of thine, retribution is about to overtake thee!
I will slay thee with thy counsellors. Fight
and show thy courage![100] O wanderer of the night,
behold the power of my bow, although I am but a man!
Release Sita, the daughter of Janaka! If thou
dost not release her, I shall make the Earth divested
of all Rakshasas with my keen-edged arrows!’
Hearing these defiant words of the enemy, king Ravana
bore them ill, becoming senseless with wrath.
And thereupon four Rakshasas skilled in reading every
sign of their master, seized Angada like four hawks
seizing a tiger. With those Rakshasas, however,
holding him fast by his limbs, Angada leaped upwards
and alighted on the palace terrace. And as he
leaped up with a great force, those wanderers of the
night fell down the earth, and bruised by the violence
of the fall, had their ribs broken. And from
the golden terrace on which he had alighted, he took
a downward leap. And overleaping the walls of
Lanka, he alighted to where his comrades were.
And approaching the presence of the lord of Kosala
and informing him of everything, the monkey Angada
endued with great energy retired to refresh himself,
dismissed with due respect by Rama.
The descendant of Raghu then caused the ramparts of
Lanka to be broken down by a united attack of all
those monkeys endued with the speed of the wind.
Then Lakshmana, with Vibhishana and the king of the
bears marching in the van, blew up the southern gate
of the city that was almost impregnable. Rama
then attacked Lanka with a hundred thousand crores
of monkeys, all possessed of great skill in battle,
and endued with reddish complexions like those of
young camels. And those crores of greyish bears
with long arms, and legs and huge paws, and generally
supporting themselves on their broad haunches, were
also urged on to support the attack. And in consequence
of those monkeys leaping up and leaping down and leaping
in transverse directions, the Sun himself, his bright
disc completely shaded, became invisible for the dust
they raised. And the citizens of Lanka beheld
the wall of their town assume all over a tawny hue,
covered by monkeys of complexions yellow as the ears
of paddy, and grey as Shirisha flowers, and red as
the rising Sun, and white as flax or hemp. And
the Rakshasas, O king, with their wives and elders,
were struck with wonders at that sight. And the
monkey warriors began to pull down pillars made of
precious stones and the terraces and tops of palatial
mansions. And breaking into fragments the propellers
of catapults and other engines, they began to cast
them about in all directions. And taking up the
Sataghnis along with the discs, the clubs, and stones,
they threw them down into the city with great force
and loud noise. And attacked thus by the monkeys,
those Rakshasas that had been placed on the walls
to guard them, fled precipitately by hundreds and thousands.
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