SECTION CCLXXXV

"Markandeya said, 'Then Kumbhakarna set out from the city, accompanied

by his followers. And soon he beheld the victorious monkey troops

encamped before him. And passing them by with the object of seeking out

Rama, he beheld the son of Sumitra standing at his post, bow in hand.

Then the monkey warriors, speedily advancing towards him, surrounded him

on all sides. And then they commenced to strike him with numberless

large trees. And many amongst them fearlessly began to tear his body

with their nails. And those monkeys began to fight with him in various

ways approved by the laws of warfare. And they soon overwhelmed that

chief of the Rakshasas with a shower of terrible weapons of various

kinds. And attacked by them thus, Kumbhakarna only laughed at them and

began to eat them up. And he devoured those foremost of monkeys known by

the name of Chala, and Chandachala, and Vajravahu. And beholding that

fearful act of the _Rakshasa_, other monkeys were frightened and set

forth a loud wail of fear. And hearing the screams of those

monkey-leaders, Sugriva boldly advanced towards Kumbhakarna. And that

high-souled king of the monkeys swiftly approaching the _Rakshasa_,

violently struck him on the head with the trunk of a _Sala_ tree. And

though the high-souled Sugriva always prompt in action broke that _Sala_

tree on the head of Kumbhakarna, he failed to make any impression on

that _Rakshasa_. And then, as if roused from his torpor by that blow,

Kumbhakarna stretching forth his arms seized Sugriva by main force. And

beholding Sugriva dragged away by the _Rakshasa_, the heroic son of

Sumitra, that delighter of his friends, rushed towards Kumbhakarna. And

that slayer of hostile heroes, Lakshmana, advancing towards Kumbhakarna,

discharged at him an impetuous and mighty arrow furnished with golden

wings. And that arrow, cutting through his coat of mail and penetrating

into his body, passed through it outright and struck into the earth,

stained with the _Rakshasa's_ blood. Kumbhakarna then, having his breast

thus bored through, released the king of monkeys. And taking up a huge

mass of stone as his weapon, the mighty warrior Kumbhakarna then rushed

towards the son of Sumitra, aiming it at him. And as the _Rakshasa_

rushed towards him, Lakshmana cut off his upraised arms by means of a

couple of keen-edged shafts furnished with heads resembling razors. But

as soon as the two arms of the Rakshasa were thus cut off, double that

number of arms soon appeared on his person. Sumitra's son, however,

displaying his skill in weapons, soon by means of similar arrows cut off

those arms also, each of which had seized a mass of stone. At this, that

_Rakshasa_ assumed a form enormously huge and furnished with numerous

heads and legs and arms. Then the son of Sumitra rived, with a _Brahma_

weapon, that warrior looking like an assemblage of hill. And rent by

means of that celestial weapon, that _Rakshasa_ fell on the field of

battle like a huge tree with spreading branches suddenly consumed by

heaven's thunderbolt. And beholding Kumbhakarna endued with great

activity and resembling the _Asura_ Vritra himself, deprived of life and

prostrated on the field of battle, the _Rakshasa_ warriors fled in fear.

And beholding the _Rakshasa_ warriors running away from the field of

battle, the younger brother of Dushana, rallying them, rushed in great

wrath upon the son of Sumitra. Sumitra's son, however, with a loud roar,

received with his winged shafts both those wrathful warriors, Vajravega

and Promathin, rushing towards him. The battle then, O son of Pritha,

that took place between those two younger brothers of Dushana on the one

hand and the intelligent Lakshmana on the other, was exceedingly furious

and made the bristles of the spectators stand on end. And Lakshmana

overwhelmed the two _Rakshasas_ with a perfect shower of arrows. And

those two _Rakshasa_ heroes, on the other hand, both of them excited

with fury, covered Lakshmana with an arrowy hail. And that terrible

encounter between Vajravega and Promathin and the mighty-armed Lakshmana

lasted for a short while. And Hanuman, the son of Pavana, taking up a

mountain peak, rushed towards one of the brothers, and with that weapon

took the life of the Rakshasa Vajravega. And that mighty monkey, Nala,

also, with a large mass of rock, crushed Promathin, that other younger

brother of Dushana. The deadly struggle, however, between the soldiers

of Rama and Ravana, rushing against one another, instead of coming to an

end even after this, raged on as before. And hundreds of _Rakshasas_

were slain by the denizens of the forest, while many of the latter were

slain by the former. The loss, however, in killed, of the _Rakshasas_

was far greater than that of the monkeys.

The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose Vana Parva, Part 2 · 第 142 / 170 章