t
Of sword and spear and arrow dint,
Where every God had struck a blow
In battle with the giant foe.
His might to wildest rage could wake
The sea whose faith naught else can shake,
Hurl towering mountains to the earth,
And crush e'en foes of heavenly birth.
The bonds of law and right he spurned:
To others' wives his fancy turned.
Celestial arms he used in fight,
And loved to mar each holy rite.
He went to Bhogavati's town,(485)
Where Vasuki was beaten down,
And stole, victorious in the strife,
Lord Takshaka's beloved wife.
Kailasa's lofty crest he sought,
And when in vain Kuvera fought,
Stole Pushpak thence, the car that through
The air, as willed the master, flew.
Impelled by furious anger, he
Spoiled Nandan's(486) shade and Nalini,
And Chaitraratha's heavenly grove,
The haunts where Gods delight to rove.
Tall as a hill that cleaves the sky,
He raised his mighty arms on high
To check the blessed moon, and stay
The rising of the Lord of Day.
Ten thousand years the giant spent
On dire austerities intent,
And of his heads an offering, laid
Before the Self-existent, made.
No God or fiend his life could take,
Gandharva, goblin, bird, or snake:
Safe from all fears of death, except
From human arm, that life was kept.
Oft when the priests began to raise
Their consecrating hymns of praise,
He spoiled the Soma's sacred juice
Poured forth by them in solemn use.
The sacrifice his hands o'erthrew,
And cruelly the Brahmans slew.
His was a heart that naught could melt,
Joying in woes which others felt.

She saw the ruthless monster there,
Dread of the worlds, unused to spare.
In robes of heavenly texture dressed,
Celestial wreaths adorned his breast.
He sat a shape of terror, like
Destruction ere the worlds it strike.
She saw him in his pride of place,
The joy of old Pulastya's(487) race,
Begirt by counsellor and peer,
Ravan, the foeman's mortal fear,
And terror in her features shown,
The giantess approached the throne.
Then Surpanakha bearing yet
Each deeply printed trace
Where the great-hearted chief had set
A mark upon her face,
Impelled by terror and desire,
Still fierce, no longer bold,
To Ravan of the eyes of fire
Her tale, infuriate, told.

Canto XXXIII. Surpanakha's Speech.

Burning with anger, in the ring
Of counsellors who girt their king,
To Ravan, ravener of man,
With bitter words she thus began:

"Wilt thou absorbed in pleasure, still
Pursue uncheck