Lanka Kaanda
179 - Kumbhakarna joins the beale and attains final beatitude
Chaupais
Description
At the close of the day the two contending armies retired from the battle-field. The battle had proved exceedingly strenuous even to the stoutest warrior. But the monkey host waxed stronger by Sri Rama's grace, even as fire blazes up when fed with straw. The ranks of the demons were thinning night and day like merit, which is exhausted by speaking of one's good deeds with one's own lips. The ten-headed monster made much lamentation, clasping his brother's head to his bosom again and again. The women wept and beat their breast with their hands, paying tributes to his extraordinary majesty and strength. At that juncture Meghanada (Ravana's eldest son) came and consoled his father by narrating a number of (reassuring) stories. "See my heroism tomorrow; I need not make any pretentious statement just now. I have had no occasion to show you, dear father, the strength which I acquired alongwith the chariot from my beloved deity." While he rattled on in this manner the day broke and swarms of monkeys besieged all the four gates. On this side ranged the monkey and bear warriors terrible as death, while on the other side stood the demons exceedingly staunch in battle. Every champion fought for the victory of his own camp; the battle, O Garuda (says Kakabhusundi), defied all description.