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Rama fell upon Ravana and worsted him six times over. At evening the hostilities ceased for the day.
INTRODUCTION
Sandhi LXVII. Rama's Grief. Ravana's Incorrigibility. Rama's grief and lament. The whole of the camp was aggrieved. Sītā too, when told about Lakṣmaṇa's condition, lamented. Rāvana was pained to learn Kumbhakarna captured. But this did not make him budge from his position. Within a day the fate of the battle would be decided, he thought. Rama was somehow consoled. He vowed to kill Ravana the very next day, if Lakṣmaṇa did not come round. Sugrīva organised the forces to form an impenetrable protective fortress around Lakṣmana's body.
Sandhi LXVIII. The Story of Visalyä.
At that juncture, Prince Praticandra from Devasangītapura arrived there and told Rāma to fetch the ablution waters of king Dronaghana's daughter Visalya and sprinkle Lakṣmaṇa with them. Once he himself, battered by an enemy and fallen within the precincts of Ayodhya, was revived and cured by Bharata by means of those magic waters. Bharata had learnt about them from Dronaghana during a raging epidemic, when the latter's city alone in the whole kingdom had remained unaffected. The story behind the wonderful properties of Visalya's waters was unfolded by a holy monk. In her previous birth Visalya was a Vidyadhara princess called Anangasarā. Punarvasu took her by force, but unable to counter the attack of the pursuing army, he dropped her in a wilderness and fled. She practised austerities for thousands of years. Once when she was being swallowed by a python, Saudāsa offered to kill the beast. But she stopped him, consistently with her vow of Ahimsa. Having died, she was reborn as Visalya, while Punarvasu was reborn Lakṣmaṇa.
Sandhi LXIX. Visalya is Brought. Lakṣmaṇa Revives.
Hanumat offered to fetch the healing waters before dawn. Sugrīva, and Bhāmaṇḍala became his assistants. They left by their aerial cars. Passing over the ocean, the mountains Malaya and Kişkindha, rivers from Kṛṣṇavenā to Narmada, and the Vindhyas, they reached Ayodhya and informed Bharata about Lakṣmaṇa's condition. Bharata's lament. The Royal harem and the people too were aggrieved. At Kaikeya's request, Dronaghana sent Visalya herself along with one thousand girls to
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