"Two handsome young men," said Soorpanakha, "have come into the
forest, dressed like ascetics and accompanied by a girl. They say they are the sons of
Dasaratha. These two together, making an excuse of the girl attacked me and have hurt me
thus shamefully. I am thirsting for the blood of these villains. Slay them first.
Everything else can wait."
Khara ordered his generals: "Go at
once, slay these men and bring their lifeless bodies. Drag hither the woman also. Delay
not."
Fourteen generals set out to do his bidding. *
In Kamban's Raamaayana, Soorpanakha is
delineated as having come in the shape of a beautiful young woman, entirely human, who
tried to tempt Raama. Kamban departs widely from Vaalmeeki in this episode and he makes a
beautiful episode of it as will be seen in the next chapter. |
