No Measure Can Hold Their Violence
Bala Kanda, Doha 183
Doha 183 · Movement 3 of 3
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The Katha reaches the limit of description. The evil committed by Ravana's hosts is too terrible and too extensive for language to carry scene by scene.
Violence is not merely their instrument. They love it, returning to harm with an appetite that grows through indulgence. Village, hermitage, family, sacrifice, memory, and trust all become fields for the same delight in destruction.
What boundary can be placed around such sin? The question leaves the darkness open rather than decorating it with excess detail. The immeasurable harm itself becomes the cry that will summon immeasurable compassion into human form.
Language stops at the edge of their violence, and the wounded earth carries the rest.
Read the passage from the Manas
बरनि न जाइ अनीति घोर निसाचर जो करहिं। हिंसा पर अति प्रीति तिन्ह के पापहि कवनि मिति।।183।।
The terrible evil that the rakshasas commit cannot be put into words. Their love for violence knows no limit. What boundary can there be to their sins?