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130
SETUBANDHA
50. As the young women held their beloved back their longstanding anger born of jealousy no longer found place in their hearts, smitten with fear, even though the lovers refused their entreaty, 26 something that they had not done before.
:51. Even as their mistresses restrained the martial zeal of the warriors it grew more ardent because of the rancour harboured (against the enemy), all the more because they were reminded of the possible humiliation of their master.27.
52. Held by their beloved's hands, and delayed by their entreaties, and swayed by love and passion, but made resolute by their sense of honour, the demons departed, because of their delight in war.
53. Ambitious to fight with the gods, they were ashamed to put on armour in a martial enterprise, trivial on account of rivalry with the apes. None the less they could not tolerate the aggression of the foe.
54. Mahodara's armour was hollow over the cavities left by old wounds, but clattered when parts of it rubbed against the swollen flesh round the scars. It was uneven on the chest, but flat on the back.28
55. Skilled in archery, Prahasta, a mobile rampart to the lord of the demons, whose might was seen in the wars with the gods, was delighted that he was methodically equipped with armour.
56. The upraised armour of Triśiras (Three-headed) that had openings for his several necks slipped down loose over his chest, which contracted when the (six) hands were simultaneously raised (to let them into the arms of the coat of mail).
57. As Mahodara29 flung himself about violently, the ground trembling under him, his armour, which had stuck on his chest, slid down under its own weight.
26. i.e. the request of the mistresses to delay their departure. Cf. verse 52. 27. i.e., the possible defeat of Rāvana by Rāma.
28. i.e., the armour fitted the back, but not the chest because of the swollen flesh.
29. See Extracts.
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