Lanka Kaanda
169 - Angada's departure for Lanka and dialogue between Angada and Ravana in the latter's court
Chaupais
Description
On hearing this, Angada indignantly replied: "Take care what you say, you vainglorious wretch. How can He be accounted a man, you wretched Ravana, at whose very sight melted away the pride of Parasurama-the same Parasurama whose axe was like a fire to consume King Sahasrabahu's boundless forest of arms, or (to use another simile) like the sea in whose swift tide have drowned innumerable kings time after time. How can Sri Rama be a mortal, you arrogant fool? Is the god of love a mere archer, the Ganga a mere stream, the cow of plenty a mere beast, the tree of Paradise a mere tree, the gift of food an ordinary gift, nectar an ordinary drink, Garuda (the mount of God Visnu) a mere bird, the thousand-headed Sesa a mere serpent and the wish-yielding gem a mere stone, O ten-headed monster? Listen, O dullard: is Vaikuntha an ordinary sphere and unflinching devotion to the Lord of the Raghus an ordinary gain?"