat.
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