Nityaraamasmaranam Aranya Kaanda - Ch. 228
Shoorpanakha goads Khara
Today, Shoorpanakha wails and laments before Khara, taunting and goading him to slay Shri Rama.
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As he saw Shoorpanakha walking in again, but this time alone, Khara realised that something ominous had happened. None of his trusted demons who had accompanied her had returned. And…she was wailing again. He asked her –
“Why are you howling again? Where are my demons? They never fail my command. So why are you now rolling on the ground like a snake? When I am there to take care of you, why do you cry loudly? Don’t be sad.”
“Brother! A while ago, I came with my ears and nose chopped off, bleeding all over. To soothe me, you at once sent fourteen demons to eliminate that atrocious Rama and Lakshmana, didn’t you? But, those fourteen demons too lie now in a pool of their own blood, pierced Rama’s arrows.”
“I am still in shock at seeing that Rama’s valour in killing your demons in an instant, as if it was child’s play. Shivering in fear, I have come to you, Khara! Save me from my ocean of grief, where each crocodile is despair and each swelling wave is fright.”
“Enraged at His words, those Rishi-eating demons replied harshly – “You puny human, you have angered our great master Khara. How can you fight all of us alone, when we will aim maces, spears and swords, whereby you will fall dead and lose your golden bow too?”
Fourteen spears flew towards Rama and in reply, he shot an equal number of golden arrows, shredding those spears. The next moment, the angry Bhagavan shot fourteen iron arrows just as Indra would aim his Vajra. These pierced the demons’ chests and coming out covered in blood, those darts entered the Earth.
On seeing the demons lie dead, Shoorpanakha, in fear and rage, sped back to Khara’s palace at his capital Trikantaka, wailing loudly. Whining all along, she narrated about the fearsome battle at Panchavati and how all his demons had fallen.
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