Lakshmana reluctantly took Sita and left his brother to fight alone. Rama saw that they were safely inside the cave, then he strung his bow and prepared himself for battle. He twanged the string of his bow and challenged the rakshasas to battle.
Khara drove his chariot right up to where Rama stood, ready for battle and let loose hundreds of arrows and tridents, sickles, axes and many different types of weapons at him, while the rest of the army did the same. Rama stood like a rock, unmoved by the onslaught.
Though hurt in many places, he fought on calmly, ably resisting the attack. The dexterity with which he was handling his bow evoked the admiration of even his enemies. His arrows charged with mantras were so painful that the first onslaught of rakshasas turned tail and ran back, screaming with pain. Again and again Khara sent his warriors, only to be decimated by Rama’s deadly arrows. At last, only a few remained to tell the tale. He began to feel really worried when he saw that his brave commander, Dhushana had been killed.
Then he sent Thrishiras, who was another great general, who managed to wound Rama on the forehead. Rama admired his prowess but was forced to kill him in the end. At last Khara began to worry if he would also be killed. He advanced towards Rama in his chariot.
Rama, who was fighting from the ground, broke the demon’s chariot and said, “No one who has been perpetrating such cruel deeds like you has a right to live. How many innocent rishis have you killed? This is your last day 0 Khara! Prepare to die”.
Khara rushed at him with mace upraised and flung it at him but Rama splintered it into a thousand pieces with his arrows. Next Khara uprooted a huge tree and flung it at Rama.
He warded it off easily. Blind with rage, Khara rushed towards Rama, determined to throttle him with his bare fists. Rama invoked the power of Indra into his arrow and sent it hurtling at Khara. It entered his chest and he fell down dead. Seeing their leader fall, the rest of the rakshasa army, including Shurpanekha fled in terror. Sita’s peaceful and beautiful garden was totally devastated and strewn with arms, legs and heads – blood and bones.
Lakshmana now returned with Sita and congratulated his brother. Sita rushed towards Rama and embraced him. She was so happy to see him alive. Tenderly she wiped off the droplets of blood from his face and body with her upper garment. Her voice was choked with emotion and she could not speak a word. Though proud of her husband’s prowess in combating so many rakshasas, single-handed, yet she had some foreboding that this was not the end of the affair and that their peaceful days were over.
Thus ends the third Canto called “The Night Rangers” of the Aranya Kanda in the glorious Ramayana of the Sage Valmiki.
Canto IV – The Demon King
The only one who managed to escape from the fray at Janasthana was a rakshasa called Akampana. Seeing that it was a lost cause, he had hidden himself behind a tree and watched all his friends falling. At last he returned post haste to Ravana’s capital, on the island of Lanka and reported the whole matter. The rakshasa king could not believe that his best commanders had been killed and his entire army wiped out by one single individual.
Ravana glared at him and roared, “Who is the foolish person who has dared to meddle with my outpost at Janasthana. It is obvious that his end is near. Even Indra, the king of gods, is afraid of me, so also Kubera, the god of wealth, and Yama, the god of death. I spell death, to Death himself, and my wrath can burn up even agni, the god of fire. Name the person who has dared to defy me”.
Akampana shivered with fear and stammered, “My Lord, it was a man who did it”. “A man! A human being! I cannot believe it. I have not heard any report of an army marching to Janasthana, so how can this have happened”.
“There was no army, Your Majesty. It was one single individual, who routed the entire army and his name is Rama. He is the son of king Dasaratha, of the clan of Ikshvaku, the ruler of Ayodhya. He and his wife and brother have been exiled and are now living in the forest at Panchavati. He is dark and handsome and is as strong as a lion. He is an amazing archer and he decimated the entire army, single-handed”.
Ravana could not believe this story. He said, “I’ll go immediately to Jansthana and kill this man, Akampana said, “I would not advise you to do so, my Lord. Rama is invincible. He can destroy this universe and create a new one if he wants. He has command of all astras and weapons. You will never be able to beat him in a fair combat. But I can tell you of a means by which you can defeat him. He has a wife called Sita whom he loves dearly. She is his weak point. Her beauty is unparalleled in all the three worlds. Even the gods are bewitched by her charm. She is the daughter of King Janaka of Mithila. You will never be able to withstand her beauty. I suggest that you go to Dandaka and abduct her. If she is lost, Rama will not be able to live. He will pine away and die. This is the only way you can destroy him”.
Ravana’s eyes gleamed with green fire at the thought of another conquest to his harem. “Your idea is very good, 0 Akampana”, he said, “I will go to the forest of Dandaka tomorrow and capture this beauty for myself. As you know I am a connoisseur of women’s beauty so let me add another jewel to my collection”.
Ravana called for his golden, aerial, chariot, yoked to magic asses, with the faces of fiends and went to the ashrama of Maricha, the son of Tataka, whom Rama had sent hurtling off, for a few hundred miles, in his very first battle, when he went to save the yaga of sage Vishvamitra. Maricha had now become an ascetic and was living a simple life at a place called Gokarna. He was honoured that the king had come to visit him and paid him all respect.
Ravana did not waste time in idle talk. He came straight to the point. “My dear uncle”, he said, “did you hear that the entire rakshasa encampment at Janasthana, has been totally wiped out”? Maricha was amazed that such a thing could have happened and wanted to know how it took place. “It was wiped out by a mere mortal – a man called Rama”! At the name of Rama, Maricha trembled like a leaf and began to perspire.
