DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0508
422 INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
dames concealed the wife of Rama, and prevailed upon
Ravana not to pollute his fame by slaying a woman. One
cried to him: " Auspicious is the last day of the waning
moon. The hour of thy vengeance is nigh. Turn thee
towards the battlefield and great glory will be thine."
Ravana went gloomily away; he mounted his chariot
to battle against his enemies, remembering those who
had already fallen. Followed by a great army, he swept
from the city like to a tempest cloud which darkens the
summer heaven. He beheld his brother Bibhishana fight-
ing for Rama, and angrily cast at him a great weapon,
but Lakshmana flung a javelin which shattered it in flight.
Ravana smiled grimly and shouted to Lakshmana:
" Slayer of my son, I welcome thee! Thou hast pro-
tected Bibhishana; now protect, if thou canst, thine own
self."
Having spoken thus he flung a great dart, which
pierced the heart of Lakshmana and pinned him to the
earth.
Rama stooped over the fallen hero and cried: " Alas!
art thou fallen, my gallant brother? Thy weapons have
dropped from thy hands; death claims thee, but, O
Lakshmana, thou wilt not die alone. 1 am weary of
battle and of glory, and when my task is ended, I will
follow in thy footsteps. . . . The love of wife or friend
is easily won, but the love of a faithful brother, equal to
thine, is rarely found in this world of illusions. . . •
Dearest of brothers, greatest of heroes, wilt thou never
awaken from thy deathly swoon or open again thine eyes
to behold me? . . . Alas! the lips of Lakshmana are
silent and his ears are stopped."
In the darkness of night Hanuman again hastened
northward in speedy flight to obtain the mountain which
he had aforetime carried to Lanka. The physician found
dames concealed the wife of Rama, and prevailed upon
Ravana not to pollute his fame by slaying a woman. One
cried to him: " Auspicious is the last day of the waning
moon. The hour of thy vengeance is nigh. Turn thee
towards the battlefield and great glory will be thine."
Ravana went gloomily away; he mounted his chariot
to battle against his enemies, remembering those who
had already fallen. Followed by a great army, he swept
from the city like to a tempest cloud which darkens the
summer heaven. He beheld his brother Bibhishana fight-
ing for Rama, and angrily cast at him a great weapon,
but Lakshmana flung a javelin which shattered it in flight.
Ravana smiled grimly and shouted to Lakshmana:
" Slayer of my son, I welcome thee! Thou hast pro-
tected Bibhishana; now protect, if thou canst, thine own
self."
Having spoken thus he flung a great dart, which
pierced the heart of Lakshmana and pinned him to the
earth.
Rama stooped over the fallen hero and cried: " Alas!
art thou fallen, my gallant brother? Thy weapons have
dropped from thy hands; death claims thee, but, O
Lakshmana, thou wilt not die alone. 1 am weary of
battle and of glory, and when my task is ended, I will
follow in thy footsteps. . . . The love of wife or friend
is easily won, but the love of a faithful brother, equal to
thine, is rarely found in this world of illusions. . . •
Dearest of brothers, greatest of heroes, wilt thou never
awaken from thy deathly swoon or open again thine eyes
to behold me? . . . Alas! the lips of Lakshmana are
silent and his ears are stopped."
In the darkness of night Hanuman again hastened
northward in speedy flight to obtain the mountain which
he had aforetime carried to Lanka. The physician found