Lanka Kaanda
172 - conflict actually begins
Chaupais
Description
On the gold battlements they looked like dark clouds hanging on the heights of Mount Meru. Martial drums and tabors sounded; the soul of the warriors was stirred by their crash. Numberless kettledrums and clarionets were also playing; their music cracked the heart of cowards. Advancing further, the demons saw the hosts of monkey and bear champions, exceptionally huge in size, who in their onrush would make no account of rugged valleys and catching hold of mountains would cleave them asunder and make passage through them. Gnashing their teeth and biting their lips, myriads of warriors on both sides roared and bullied, calling here on Rama and there on Ravana. With shouts of victory on both sides the fight actually commenced. The demons cast down volleys of mountain-peaks, which the monkeys would seize with a bound and hurl them back.