# Araṇya Kāṇḍa 65 — Kabandha’s grasp

*A headless being with a chest-eye, belly-mouth and two long arms seizes both brothers as they search the forest*

Portion: Kabandha and the proposed alliance · Verses: 31 · Ref format: 3.65.<verse>

## Sequence

- After the funeral offerings, the brothers set out again in search of Sītā; the opening verse names a westward departure, while the following verses describe their progress south along a difficult path (65.1–4)
- three krośas beyond Janasthāna they enter the dense Krauñca forest and search it, stopping here and there (65.5–7)
- Lakṣmaṇa's throbbing arm and other omens warn him of immediate danger, although a bird's call also seems to promise victory → he asks Rāma to be ready (65.8–11)
- a tremendous noise rises from the woods, and the brothers investigate (65.12–14)
- they see the rākṣasa Kabandha, a huge, headless and neckless being with one eye in his chest, a mouth in his belly, and two arms a yojana long → he uses those arms to catch and devour forest animals (65.15–21)
- reaching out, he seizes both brothers and drags them toward him (65.22–23)
- he asks who they are and declares that they have arrived as his food (65.24–26)
- Rāma laments that another mortal danger has overtaken them before they can find Sītā, but steadies his resolve to act (65.27–31).

## Verses

**3.65.1**  
kṛtvaivam udakaṃ tasmai prasthitau rāghavau tadā  
avekṣantau vane sītāṃ paścimāṃ jagmatur diśam  
Having thus made the water-offering for him, the two Rāghavas then set out, and, looking for Sītā in the forest, went toward the western quarter.

**3.65.2**  
tāṃ diśaṃ dakṣiṇāṃ gatvā śaracāpāsidhāriṇau  
aviprahatam aikṣvākau panthānaṃ pratipedatuḥ  
Going toward that southern quarter, bearing arrows, bows and swords, the two Aikṣvākas took a little-trodden path.

**3.65.3**  
gulmair vṛkṣaiś ca bahubhir latābhiś ca praveṣṭitam  
āvṛtaṃ sarvato durgaṃ gahanaṃ ghoradarśanam  
It was encircled by thickets, many trees and creepers, covered on every side, impassable, dense, terrible to behold.

**3.65.4**  
vyatikramya tu vegena gṛhītvā dakṣiṇāṃ diśam  
subhīmaṃ tan mahāraṇyaṃ vyatiyātau mahābalau  
Pressing through it swiftly and keeping to the southern quarter, the two mighty ones traversed that most fearsome great forest.

**3.65.5**  
tataḥ paraṃ janasthānāt trikrośaṃ gamya rāghavau  
krauñcāraṇyaṃ viviśatur gahanaṃ tau mahaujasau  
Then, going three krośas beyond Janasthāna, the two Rāghavas of great vigour entered the dense Krauñca forest.

**3.65.6**  
nānāmeghaghanaprakhyaṃ prahṛṣṭam iva sarvataḥ  
nānāvarṇaiḥ śubhaiḥ puṣpair mṛgapakṣigaṇair yutam  
(A forest) resembling a mass of many clouds, as though joyful on every side, furnished with lovely flowers of various hues and with flocks of beasts and birds.

**3.65.7**  
didṛkṣamāṇau vaidehīṃ tad vanaṃ tau vicikyatuḥ  
tatra tatrāvatiṣṭhantau sītāharaṇakarśitau  
Longing to see Vaidehī, the two searched that forest, halting here and there, worn down by Sītā's abduction.

**3.65.8**  
lakṣmaṇas tu mahātejāḥ sattvavāñ śīlavāñ śuciḥ  
abravīt prāñjalir vākyaṃ bhrātaraṃ dīptatejasaṃ  
But Lakṣmaṇa, of great splendour, courageous, of good conduct and pure, joining his palms, spoke a word to his brother of blazing splendour.

**3.65.9**  
spandate me dṛḍhaṃ bāhur udvignam iva me manaḥ  
prāyaśaś cāpy aniṣṭāni nimittāny upalakṣaye  
My arm throbs hard, and my mind is as if agitated; and for the most part I observe unfavourable omens.

**3.65.10**  
tasmāt sajjībhavārya tvaṃ kuruṣva vacanaṃ hitam  
mamaiva hi nimittāni sadyaḥ śaṃsanti saṃbhramam  
Therefore, noble one, ready yourself and heed my beneficial word; for these omens of mine forebode immediate peril.

**3.65.11**  
eṣa vañculako nāma pakṣī paramadāruṇaḥ  
āvayor vijayaṃ yuddhe śaṃsann iva vinardati  
This bird named vañculaka, most dreadful, cries out as though foretelling victory for the two of us in battle.

**3.65.12**  
tayor anveṣator evaṃ sarvaṃ tad vanam ojasā  
saṃjajñe vipulaḥ śabdaḥ prabhañjann iva tad vanam  
As the two thus searched the whole of that forest, a mighty sound arose with force, as though shattering that woodland.

**3.65.13**  
saṃveṣṭitam ivātyarthaṃ gahanaṃ mātariśvanā  
vanasya tasya śabdo 'bhūd divam āpūrayann iva  
The thicket seemed exceedingly whirled about by the wind; the sound of that forest arose as though filling the sky.

**3.65.14**  
taṃ śabdaṃ kāṅkṣamāṇas tu rāmaḥ kakṣe sahānujaḥ  
dadarśa sumahākāyaṃ rākṣasaṃ vipulorasaṃ  
Seeking out that sound, Rāma, together with his younger brother, saw in the thicket a rākṣasa of enormous body and broad chest.

**3.65.15**  
āsedatus tatas tatra tāv ubhau pramukhe sthitam  
vivṛddham aśirogrīvaṃ kabandham udare mukham  
Then the two of them approached, standing there before them, that huge, headless and neckless Kabandha with a mouth in his belly.

**3.65.16**  
romabhir nicitais tīkṣṇair mahāgirim ivocchritam  
nīlameghanibhaṃ raudraṃ meghastanitaniḥsvanam  
Covered with dense, sharp bristles, towering like a great mountain, dark as a black cloud, fearsome, with a voice like the thunder of clouds;

**3.65.17**  
mahāpakṣmeṇa piṅgena vipulenāyatena ca  
ekenorasi ghoreṇa nayanenāśudarśinā  
With a single terrible eye upon his chest — large-lashed, tawny, broad and elongated, keen of sight;

**3.65.18**  
mahādaṃṣṭropapannaṃ taṃ lelihānaṃ mahāmukham  
bhakṣayantaṃ mahāghorān ṛkṣasiṃhamṛgadvipān  
Him furnished with great fangs, licking his huge mouth, devouring most fearsome bears, lions, deer and elephants;

**3.65.19**  
ghorau bhujau vikurvāṇam ubhau yojanam āyatau  
karābhyāṃ vividhān gṛhya ṛṣkān pakṣigaṇān mṛgān  
Flailing his two terrible arms, both a yojana long, seizing with his hands various bears, flocks of birds and beasts,

**3.65.20**  
ākarṣantaṃ vikarṣantam anekān mṛgayūthapān  
sthitam āvṛtya panthānaṃ tayor bhrātroḥ prapannayoḥ  
Dragging them near and tearing them apart, many leaders of the deer-herds — him standing there, barring the path of the two brothers who had come upon it.

**3.65.21**  
atha tau samatikramya krośamātre dadarśatuḥ  
mahāntaṃ dāruṇaṃ bhīmaṃ kabandhaṃ bhujasaṃvṛtam  
Then, having gone forward about a krośa, the two saw the huge, dreadful, fearsome Kabandha, hemmed about by his own arms.

**3.65.22**  
sa mahābāhur atyarthaṃ prasārya vipulau bhujau  
jagrāha sahitāv eva rāghavau pīḍayan balāt  
That mighty-armed one, stretching out his two vast arms exceedingly far, seized both the Rāghavas together, crushing them by force.

**3.65.23**  
khaḍginau dṛḍhadhanvānau tigmatejau mahābhujau  
bhrātarau vivaśaṃ prāptau kṛṣyamāṇau mahābalau  
The two brothers, sword-bearing, firm-bowed, of fierce splendour, great-armed and mighty, were reduced to helplessness as they were dragged along.

**3.65.24**  
tāv uvāca mahābāhuḥ kabandho dānavottamaḥ  
kau yuvāṃ vṛṣabhaskandhau mahākhaḍgadhanurdharau  
The mighty-armed Kabandha, chief of Dānavas, said to the two: “Who are you two, bull-shouldered, bearing great swords and bows,

**3.65.25**  
ghoraṃ deśam imaṃ prāptau mama bhakṣāv upasthitau  
vadataṃ kāryam iha vāṃ kimarthaṃ cāgatau yuvām  
who, having reached this dreadful region, have come as my food? Tell what your errand here is, and for what purpose you two have come.

**3.65.26**  
imaṃ deśam anuprāptau kṣudhārtasyeha tiṣṭhataḥ  
sabāṇacāpakhaḍgau ca tīkṣṇaśṛṅgāv ivarṣabhau  
mamāsyam anusaṃprāptau durlabhaṃ jīvitaṃ punaḥ  
Having reached this region of me who stand here tormented with hunger, and with your arrows, bows and swords, like two bulls with sharp horns, you have come into my mouth — hard now for you to keep your lives.

**3.65.27**  
tasya tadvacanaṃ śrutvā kabandhasya durātmanaḥ  
uvāca lakṣmaṇaṃ rāmo mukhena pariśuṣyatā  
Hearing that speech of the evil-souled Kabandha, Rāma, with a face going dry, said to Lakṣmaṇa:

**3.65.28**  
kṛcchrāt kṛcchrataraṃ prāpya dāruṇaṃ satyavikrama  
vyasanaṃ jīvitāntāya prāptam aprāpya tāṃ priyām  
“Having met, O truly valiant one, a hardship more grievous than the last, a dreadful calamity has come, threatening our very lives, before we have regained that beloved.

**3.65.29**  
kālasya sumahad vīryaṃ sarvabhūteṣu lakṣmaṇa  
tvāṃ ca māṃ ca naravyāghra vyasanaiḥ paśya mohitau  
nātibhāro 'sti daivasya sarvabhuteṣu lakṣmaṇa  
Very great is the power of Time over all beings, Lakṣmaṇa; see how both you and I, O tiger among men, are bewildered by calamities — no burden is too heavy for fate among all creatures, Lakṣmaṇa.

**3.65.30**  
śūrāś ca balavantaś ca kṛtāstrāś ca raṇājire  
kālābhipannāḥ sīdanti yathā vālukasetavaḥ  
Even the brave and the strong and the skilled in arms, when overtaken by Time, collapse on the field of battle like dams of sand.

**3.65.31**  
iti bruvāṇo dṛḍhasatyavikramo mahāyaśā dāśarathiḥ pratāpavān  
avekṣya saumitrim udagravikramaṃ sthirāṃ tadā svāṃ matim ātmanākarot  
Speaking thus, the son of Daśaratha, of firm and true valour, greatly glorious and mighty, glancing at Saumitri of lofty prowess, then made his own resolve firm within himself.