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SETUBANDHA
139
18. A wounded ape, profusely bleeding and pale, but eager to fight despite the severe blow inflicted upon him, drew near regardless of the agony of his wounds, fixing his eyes on a demon.
19. The valiant did not wait for a chance to come, but crushed the valour displayed by the enemy. They performed more than they promised, and came forward to fight), followed by applause.8
20. Thus did their battle rage. It destroyed the path to the world of Yama, and straightened the way to Indra's palaceo: it was, as it were, the appointed bower where the celestial maidens met to secure the joys of love. 10
21. The stout tusks of an elephant that hit an ape on the bosom sank deep into its own mouth;11 while the tracks of the apes on the battlefield were resonant with the moving bangles of the celestial maidens, who came down in quest of the warriors that were killed.12
22. The chariots were dashed on the ground as the apes swooped down on them. The elephants, thrown up by the apes as they sprang into the air, had their limbs broken.13 The captured horses ran away, and the Rākşasa warriors were slain by the pursuing apes.
23. The impact of the sandal trees (hurled by the apes) was endured with ease by the demons, because the chest was cooled by the sap (of the broken trees); while the apes screamed when the arrows pierced through their mouths as they opened them in their eagerness to chatter.
8. Cf. Madhava in Extracts. Or, 'meeting with applause.' 9. i.e. heaven.
10. i.e., by choosing as their lovers the warriors killed in the battle. See verse 17.
11. i.e., the tusks were driven into the mouth of the animal without being able to penetrate the chest of the ape.
12. See the preceding verse.
13. Acc. to the Bengal school of commentators: the elephants (that had fallen when seized by the apes) rose up and ran away as the apes leaped into the air. See Extracts. This interpretation goes well with what is said about the horses, but strains the meaning of ucсhitta (utkşipta).
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