Countless Demon Warriors Rise Upon Lanka's Battlements
Lanka Kanda, Doha 40
Doha 40 · Movement 2 of 2
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The walls of Lanka fill with movement. Demon warriors climb stairways and towers until every battlement carries ranks of defenders looking outward toward the armies gathered below.
Weapons cover them in a hard and varied brilliance. Bows curve above the stone, arrows crowd their quivers, and countless instruments of war catch the island light. Each figure has come prepared to hold the fortress and answer the roar rising from the four gates.
They stand in millions upon the heights, mighty and resolute in battle. From a distance, the fortification seems to have grown another wall made from armed bodies. Ravana's command has placed the whole martial wealth of Lanka upon display. The immeasurable host looks down, while beyond the walls another immeasurable host advances through the remembered glory of Rama.
Lanka crowns its walls with millions of weapons, and the hour of boasting gives way to the weight of battle.
Read the passage from the Manas
नानायुध सर चाप धर जातुधान बल बीर। कोट कँगूरन्हि चढ़ि गए कोटि कोटि रनधीर।।40।।
Bearing all manner of weapons, arrows and bows, the mighty demon warriors, courageous and steadfast in battle, climbed the fortress battlements in countless millions.