Chapter 21 - Rama looses his Arrows on Sagara

Thereafter, spreading the Darbha Grass on the shore of the sea, Rama with joined palms, his face turned towards the east, made obeisance in honour of the ocean and laid himself down.

That Scourge of his Foes pillowed his head on his arms that resembled the coils of a serpent and were adorned with ornaments of gold, their habitual decoration; those arms that formerly were perfumed with sandal and aloes, saffron of the hue of the dawn lending them lustre; those arms on which Sita leant on the nuptual couch causing them to shine as do the waters of the Ganges the body of Takshaka; those arms, resembling the shafts of a chariot, that increased the distress of his foes and the delight of his friends, were stretched out on the shore of the sea.

The tightening of the bow-string had rubbed the skin off the left arm of that skilful archer and the right, that bestower of thousands of kine in charity, resembled a great mace. Leaning on his powerful elbow, the mighty-armed Rama said:—

“Sagara will grant me a passage or he shall be slain by me!” Having thus resolved, he lay down by the ocean, restraining his speech and with a concentrated mind in accord with tradition. There, following the scriptural injunction, Rama lay on the ground spread with Kusha Grass and slept peacefully for three nights. For three nights Rama, endowed with learning and piety, remained beside Sagara, the Lord of the Waters. Nevertheless that indolent one did not appear to that hero, who had yet paid him honour as was his due. Thereupon, his eyes suffused with wrath, Raghava, enraged against him, said to Lakshmana, the bearer of auspicious marks, who stood near:—

“It is from contempt that the Ocean does not appear to me in person! Deference and forbearance, integrity and friendly speech, these qualities belonging to virtuous men are not valued by those who are deprived of them, who regard them as weakness, whereas the braggart, the dissolute and the arrogant who boast openly and commit every kind of excess, are overwhelmed with regard! Meekness will never bring victory on this earth, O Lakshmana, any more than in the forefront of battle 1 To-day, pierced by my shafts, you shalt behold aquatic monsters by their leaping churn up the waters where they dwell on every side! See, O Lakshmana, how I shall sever the serpents’ coils and the limbs of the great fish like unto the trunks of elephants. To-day I shall dry up the ocean with its multitudinous waves, shells, pearls, fish and monsters. Because I have manifested patience, the Ocean, the abode of whales, regards me as powerless! Away with forbearance to such persons! It is on account of my mildness that he manifests his true nature 1 Bring me my bow, O Saumitri and mine arrows resembling venomous snakes, I shall dry up the sea and the monkeys may then cross it on foot! To-day, indomitable though he be, I shall yet overthrow Sagara with my shafts; he who is bounded by the shore and who is filled with a myriad waves! I shall wipe out that Ocean, the Abode of Varuna, that is inhabited by great giants.”

Speaking thus, bow in hand, his eyes dilated with anger, Rama appeared exceedingly terrible, like unto the Fire at the end of the world cycle. Grasping his formidable bow with its barbed and fearful shafts more firmly, he caused the earth to tremble as does Shatakratu with his thunderbolts. His flaming and impetuous arrows, unrivalled in power, penetrated the waters of the sea and struck terror in the serpents. And those waves of the sea with their sharks and monsters, were extremely agitated, so that with the roaring of the wind, a formidable clamour arose. In a trice, the ocean became a mass of clashing waves, throwing up spray, shells and fragments of mother of pearl, and panic spread among the Pannagas of flaming jaws and brassy eyes and amidst the mighty Danavas in their abode, the depths of hell. Waves in their millions as high as the Vindhya and Mandara Mountains rose from that Lord of Waters with his crocodiles and great fish and the Ocean emitted a loud roaring, amidst the breaking billows, with the terrified serpents, demons and great crocodiles in flight.

Then Saumitri rushed towards Rama, who, in his burning ardour, was stretching his incomparable bow with loud mutterings, crying:—"Stay! Stay!” and thus speaking, he took hold of that weapon, saying:—

“You have no need to act in this wise to accomplish thine end and bring Sagara to subjection, O Foremost of Heroes! Your peers do not permit themselves to be overcome by anger! Call to mind the forbearance of virtuous men!”

At that instant, the Brahmarishis and celestial Rishis, who, invisible, were stationed in the sky, cried out:—“Hold! Hold! do not act thus!”