arna and the
Ten-headed Ravana,--both unequalled on earth in prowess, were born to
Pushpotkata. And Malini had a son named Vibhishana, and Raka had twin
children named Khara and Surpanakha. And Vibhishana surpassed them all in
beauty. And that excellent person was very pious and assiduously
performed all religious rites. But that foremost of Rakshasas, with ten
heads, was the eldest to them all. And he was religious, and energetic
and possessed of great strength and prowess. And the Rakshasa Kumvakarna
was the most powerful in battle, for he was fierce and terrible and a
thorough master of the arts of illusion. And Khara was proficient in
archery, and hostile to the Brahmanas, subsisting as he did on flesh. And
the fierce Surpanakha was constant source of trouble to the ascetics. And
the warriors, learned in the Vedas and diligent in ceremonial rites, all
lived with their father in the Gandhamadana. And there they beheld
Vaisravana seated with their father, possessed of riches and borne on the
shoulders of men. And seized with jealousy, they resolved upon performing
penances. And with ascetic penances of the most severe kind, they
gratified Brahma. And the Ten-headed Ravana, supporting life by means of
air alone and surrounded by the five sacred fires and absorbed in
meditation, remained standing on one leg for a thousand years. And
Kumvakarna with head downwards, and with restricted diet, was constant in
austerities. And the wise and magnanimous Vibhishana, observing fasts and
subsisting only on dry leaves and engaged in meditation, practised severe
austerities for a long period. And Khara and Surpanakha, with cheerful
hearts, protected and attended on them while they were performing those
austerities. And at the close of a thousand years, the invincible
Ten-headed One, cutting off his own heads, offered them as offering to
the sacred fire. And at this act of his, the Lord of the Universe was
pleased with him. And then Brahma, personally appearing to them, bade
them desist from those austerities and promised to grant boons unto every
one of them. And the adorable Brahma said, I am pleased with you, my
sons! Cease now from these austerities and ask boons of me! Whatever your
desires may be, they, with the single exception of that of immortality,
will be fulfilled! As thou hast offered thy heads to the fire from great
ambition, they will again adorn thy body as before, according to thy
desire. And thy body will not be disf