Trishira, Devantaka, Narantaka and Atikaya slain

(Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda - 69 to 72)

Sri Rama fighting

• Meditation: I meditate on Sri Rama waging war against Ravana in Lanka.

• Ravana sending his sons Trishira, Devantaka, Narantaka and Atikaya: Trishira (the son of Ravana) reminded Ravana of his strength and said that it does not befit him to grieve like an ordinary man. With the various boons and weapons he indeed can conquer Rama. Trishira asked for the permission to go to the battle and destroy Rama. Ravana as if got a new life. Hearing the words of Trishira, the other sons of Ravana, Devantaka, Narantaka and Atikaya came forward. Ravana sent his powerful sons to the battle. To guard his sons, Ravana sent Yuddonmatta and Matta (also known as Mahodara and Mahaparshva).
(Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda - 69)

• Angada slaying Narantaka: A fierce battle ensued between the vanaras and the demons. The demons rained arrows on the vanaras who retaliated with stones and trees. Soon the vanaras were having an upper hand. But Narantaka entered the battle scene and single-handedly destroyed hundreds of vanaras with his javelin. Even before the vanaras lifted their trees and rocks, Narantaka made them fall in a moment. The vanaras then took refuge of Sugreeva. Sugreeva ordered Angada to swiftly kill Narantaka. Angada challenged Narantaka and asked him to throw the javelin towards his chest. In anger Narantaka hurled his javelin towards Angada. That javelin broke down into pieces hitting the chest of Angada. Angada hit the head of Narantaka's horse and made it fall dead. Narantaka in anger hit Angada on his head with his fist. Angada swooned for some time with blood flowing out. Then regaining his balance he gave Narantaka a deadly blow on his chest with his fist. Narantaka fell down dead like a mountain. The celestials rejoiced.
(Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda - 69)

• Hanuman slaying Devantaka: Seeing Angada kill Narantaka, Mahodara, Devantaka and Trishira jointly attacked Angada. Angada hurled a large tree at Devantaka. Trishira chopped off that tree with his arrows. Then Angada hurled trees and rocks. Trishira broke them with his arrows and Mahodara with his club. Trishira then attacked Angada with his arrows. At the same time Mahodara hit Angada on his chest with his javelin. Devantaka came and hit Angada with his club. Even though attacked at the same time by the three very powerful demons, Angada the son of Vali remained unperturbed and fought on. With great agility, Angada hit the elephant of Devantaka with his hand and killed it. Then uprooting a tusk of that elephant, Angada hit Devantaka. Devantaka vomited blood but regaining his balance hit Angada with his iron rod. Angada fell down but quickly sprang up. At the same time, Trishira hit Angada with three arrows on his forehead. Seeing Angada surrounded by powerful demons, Hanuman and Nila reached there. Hanuman hurled a mountain peak on Trishira. Trishira broke it down with his arrows. When Devantaka rushed towards Hanuman, Hanuman gave a terrible blow on his head with his fist. The head broke down and Devantaka fell down dead with eyes and teeth protruding out.
(Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda - 70)

• Nila slaying Mahodara: Seeing Devantaka die, Trishira showered arrows on the chest of Nila in rage. At the same time Mahodara attacked Nila with arrows. Nila became benumbed for some time. Regaining consciousness Nila lifted a mountain piece with great speed and hit Mahodara on his head. Struck by that huge mountain piece, Mahodara fell down dead.
(Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda - 70)

• Hanuman slaying Trishira: Hanuman hurled a mountain piece on Trishira which he broke down with his arrows. Hanuman then hurled many trees towards Trishira. Trishira chopped them all with his arrows. Then Hanuman in anger tore the horse of Trishira with his nails. Trishira hurled a spear towards Hanuman. Hanuman caught that spear and broke it. Trishira then lifted a sword and hit Hanuman on his chest. Hanuman in retaliation hit Trishira on his chest with his hand. Trishira fell down unconscious. Hanuman snatched the sword of Trishira and roared. Trishira got up and hit Hanuman with his fist. Hanuman held the three heads of Trishira and chopped them off with the sword.
(Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda - 70)

• Rishabha slaying Mahaparshva: Seeing Trishira die, Mahaparshva went towards the vanaras with his mace. Rishabha obstructed the path of Mahaparshva. Mahaparshva hit Rishabha on his chest with his mace. Rishabha lost consciousness and fell down bleeding. Regaining his consciousness after sometime, he hit Mahaparshva on his chest with his fist. Mahaparshva fell down on the ground bleeding. Then Rishabha took away the mace of Mahaparshva. Regaining consciousness Mahaparshva hit Rishabha. Rishabha fell down unconscious. Then regaining consciousness he hit Mahaparshva with his mace. Mahaparshva fell down bleeding. Rishabha hit Mahaparshva with that mace repeatedly and killed him. The army of demons fled the scene.
(Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda - 70)

• Lakshmana slaying Atikaya: Seeing his brothers and uncles slain in the battle, Atikaya became enraged. He roared and announced himself. Seeing his large body, the vanaras became frightened thinking him as another Kumbhakarna rising up. They took refuge of Sri Rama. Sri Rama asked Vibhisana who that formidable looking demon is. Vibhisana introduced him as Atikaya, the son of Ravana who had a boon from Brahma that his death will not occur on the hands of celestials and demons. Vibhisana suggested Rama to quickly destroy him, else he will rapidly destroy the army of vanaras. Kumuda, Dwivida, Mainda, Nila and Sharabha hurled trees and rocks on him, which Atikaya broke with his arrows. Atikaya hit the vanaras with arrows made of iron and made them fall such that they are unable to retaliate again. Atikaya then moved towards Rama and said that he will not fight with ../common warriors. Whoever has the ability can challenge him. Lakshmana took up the challenge and with the twang of his bow frightened the demons. Atikaya asked Lakshmana why he wanted to lose his life unnecessarily by challenging him when he is still a boy. Lakshmana replied that merely by boasting a person does not become great. Let him show his strength before his head is made to fall by him. Lakshmana reminded him that Vishnu as a boy strode the three worlds, so he need not disregard a boy. Atikaya then hurled a powerful arrow which Lakshmana broke with his own arrow. Atikaya further hurled five arrows together which Lakshmana also broke with his arrows. Lakshmana then hurled a powerful arrow on the forehead of Atikaya and made him tremble. Atikaya in reply released several arrows together which Lakshmana broke with his arrows. Becoming enraged, Atikaya released a powerful arrow on the chest of Lakshmana. Blood flowed out of Lakshmana. However, Lakshmana quickly freed himself from that arrow and released an Agni astra. Atikaya in reply released the Surya astra. The two arrows nullified themselves. Atikaya then released an arrow of Twasta which Laksmana nullified with an arrow of Indra. Atikaya then hurled an arrow of Yama which Lakshmana nullified with an arrow of Vayu. Lakshmana then hurled thousands of arrows on Atikaya which broke down hitting his armour. Atikaya hurled a powerful arrow on Lakshmana and made him unconscious for a moment. Lakshmana then broke the flagstaff and killed the horses and charioteer of Atikaya with his arrows. The Wind-god then appeared and told Lakshmana to release a Brahma astra since Atikaya cannot be killed by any other weapons due to the boon of armour by Lord Brahma. Lakshmana then fixed a Brahma astra on his bow which made the sun, moon and the earth agitate with fear. Lakshmana released that arrow on Atikaya. Atikaya hit that arrow of Brahma with several arrows as also with spike, spear and other weapons. The arrow of Lord Brahma nullified all the weapons of Atikaya and finally severed the head of the demon. The vanaras worshipped Lakshmana. The demons fled in fear.
(Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda - 71)

• Ravana grieving in surprise: Hearing about the deaths of his sons, Ravana grieved and at the same time became surprised as to how Rama, Lakshmana and vanaras can destroy his powerful demons whom even celestials cannot defeat. Ravana became surprised as to how Rama and Lakshmana extricated themselves from the Naga astra of Indrajit from whose bind even celestials cannot free themselves. Ravana realised that he has no more generals who can withstand Rama and Lakshmana. Rama is really of mighty strength. Ravana instructed the demons to vigilantly guard the city and the Ashoka garden. He then retired to his chamber and grieved for the loss of his sons.
(Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda - 72)

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