With a burning heart Rama then ran towards the
asylum. And on the way he beheld a vulture huge as a mountain, lying in
agonies of death. And suspecting him to be a Rakshasa, the descendant of
the Kakutstha race, along with Lakshmana rushed towards him, drawing
with great force his bow to a circle. The mighty vulture, however,
addressing them both, said, "Blessed be ye, I am the king of the
vultures, and friend of Dasaratha!" Hearing these words of his, both
Rama and his brother put aside their excellent bow and said, "Who is
this one that speaketh the name of our father in these woods?" And then
they saw that creature to be a bird destitute of two wings, and that
bird then told them of his own overthrow at the hands of Ravana for the
sake of Sita. Then Rama enquired of the vulture as to the way Ravana had
taken. The vulture answered him by a nod of his head and then breathed
his last. And having understood from the sign the vulture had made that
Ravana had gone towards the south, Rama reverencing his father's friend,
caused his funeral obsequies to be duly performed. Then those chastisers
of foes, Rama and Lakshmana, filled with grief at the abduction of the
princess of Videha, took a southern path through the Dandaka woods
beholding along their way many uninhabited asylums of ascetics,
scattered over with seats of Kusa grass and umbrellas of leaves and
broken water-pots, and abounding with hundreds of jackals. And in that
great forest, Rama along with Sumatra's son beheld many herds of deer
running in all directions.
Pages:
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514