Twenty Arms Raise Ten Bows as Ravana Forces His Broken Army to Turn
Lanka Kanda, Doha 81ख
Doha 81ख · Movement 3 of 3
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Ravana sees his own ranks wavering. The movement that began beneath a hidden sun now bends backward, and the king must enter the space where command has started to fail.
He climbs onto his chariot. Twenty arms spread around him and ten bows rise at once, making his body appear like an armed citadel advancing through the dust. The display is enormous, a final concentration of royal power and demonic mastery in a single moving form.
Turn back, turn back, he shouts with authority. The command exposes the crisis it attempts to reverse. Rama's servants have pressed the host so fiercely that Ravana's own presence is required to prevent flight. Ten bows may dominate the eye, but behind them stands an army that has already learned fear. The king drives it toward battle again through the force of his voice.
Ravana fills the horizon with ten bows because the courage behind him has already begun to empty away.
Read the passage from the Manas
निज दल बिचलत देखेसि बीस भुजाँ दस चाप। रथ चढ़ि चलेउ दसानन फिरहु फिरहु करि दाप।।81।।
Seeing his own army wavering, the twenty-armed one mounted his chariot with ten bows drawn, shouting, 'Turn back! Turn back!' with fierce authority.