Ravana Turns His Arms Into Rahu and Kailasa Into a Swan
Lanka Kanda, Doha 23
Doha 23 · Movement 2 of 2
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Ravana commands the dull monkey to stop babbling and look upon his arms. In the first vision, every arm becomes Rahu, poised to swallow the moonlike strength of the guardians of the worlds.
Then the image expands into the sky. Ravana's many hands spread like lotuses across a celestial lake. Upon them rests Kailasa, and Shiva seated on the mountain shines like a white swan settled upon the flowers.
The boast remembers the day Ravana lifted the sacred mountain and makes cosmic ornament from his force. Yet the same arms now rise inside a city reached by one returning arrow. Grand imagery fills the court where good counsel has failed, offering the king a myth of former strength against the living presence of Rama.
Ravana fills the sky with the memory of his arms while one arrow waits beyond the palace.
Read the passage from the Manas
जनि जल्पसि जड़ जंतु कपि सठ बिलोकु मम बाहु। लोकपाल बल बिपुल ससि ग्रसन हेतु सब राहु।।22(क)।। पुनि नभ सर मम कर निकर कमलन्हि पर करि बास। सोभत भयउ मराल इव संभु सहित कैलास।।22(ख)।।
'Do not babble, you dull creature! Look at my arms, you fool. They are all Rahu, ready to swallow the moon of the mighty Lokapalas' strength.' 'And again, upon the lake of the sky, my many hands are lotuses. Settled upon those lotuses, Shambhu on Kailasa shone like a swan.'