Each Monkey Carries a Demon Down From the Fortress
Lanka Kanda, Doha 41
Doha 41 · Movement 3 of 3
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Along the upper walls, each monkey seizes a demon. Arms close around struggling warriors, and the crowded battlements become the launching place for a strange and terrible descent.
The vanaras leap outward from Lanka with their captives. Fortress stone falls away behind them as paired bodies turn through open space, one warrior still holding the other while the earth rushes nearer.
They strike the ground with the monkeys above and the demons beneath. The whole movement lasts only an instant, yet it reverses the power of the wall. Those who stood over the attackers are carried from their height and made the ground upon which the attackers land. Lanka's defense is not merely breached. Its advantage is seized, turned over in the air, and brought down beneath the weight of Rama's servants.
The vanaras leap from the wall, and every falling pair carries Lanka's height beneath Rama's advancing force.
Read the passage from the Manas
एकु एकु निसिचर गहि पुनि कपि चले पराइ। ऊपर आपु हेठ भट गिरहिं धरनि पर आइ।।41।।
Seizing one demon each, the monkeys then leaped away, themselves on top and the warriors below, crashing down upon the earth.