and effulgence of fire!  With one of these, he severed from Indrajit’s body that arm of his enemy which had grasped the bow.  With the second he caused that other arm which had held the arrows, to drop down on the ground.  With the third that was bright and possessed of the keenest edge, he cut off his head decked with a beautiful nose and bright with ear-rings.  And shorn of arms and head, the trunk became fearful to behold.  And having slain the foe thus, that foremost of mighty men then slew with his arrows the charioteer of his adversary.  And the horses then dragged away the empty chariot into the city.  And Ravana then beheld that car without his son on it.  And hearing that his son had been slain, Ravana suffered his heart to be overpowered with grief.  And under the influence of extreme grief and affliction, the king of the Rakshasas suddenly cherished the desire of killing the princess of Mithila.  And seizing a sword, the wicked Rakshasa hastily ran towards that lady staying within the Asoka wood longing to behold her lord.  Then Avindhya beholding that sinful purpose of the wicked wretch, appeased his fury.  Listen, O Yudhishthira, to the reasons urged by Avindhya!  That wise Rakshasa said, ’Placed as thou art on the blazing throne of an empire, it behoveth thee not to slay a woman!  Besides, this woman is already slain, considering that she is a captive in thy power!  I think, she would not be slain if only her body were destroyed.  Slay thou her husband!  He being slain, she will be slain too!  Indeed, not even he of an hundred sacrifices (Indra) is thy equal in prowess!  The gods with Indra at their head, had repeatedly been affrighted by thee in battle!’ With these and many other words of the same import, Avindhya succeeded in appeasing Ravana.  And the latter did, indeed, listen to his counsellor’s speech.  And that wanderer of the night, then, resolved to give battle himself sheathed his sword, and issued orders for preparing his chariot.’”

SECTION CCLXXXVIII

“Markandeya said, The Ten-necked (Ravana), excited to fury at the death of his beloved son, ascended his car decked with gold and gems.  And surrounded by terrible Rakshasas with various kinds of weapons in their hands, Ravana rushed towards Rama, fighting with numerous monkey-chief.  And beholding him rushing in wrath towards the monkey army, Mainda and Nila and Nala and Angada, and Hanuman and Jamvuman, surrounded him with all their troops.  And those foremost of monkeys and bears began to exterminate with trunks of trees, the soldiers of the Ten-necked (Ravana), in his every sight.  And beholding the enemy slaughtering his troops, the Rakshasa king, Ravana, possessed of great powers of illusion, began to put them forth.  And forth from his body began to spring hundreds and thousands of Rakshasas armed with arrows and lances and double-edged swords in hand.  Rama, however, with a celestial weapon slew all those Rakshasas.  The king of the Rakshasas