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CANTO X
1. Thereafter the host of apes stayed on the peaks of the Suvela as on their native mountains, confidently in separate groups, as if Rāvana, even though undestroyed, had been slain.
2. The apes trampled the summit of the Suvela that was unassailed even by the sun, and untouched even by the wind with confidence, and was shunned even by the gods.1
3. The mighty Rāma cast a look at Lankā that was rooted in two different emotions: with wrath, because it was the foeman's city; and with joy as he thought 'Here lives my beloved.'
4. Having heard of the advent of Rāma, Rāvana, disconcerted and full of spite, trembled with rage, even as the Suvela trembled, with its peaks trampled by the apes.
5. Meanwhile, the day shunned the terrible looks of Rāvana, 2 who was enraged by the yells of the neighbouring host of apes, while his attendants slunk away in fear.
6. As the sun drew behind it the lustre of the day, like an elephant of the gods trailing a lotus plant, the mass of its rays, reddish yellow like orpiment, verged (towards the west); even as the elephant's massive trunk curls up, coloured with the pollen of the lotus blossoms.
7. The shadows of the trees, lengthening as the pervasive daylight faded, with their coolness3 impaired, 4 thinned as if they were being stretched.
8. Red as coral, the orb of the sun resembled the head of a mighty elephant painted with vermilion, and was round like the coils of the serpent Vāsuki, coloured by the minerals of the Mandara mountain.5
1. i.e., for fear of Rāvana. 2. The departing day is fancied as leaving the fearful presence of Rāvana. 3. Lit. touch. 4. i.e., the coolness was not felt in the evening as during the day.
5. Väsuki served as a rope coiled round the Mandara mountain with which the ocean was churned by the gods and demons.
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