THE RÁMÁYAN OF VÁLMÍKI, VOL. III - Gujarat Knowledge Centre

Canto LXXl. THE RA'MA'YAN. 329
And drew the princes to his side.
They, skilled due time and place to note,
Unsheathed their glittering swords' and smote,
Till from the giant's shoulders they
Had hewn the mighty arms away.
His trenchant falchion Rdma plied
And smote him on the better side,
While valiant Lakshman on the left
The arm that held him prisoned cleft.
Then to the earth dismembered fell
The monster with a hideous yell,
And like a cloud's liis deep roar went
Througli earth and air and firmament.
Then as the giant's blood flowed fast,
On his cleft limbs his eye he cast.
And called upon the princely pair
Their names and lineage to declare.
Him then the noble Lakshman, blest
With fortune's favouring marks, addressed.
And told the fiend his brother's name
And the high blood of which he came
' IkshvAku's heir here Rama stands,
Illustrious through a hundred lands.
I, younger brother of the heir,
fiend, the name of Lakshman. hear.
His mother stole his realm away
And drove him forth in woods to stray.
Thus through the mighty forest he
Roamed with his royal wife and me.
While glorious as a God he made
His dwelling in the greenwood shade,
Some giant stole away his dame,
And seeking her we hither came.
But tell me who thou art, and why