Angada Names the Living Death Ravana Has Chosen
Lanka Kanda, Chaupai 31
Doha 32 · Movement 1 of 2
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Even such a conquest would bring no greatness, Angada says, for there is no valor in killing one already dead. He unfolds a severe catalogue: slavery to desire, miserliness, delusion, destitution, disgrace, decrepitude, disease, ceaseless anger, estrangement from Vishnu, and hostility toward scripture and saints.
To these he adds devotion only to the body's nourishment, delight in slander, and a life made into a storehouse of sin. Fourteen kinds of beings, he says, live like corpses while still breathing. Ravana's conduct has placed him within that company before any arrow touches him.
Therefore Angada does not kill him and warns him not to kindle further wrath. Ravana hears this and bites his lips, wringing his hands in fury. He calls the envoy a base monkey with a small mouth and vast speech, then declares that the one Angada serves possesses neither strength, glory, wisdom, nor splendor. The living death answers its diagnosis with rage.
Angada finds Ravana dead beneath his crowns, and Ravana's fury rises to insist that the corpse is king.
Read the passage from the Manas
जौ अस करौं तदपि न बड़ाई। मुएहि बधें नहिं कछु मनुसाई।। कौल कामबस कृपिन बिमूढ़ा। अति दरिद्र अजसी अति बूढ़ा।। सदा रोगबस संतत क्रोधी। बिष्नु बिमूख श्रुति संत बिरोधी।। तनु पोषक निंदक अघ खानी। जीवन सव सम चौदह प्रानी।। अस बिचारि खल बधउँ न तोही। अब जनि रिस उपजावसि मोही।। सुनि सकोप कह निसिचर नाथा। अधर दसन दसि मीजत हाथा।। रे कपि अधम मरन अब चहसी। छोटे बदन बात बड़ि कहसी।। कटु जल्पसि जड़ कपि बल जाकें। बल प्रताप बुधि तेज न ताकें।।
Yet even if I did all this, there would be no greatness in it. There is no valor in slaying one already dead. You are lustful, enslaved by desire, miserly and utterly deluded. You are destitute, disgraced, and decrepit. Always diseased, ceaselessly wrathful. You turn your back on Vishnu and oppose the scriptures and the saints. A body-feeder, a slanderer, a storehouse of sin. Fourteen kinds of creatures share your wretched life. Considering all this, O wicked one, I do not kill you. Now provoke my anger no further. Hearing this, the lord of demons spoke in fury, biting his lips and wringing his hands. O base monkey, do you now seek death? With your small mouth you speak such grand words. You prattle harshly, foolish ape, boasting of one who has no strength, no glory, no wisdom, no splendor.