ith sinful kings
incapable of controlling their souls, are themselves polluted and
destroyed. By the violent abduction of Sita, thou alone hast injured me!
Thou, however, wilt become the cause of death to many unoffending
persons. Possessed of power and filled with pride, thou hast, before
this, slain many Rishis living in the woods, and insulted the very gods.
Thou hast slain also many great kings and many weeping women. For those
transgressions of thine, retribution is about to overtake thee! I will
slay thee with thy counsellors. Fight and show thy courage![100] O
wanderer of the night, behold the power of my bow, although I am but a
man! Release Sita, the daughter of Janaka! If thou dost not release her,
I shall make the Earth divested of all Rakshasas with my keen-edged
arrows!' Hearing these defiant words of the enemy, king Ravana bore them
ill, becoming senseless with wrath. And thereupon four Rakshasas skilled
in reading every sign of their master, seized Angada like four hawks
seizing a tiger. With those Rakshasas, however, holding him fast by his
limbs, Angada leaped upwards and alighted on the palace terrace. And as
he leaped up with a great force, those wanderers of the night fell down
the earth, and bruised by the violence of the fall, had their ribs
broken. And from the golden terrace on which he had alighted, he took a
downward leap. And overleaping the walls of Lanka, he alighted to where
his comrades were. And approaching the presence of the lord of Kosala and
informing him of everything, the monkey Angada endued with great energy
retired to refresh himself, dismissed with due respect by Rama.

The descendant of Raghu then caused the ramparts of Lanka to be broken
down by a united attack of all those monkeys endued with the speed of the
wind. Then Lakshmana, with Vibhishana and the king of the bears marching
in the van, blew up the southern gate of the city that was almost
impregnable. Rama then attacked Lanka with a hundred thousand crores of
monkeys, all possessed of great skill in battle, and endued with reddish
complexions like those of young camels. And those crores of greyish bears
with long arms, and legs and huge paws, and generally supporting
themselves on their broad haunches, were also urged on to support the
attack. And in consequence of those monkeys leaping up and leaping down
and leaping in transverse directions, the Sun himself, his bright disc
completely shaded, became invisible for the