66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

oth Ravana and his chariot; then he hit and tore with his
whole body, beak, and claws, with such force that Ravana’s
ensign with the symbol of a veena 9 was torn and the flagstaff
was in fragments, his crowns were knocked off and fell to the
ground, his royal canopy was in tatters, and the chariot was
smashed. Ravana parried and hit and used all the weapons
in his command, but Jatayu kept up an unrelenting offensive.
Ravana tried to spare Jatayu up to a point. His anger
finally rose and he took a special sword (an infallible one
gifted to him by Shiva) called “Chandrahasa” and with a
couple of flourishes and swings dealt a final blow to Jatayu,
lopped off his gigantic wings, and pierced his throat. After
Jatayu fell, Ravana picked himself up, abandoned his
chariot, placed Sita on his shoulder with the piece of ground
beneath her and, exercising his power to fly in the air,
carried her off to Lanka.
Meanwhile Jatayu, with an effort of will, kept himself alive
until Rama and Lakshmana, searching for Sita, came that
way. With his dying breath, Jatayu gave an account of what
he had witnessed and said, “Do not despair. You will
succeed in the end.” Rama anxiously asked, “In which
direction did they go?” But Jatayu was dead before he could
answer.