Chapter 19 - Shurpanaka tells her brother Khara of her disfigurement

Seeing his sister lying on the ground, mutilated and streaming with blood, the demon, inflamed with anger, said to her:—

“Rise! Tell me why you are distraught; master your terror and narrate lucidly, who has disfigured you in this fashion. Who has dared to touch a black and venomous serpent, stretched peacefully beside him, with his foot? That fool who has thus dealt with you, is unaware that this day he has swallowed a virulent poison and placed the noose of death round his neck.

“Who has brought you to this state, you who art imbued with energy and courage, who art able to range everywhere at will, the rival of Antaka himself? How is it that you are found in this sorry plight? Amongst Gods, Gandharvas, mighty Sages and other Beings, who is sufficiently powerful to have disfigured you? I know of none in all the worlds who would dare to provoke me, save it be Mahendra, He of the Thousand Eyes, who overcame the demon Paka. To-day I shall exact the life of your traducer with my death-dealing arrows, as swans suck out the milky substance that floats on the water.

“Struck down in the fight, mortally wounded by my shafts, whose foaming blood will the earth drink to-day? Whose limbs will the vultures, drawn by my summons, tear apart and devour with delight when they fall under my blows in combat?

“Neither the Gods nor the Gandharvas nor the Pisacas nor the Rakshasas shall be able to save that wretch from my grasp, in that fierce encounter.

“Compose thyself and in tranquillity, tell me who that miscreant is and who, abusing his power, has ill-treated you thus?”

Having listened to her brother’s words, Shurpanakha, beside herself with rage, answered weeping:—

“They are two most handsome and powerful youths, with large eyes resembling lotuses, clad in bark and black antelope skins, living on fruit and roots, their senses under control, practising penance and the brahmacarya vow, the sons of King Dasaratha, two brothers, Rama and Lakshmana, who bear the marks of royalty and resemble the King of the Gandharvas. I am unable to say if they be human beings or Gods. Between them, I saw a young and beautiful damsel of slender waist, adorned with many kinds of jewels, and it is on account of this youthful woman that I am reduced to this plight, like one uncared for and set at naught on account of her infidelity. I wish to drink the blood of this woman and those two youths on the battlefield.”

Hearing his sister utter these words, Khara, mad with anger, called on fourteen demons of great strength, equal to Antaka himself, and said to them:—

“Two men furnished with weapons, clad in bark and black antelope skins, have ventured into the inaccessible Dandaka Forest in company with a youthful woman; do you slay them and also that wretch herself. My sister desires to drink their blood! O You Rakshasas, this is my sister’s dearest wish, go therefore with all speed and in your great might destroy them. On seeing the two brothers struck down by your blows, my sister will drink their blood on the field, with joy.”

Receiving this command, the fourteen demons swiftly departed, accompanied by Shurpanakha, like clouds driven before the wind.