By the violent abduction of Sita,
thou alone hast injured me! Thou, however, wilt become the cause of
death to many unoffending persons. Possessed of power and filled with
pride, thou hast, before this, slain many _Rishis_ living in the woods,
and insulted the very gods. Thou hast slain also many great kings and
many weeping women. For those transgressions of thine, retribution is
about to overtake thee! I will slay thee with thy counsellors. Fight and
show thy courage![59] O wanderer of the night, behold the power of my
bow, although I am but a man! Release Sita, the daughter of Janaka! If
thou dost not release her, I shall make the Earth divested of all
Rakshasas with my keen-edged arrows!" Hearing these defiant words of the
enemy, king Ravana bore them ill, becoming senseless with wrath. And
thereupon four Rakshasas skilled in reading every sign of their master,
seized Angada like four hawks seizing a tiger. With those Rakshasas,
however, holding him fast by his limbs, Angada leaped upwards and
alighted on the palace terrace. And as he leaped up with a great force,
those wanderers of the night fell down the earth, and bruised by the
violence of the fall, had their ribs broken. And from the golden terrace
on which he had alighted, he took a downward leap. And overleaping the
walls of Lanka, he alighted to where his comrades were. And approaching
the presence of the lord of Kosala and informing him of everything, the
monkey Angada endued with great energy retired to refresh himself,
dismissed with due respect by Rama.
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