Valmiki Ramayana - Aranya Kanda in ProseSarga 3

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Then in turn,  that demon said Viradha filling the forest with his gruesome voice, "I ask you! Verily, you tell who you are and whereto you wish to go? "

To him then said, to that lurid faced demon... Rama, the really great refulgent one, said to that questioner... about his Ikshvaku dynasty. "Know thus, that we are Ksharitya-s, with our bearing ennobled and we are trekking the forest... but, about you, we wish to know, who are you to move about in Dandaka forest?

To him, that truth-braving Rama, Viradha said, "Ah! I am telling you, oh king, and know me well, oh Raghava...  Indeed I am the son of Java and my mother is Shatahradaa, and Viradha... thus I am called, by all the demons on earth...  I  also gained by penance, from Lord Brahma... a derivative of His beneficence, that by weapon I shall not be killed and in this world I shall not be cut or slit...  thus... Leave off this lady, this one... and not yearning for her, you expeditiously flee-away as you have come... then not taken are your lives of you two..." said Viraadha to Rama.

 Rama in reply to him said this, in anger with his eyes fully bloodshot, to that ogre Viradha, who is monstrous in his body and evil in intent...

"You knave, fie upon you... for your meanly measures you are in quest of you own death, and definitely you will get it in the war. Stay! By me, you will not be let off... "

Then, stringing the bow, Rama with very sharp arrows and very quickly aiming the demon, darted at... With the bow perfectly stringed, seven arrows are let off, which have golden vanes, and very fast ones that equal Garuda, the Divine Eagle and Lord Air in their flight...  They the arrows, those that are dressed with peacock feathers as their fins, piercing the body of Viradha, fell onto the ground, which are then blood-bathed and akin to infernos... 

Viradha thus struck, placed Vaidehi down from his arms onto the ground, readied his spear... that verily angered demon then spurted towards Rama and Lakshmana... He yelled a ghastly shriek, and ably taking his spear, which is similar to Lord Indra's Flagstaff, while his mouth wide-opened to eat, and shining forth like Death, the terminator... Then those two brothers, with an effulgent arrow rain deluged Viradha, the demon, who is similar to the terminator of lifetime...

He that wrathful demon laughed, and staying there he yawned, and on his yawning and stretching his limbs in fatigue, those arrows that have earlier gone speedily onto his body, spilled out from his body that speedily. By the touch of boon Viradha, the demon held back his lives, lifting up the spear ran quickly at the two Raghava-s. The spear that equals Vajra, the Thunderbolt weapon of Lord Indra, and a blaze in the sky, but Rama, the best wielder of weaponry, ripped it apart by two arrows, in the sky itself.

By Rama's arrows shattered is that spear, and fallen  onto the ground, like the boulder-mass of Mt. Meru shattered by Thunderbolt of Indra. They quickly upraised their swords and like the up-swinging of two black-cobras, they rapidly crashed on him, and then battered him mightily. He that demon thus beaten very firmly by Rama and Lakshmana, then with his arms well grabbing those two, who are unwavering and manly tigers, that furious demon wished to carry them away...

Knowing the thinking of the demon, Rama spoke to Lakshmana, "Let him readily carry, let us go the way of the demon only... as he wish, oh Soumitri, thus let him carry us, and that only is our path, by which this nightwalker travels..."

Comment: Rama does not want to travel comfortably on the shoulders of the demon, but wants to examine what the demon wanted to do next, after carrying afar. The prince in Rama will not let the demon go rampant. Besides, the divine fury allows any sinister to tread his own way towards his own grave.

He thus, with his might and courage, that nightwalker well lifting them like babies, and placing them on his shoulders... that very mighty nightwalker Viradha, yelling very luridly gone towards deeper forest.

That forest is like a very dark cloud, containing a variety of massive trees, baffling with very many kinds of birds and sprawling around are the wild jackals and other predaceous animals.

Surya (or) Ikshvaku (or) Kakustha dynasty

 Ikshvaaku dynasty is of long lineage. This is Surya Vamsha, Solar dynasty of Kshatriyas, of which Mahaa Kavi Kalidasa wondered as to how it can be narrated, for it is of a long lineage and he admires "kva soorya prabhavo vamshaH? " in his Raghu Vamsha Mahaa Kaavya, at 1-2. This dynasty may be known to understand why from Viraadha to Ravana, wanted to die at the hands of Rama. The list of those kings is compiled in aananda Ramayana and the same is being given hereunder...

S¨rya- Ikÿv˜ku - K˜kuthsa vaÕþanukramaõika  SrŸ mah˜ Viÿõu originated Brahma .From Lord Brahma the lineage, one after the other, is MarŸci - Kaþyapa - S¨rya - Sr˜ddha Deva (Vaivasvata) -  Ikÿv˜ku - Vikukÿi (Saþ˜da) - Kakuthsa - Indrav˜hu - Anenasa - Viþvarandhi- Chandra - Yuvan˜þva - S˜bastha - B®hadaþva - Kuvalay˜þva - Dh®ýh˜þva - Haryaþva - Nikumbha - Barhaõ˜þva - K®t˜þva - Syenajit - Yuvan˜þva - M˜ndh˜ta - Purukuthsa - Trasaddsya 2 - Anaraõya - Haryaþva - Aruõa - Tribandhana - Satyavrat (OR) Triþanku - Hariþcandra (OR) Satya Hariþcandra - Rohita - Harita - Champa - Sudeva - Vijaya - Bharuka - V®ka - B˜huka - Sagara - Samañjasa - AÕþumanta - DilŸpa - BhagŸratha - Shruta - N˜bha - SindhudvŸpa - Ayut˜yu - Rutuparõa - Sud˜su (OR) Mitrasaha (OR) Kalmaÿ˜nghri - by him Aþmaka - M¨laka - ArŸkavaca - Daþaratha - Eiýavida - Viþvasaha - Kha÷v˜nga - DhŸrghab˜hu - This Deergha baahu is also known to be Dilipa, and from that - DilŸpa - Raghu - Aja - Daþaratha - and Dasharatha begot Lord Vishnu again as R˜ma

Thus, this is the 3rd chapter in Aranya Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana, the First Epic poem of India. 

© 2001, Desiraju Hanumanta Rao