Kamavijaya. 75

Vibhislian came and said to Rama, (< Havana is perform-
ing a penance like that which was done by Indrajit arid
half of the divyaratha has come out of fire. Unless
you send some monkey-warriors there and destroy the
havan made by him, you will not be able to overcome him.*1
No sooner did Vibhishan inform Rama of this than the
latter despatched Maruti, Fala, Nila, Sugriva, and other
monkeys to Lanka. They all went and searched the place
where the demon-king was performing the penance ; but
they could not find out the place. But, in the mean-time,
Sharma, wife of Vibhishan, showed the place to them.
Whereupon they went to the mouth of the excavation
and, having removed the stone which was placed upon it,
rushed into it, when Havana was in deep meditation.
The monkeys, haviag destroyed the havan and the ratha,
tried their utmost to arouse him from Ms meditation but
they foiled to do so. They struck him with their weapons,
they threw rock and trees upon him,, they gave blows to
him but all was in vain. At last Sngriva caught hold of
Mandodari and brought her in the excavation. She was
frightened, and violently cried. Her yell .aroused the
demon-king from meditation; and as soon as he saw his
wife there, and having found that the havan was destroy-
ed by the monkeys, he was greatly enraged and beat
them all down. The monkeys immediately returned to
Stivela leaving Ravana and his wife in the excavation.
The demon-king said to Mandodari " My dearest, do hot
grieve for what has happened to you. Pain and pleasure
are made .for us mortal beings and we must experience
them according to their turns. Now I am going to
fight with Rama. I will either kill myself or kill Rama,
If I return to you, it is all right; and if I be killed, these
are the last words I address to you.*' So saying the
demon-king took the remaining deraens with him and
commenced operations, when all the monkeys threw at