"Raden, you are the mahapatih (main warlord) of Maespati. You must represent the greatness and majesty of the Maespati kingdom in your person. You should not wear simple clothes like that when you must lead the Maespati army in defending our honor in this war," admonished Patih Suroto.
"Uncle, I left Jatisrana in these clothes. And I will return to Jatisrana in these clothes, too," said Sumantri. Again, no one could understand his words except himself. Finally Sumantri went out onto the battlefield. He knew death was awaiting him. He set out, feeling that he was about to follow Darmawati.
Many victims had already fallen by the time Sumantri arrived on the battlefield. On the Maespati side, the kings of Candrakestu, Swantipura, Soda and Kalinggapati had died. And on the Alengka side, the punggawa (retainers) of Puthaksi, Puthadaksi, Kampana and Brajamusti had also been killed. Countless soldiers had become corpses, from both Alengka and Maespati.
The soldiers of Maespati cheered with joy when they found out that the mahapatih of Maespati, Sumantri, was leading the battle. They only wondered why Sumantri was not wearing his armor in leading the Maespati soldiers into battle. They put aside their confusion. They only believed that, under Sumantri’s leadership, they would crush the Alengka troops. Evidently, their morale had fallen in the face of the menacing offensive of the Alengka troops. And it looked like the Rahwana troops had begun to succeed in pressing them. They recovered their spirit and grew increasingly emboldened because of the presence of Maespati's reliable senapati (war commander), Raden Sumantri.
Also read:
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (139)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (138)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (137)
The situation duly changed as soon as Sumantri immersed himself in the battle. The Alengka troops found themselves desperately on the defense. The giant Dumreksa perished from Sumantri's arrow.
Sumantri's Pusaka Pancawela severed his enemies’ necks and there, rolling around were the heads of the giants Wirupaksa, Gathodhara, Wilotaksa, Prajangga and Pragangsa. Sumantri continued to rage forward, his arrows clamoring for more giant heads. Once released, the arrows emitted a deadliness akin to a sweeping flood hitting the giants. The giants fell, their heads separated from their bodies. The elephants and horses galloped away, trampling the troops and flattening their bodies into the ground. As none seemed able to stop Sumantri's rampage, the giants Suka and Sarana fled to their king, Rahwana, to report Sumantri's invincibility on the battlefield.
Rahwana was furious and immediately charged onto the battlefield, followed by thousands of giants. Their footsteps rumbled, the ground shook like an earthquake. Rahwana swung his gada (mace) left and right, instantly killing the Maespati soldiers who took the hit. The King of Suryakestu lunged to attack him, only to find the gada break his body into pieces. Rahwana continued forward, swinging and smashing his gada through the Maespati soldiers blocking him on either side.
He advanced to the center of the battlefield, seeming to easily stride over a barrier of the corpses of Maespati soldiers. Maespati's conquered kings released their magic arrows, which buzzed through the sky to hit Ravana's body, but none of them hurt him. He was growing every more furious, striking the trees and felling them. When his spear broke, he pounded his opponents barehanded and tore them up with his fangs. He was angry, the hairs on his body were ablaze with fire, burning the soldiers of Maespati.
His body had heated up to an extreme. Anyone touched by it was burned instantly. Many Maespati kings died, and that was when Sumantri came forward to challenge him. Rahwana pulled up. He held back his rage and wrath on seeing the young man before him.
"Who are you, young man?” asked Rahwana.
"I am Sumantri."
"Are you the one who led the Maespati army, leaving many of my soldiers dead?" asked Rahwana again.
"That is right, as you have said," replied Sumantri.
"Then you are Maespati's senapati. But from the clothes you're wearing, I can't believe you're the senapati.” Rahwana could not understand how a great senapati could appeared without any majestic attributes.
Also read:
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (136)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (135)
"I am not a senapati. I am Sumantri, a son of Jatisrana hermitage,” Sumantri identified himself.
"If you are not a senapati, why are you on this battlefield and leading the Maespati army against my army and facing me as your enemy?" Rahwana became curious about what Sumantri had said.
"I do not see you as an enemy. For me, you are a demon of death that I must face," said Sumantri.
I am not a senapati. I am Sumantri, a son of Jatisrana hermitage
"Aren't you afraid that if I am the demon of death, then I will end your life? It is better for you to disappear from my sight than that you die by my hand," Ravana said, feeling pity in his heart. He felt sorry for Sumantri and saw him as a completely helpless man.
"Rahwana, you know that as long as I live, I will not give in to death. Then I will fight you as a demon of death," said Sumantri, flinching at his own words.
He gasped, because he really saw that the demon of death was standing in front of him. He became aware there was no boundary between life and death anymore. For him, death was a mere event in his life, just as his life was part of his death. The demon of death had woken his consciousness that mortality did not simply emerge at the time of his death, but at any time in his life, even at the time of his birth. Birth brought him into the world and he had picked up his death during his life.
This article was translated by Musthofid.
