By Kambar (Kavichakravarthy Kamban)
Translated in English by P. R Ramachander
Kamba Ramayanam-Sundara Kandam 8 (Padalam 20)
20. Makara Kannan Vadhai padalam
Chapter on killing of Makaraksha.
(Makaraksha the son of Khara with an aim at avenging the death of his father goes to the war and is killed by Rama.)
8402. The bees went and sang before Sita with sweet smile thinking,They will get compensation that day , the emissaries of God of death ,Took the souls of dead people and went to their place ,The emissaries of the evil Ravana went to their city,And went and told him about the death of his army chiefs.
8403. The emissaries went to their town and went to the palace ,Of their matchless king , saluted him with great sorrow as,They did not have joyful news to convey and with sorrow, Nd told about the death of the army chiefs who were experts in war.
8404. After their telling , hearing that news , Ravana ,Who was the king of sorrowing citizens hissed like a cruel snake ,And sobbed and seeing that Makaraksha went near him and told.
8405. ”Oh father , For taking away the sweet soul of my father ,In a very closed by war , why did you not send me earlier itself?Did you not realize my power? how can you who is matchless become sad?”
8406. When I heard that the Rama had come here , I myself ,Wanted to go and fight with him but thinking , when you ,Who is my lord is there , it is not proper for me take a decision ,I kept quiet, Oh king, Oh Lord , is there any thing in the heaven,And in earth which is capable of winning over me?” (He is son of Khara.A lady is not supposed to remove her Mangala Suthra Without the funeral rites of her husband was over.)
8407. “My mother with crying eyes has been drowned in ocean of sorrow,She who cannot even now remove her Mangala Suthra has told That she would do the rites of her husband in the black pot made of ,The head of Rama who had killed her husband . Oh Lord who does ,Sweet deeds , who feeds the eagles with his spear . you should,Help me complete the ritual of my father and so,Please shower your grace on me and order me to go war.”
8408. AS soon as Makaraksha told like this Ravana looked at him and told,“Son, What you said is correct. So please go and avenge your old enmity “And then Makaraksha took leave of Ravana and he who had shining shoulders ,Due to the boon he had obtained, who had evil war culture ,Got up on his chariot and went to the battle field.
8409. He came along with five vellums of his own army and this was,Joined by another five Vellam of Ravana’s army and they went behind .Makaraksha making sound like clouds and the ocean with great sound,And due to the army marching the dust which hid ,The top most peak of the Golden Meru mountain .
8410. Ravana ordered that Sonithaksha and Singa should go along,Near the wheel of the huge chariot guarding it and this was ,Seconded as great by Makaraksha and he went along with his friends,And followed by foot soldiers and other sections of the army ,Like the planets and stars accompanying the moon.
8411. The very many huge flags held by the army of Rakshasas,Were like a roof and prevented the heat of the sun and its rays,AS they provided shade and the tusks of elephants ,Who had old anger using their pretty tusks sprayed ,Water from their mouth and they reduced ,The pain felt by the monkey army coming against them.
8412. The elephants trumpeted , the horses neighed ,The collection of drums made sound, the warriors shouted and ,The sound raised by an instrument called Padalai ,Was heard by the entire universe and since there was no place,For air to move about , all beings sweated a lot.
8413. That army which reached speedily , without leaving the culture of war,Fought a very cruel war and each head went and attacked with pride ,The head of the other army and armies killed many people of the other army,And the marching army of the supporting army fought with other supporting army,The stones and arrows with the armies were thrown and sent respectively ,And the blood that flowed there dragged the dead elephants.
8414. The mountains that were thrown by the monkey warriors ,Were caught by the Rakshasas and thrown back at the monkeys ,Like the shower by the clouds and due to the mountains ,Hitting them , the monkeys were destroyed like thunder fallen forest ,And the ghosts which were eating those dead monkeys ,Made very great sound with a filled up mouth.
8415. Those monkey warriors snatched the strong sword that were ,Being held by the black coloured Rakshasas threw them,On chest of those Rakshasas and killed them and the strong ones among the Rakshasa warriors snatched the mountains and trees held ,By the monkeys and threw them on their chest and kill them.
8416. The Rakshasa Makaraksha with eyes like a crocodile , wearing ,Flower garlands frequented by bees and who has strength like thunder ,Went on killing the monkey army drove his victorious chariot ,With pretty big wheels towards Rama who had the colour of cloud ,Who had the KOsala country surrounded by ganges,Having crop lands that had large number of gardens.
8417. Seeing him coming towards them, the monkey army thinking that,He is Indrajit became greatly scared and got scattered here and there,And the monkey commanders who fought him where made to roll ,By the Instrument thrown by that Rakshasa and they reached Rama ,And looking at him started telling the following words.
8418. That Makaraksha who wore a pretty garland which is eaten by Bees,Said to Rama ,” The great enmity that I had with you is because You destroyed the sweet life of my father is not with ,The trinity but only with you and today ,I would remove that enmity and stand up,”
8419. Rama whose power of shoulders is equal to his fame ,Hearing the words of Makraksha very clearly told him,“Are you the son of Khara? Have you come to avenge old enmity?To those born as a son and brought up in a family ,What you said is eminently suitable .”
8420. The twang of the string of the bow of Makaraksha sounded like thunder,“I would complete the war due to my father and also finish my anger,”And started raining arrows like the rain from water rich clouds ,Showering water on the top of the mountain in the monsoon season.”
8421. Rama by sending hot and lustrous arrows removed all the arrows,On him by Makaraksha and after search chose a proper arrow and sent it,So that it will pierce the flower garland chest of Makaraksha ,And that arrow went and struck and stood ,On the chest of Makaraksha , who had raised bent eye brow due to rage.
8422. That Makaraksha , who had eyes like lotus flower opened by sun,After shivering due to the arrow of Rama which hit him ,Spitting fire from his mouth , from where smoke came out earlierSent one thousand arrows which had earlier dipped in the flesh of enemies,Aiming at striking at the pretty armour of Rama who had divine fame and shouted.
8423. Seeing that the Devas were greatly surprised and Rama ,Who had the kingship smiled and sent six sharp arrows,And cut off the hoofs of horses that were drawing Makaraksha ‘s,Chariot , cut the head of his driver and made it fall on the floor And also cut his bow in the middle.
8424. That Makaraksha who had bleeding red from ,The mouth of those arrows within a second was seen in the sky, And due to the power of his penance created thunder , fire,And water from the clouds which was uprooting the world like deluge .
8425. Due to the power of the penance of Makaraksha the thunders ,Fell in a row in an endless crores of numbers , the wind roared ,With double the speed of winds at deluge , all things lost their balance ,And fell down , the black clouds gave rise to rain of stones,And the monkeys lost their sense in war and started running away.
8426. All the directions to which the monkeys ran were covered,By fire and smoke and the clouds gave rise to huge rain of fire ,Damaging everything and because of it thousand crores ,Of monkeys died and Rama asked Vibheeshana ,Whether it happened due to illusion or power of his boons ,And Vibheeshana saluted Rama and started telling him.
8427. ”Seeing the strength of penance of Makaraksha Wind god ,As well as Rain god , were unable to deny the boon asked by him ,And gave him divine boons and this happened due to those boons,”Said Vibheeshana and Rama who had eyes like hundred petal eyes,Said “Within a second I would drive these away.”
8428. The Great Rama using his strong and pretty bow sent cruel arrows,Of the God of wind and God of ocean , which burnt the rain and wind,Which were sent by Makraksha and they went and fell in the sea and got destroyed.
8429. Then that Makaraksha noticing that the wind and rain has been destroyed,Filled up the entire sky with his form using his power of illusion ,But hid himself without revealing the place and spread spears ,In crores and crores and seeing that the great expert Rama,Wondered “What tricks are being played by one person” and told.
8430. “By using illusion he has filled every where with his form,And is hiding so that it is not possible to locate him ,And the form of this one who is hiding cannot be guessed,“What action can be taken against this evil one who is more cruel than fire?”
8431. Thinking that,” Hit by my arrow and blood coming out ,Like a river from there he has hidden his body brought up ,Without grace in the sky and is making it appear in various ways,And he is hiding in one of them “Rama the lord of Devas ,Looking for a spot where blood was oozing out , deciding that ,He must be hiding there send an arrow which cut the Asura’s head.
8432. When the sharp arrows of Rama which go like thunder ,The body of that Rakshasa rained like cloud raining water and ,Fell down on the earth and at that time the illusion created by him,Vanished like the Sun driving away darkness, and that illusion,Which was like a dream one sees became a lie and vanished.
8433. A Rakshasa called Rakthaksha who had a huge chariot with pretty flag,And who had the colour fresh cloud which appears during summer ,Came speedily there sending arrows that spit fire continuously ,Like a wind so that he can fight with Nala the architect of the sea bridge,Who was very angry , capable of killing and cruel.
8434. That Rakthaksha then pulled the fearsome string of his bow ,Till his garland decked shoulders and rained arrows like fire at deluge,And Nala who was fighting with him using a very tall tree ,Beat back all those arrows and went like a lion facing crowd of elephants.
8435. Looking at Rakthaksha who cut of the tree that he was rotating ,In to pieces by his arrows , Nala who was match only to himself ,Bent deep down on the earth , jumped on Rakthaksha’s head ,And seeing that the Devas shouted in joy making all directions tremble.
8436. Like the rain bow appearing on the cruel mountain with fire on top,The Very pretty Nala was standing on the head of Rakthaksha ,kicked himSo that blood was flowing out from the big eyes , nose and ears of Rakthaksha ,And crushed brain was coming out and Nala pushed him on earth.
8437. As soon as Rakthaksha died Singa with fire flowing out of his eyes,Who had cruel bow and arrows and who was riding on a chariot .Over which small bells had been tied looked at Nala and asked him.“Where are you going? “ and Panasa who had the strength ,Of the faultless Meru mountain jumped in between them.
8438. Singa then sent well cultured and well chosen ten arrows ,Aimed at the chest and shoulders of Panasa . which came like thunder ,So that they may hit Panasa. But that Panasa became very angry,And boiled like fire in which ghee has been poured ,And lifted up Singha along with the chariot he was riding.
8439. When Panasa lifted him like that Singa who was like ,The Meru mountain jumped out of that chariot and Panasa ,Threw that chariot on his head and as soon as that Rakshasa ,Hit by that fell on the ground and when he wa heavily bleeding ,Panasa who had hard shoulders like diamond stepped on him and killed him.
8440. Due to the arrows sent by the sons of king Dasaratha, and due to,Monkeys throwing Maramara , mountain and other things on then,The ten Vellam army which went surrounding Makaraksha , Were all killed and those emissaries of Ravana,Who remained alive and who were not carrying ,Any weapon went to the city to inform the news to Ravana.
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Kamba Ramayanam: Yudha Kandam 7 (Padalam 18)