iors 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 Hanumana, 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.

SECTION CCLXXXVI

"Markandeya said, 'Learning that Kumbhakarna had with his followers,
fallen in battle as also that great warrior Prahasta, and Dhumraksha too
of mighty energy, Ravana then addressed his heroic son Indrajit saying,
'O slayer of foes, slay thou in battle Rama and Sugriva and Lakshmana. My
good son, it was by thee that this blazing fame of mine had been acquired
by vanquishing in battle that wielder of the thunderbolt, the
thousand-eyed Lord of Sachi! Having the power of appearing and vanishing
at thy will, slay thou, O smiter of foes, my enemies by means, O thou
foremost of all wielders of weapons, of thy celestial arrows received as
boons (from the gods)! Rama and Lakshmana and Sugriva are incapable of
enduring the bare touch of thy weapons. What shall I say, therefore, of
their followers? That cessation of hostilities which could not be brought
about by either Prahasta or Kumbhakarna in battle, be it thine, O
mighty-armed one, to bring