Otherwise, I would have smashed your jaws and carried off Sita by force. I could judge your strength, O vile foe of the gods, from the very fact that you stole away another’s wife when she was all alone.

You are the lord of the demons and exceedingly haughty, while I am only a messenger of one of Raghunatha’s servants. If I were not afraid of insulting Rama, I would have wrought this wonder before your very eyes:

I would dash you to the ground, overthrow your army, lay waste your city and carry off Sita, fool, with all the ladies of your household.

But if I did so, it would hardly bring me any credit, for there’s no great valour in slaying the dead. A follower of the vamamarga, the left-handed Shakti cult, a man given over wholly to lust, a miser, a grossly foolish fellow, a destitute beggar, a man in disgrace, a very old man,

one who is always ill or always in a passion, an enemy of Vishnu, a foe of the Vedas and the saints, one who is self-indulgent or given to slandering others and he who is thoroughly vicious – these fourteen are no better than corpses even while they live.

On this account, O wretch, I refrain from slaying you; but don’t rouse my anger any more!’ On hearing this, Ravana the Demon King bit his lips, wrung his hands and cried in a fury;

‘Your death, vile monkey, is now imminent, for though small of stature, you’ve spoken big words. He on whose strength you dare blabber such wild, sharp words, O stupid ape, has no strength, glory, intelligence or majesty at all.