Yuddha Kandam
Yuddha Kandam is about the great battle between Rama and Ravana. Rama won the war and he was made the King of Ayodhya.
When Rama heard Hanuman’s news, he was overjoyed. Hanuman described Lanka as a beautiful place with golden walls, wide streets, big buildings, and a huge palace with beautiful gardens.
Rama wondered how he would cross the big ocean with crocodiles and sharks in it. Sugreeva said, “Don’t worry. There are so many monkeys here to help you. We can figure out a way.”
Sugreeva’s army of Vanaras and the army of bears led by Jambavan, started marching towards the sea shore. Hanuman carried Rama and Lakshmana on his shoulders, and soon enough they all reached the sea shore.
The army stopped at the sea shore and they all talked about the best way to cross the enormous ocean and reach Lanka.
Meanwhile, back in Lanka, Ravana was really angry and upset that Hanuman had come in, found Sita, set fire to Lanka, and got away without anyone catching him.
One of Ravana’s ministers said, “You are such a great king, why are you worried? That small monkey set fire to Lanka, but now we know all about his strength, we will be careful next time.”
Vibheeshana went to Ravana and said, “None of us will be able to destroy Rama. Ravana, you took Rama’s wife. If you don’t want us all to get killed, give Sita back to Rama now. They are coming to destroy us now.”
Ravana spoke angrily to Vibheeshana, “How dare you speak like that to me! Because you are my older brother, I will not kill you. But get away from Lanka and don’t ever come back here.”
Vibheeshana left everything behind and went to where Rama was at the sea shore. He told Rama, “My name is Vibheeshana, I am the brother of Ravana. When I told my brother that he should give Sita back to you, he got really angry and threw me out of Lanka. I have come to take shelter with you.” Rama welcomed Vibheeshana and said he was welcome to join them.
To solve the problem of crossing the ocean, Rama decided to dry up the ocean so that the army could walk across to Lanka. He lifted his bow and arrow and got ready to shoot the arrow at the ocean, when suddenly, the Sea God appeared and said, “Rama, save me. What will happen to all the creatures living in the ocean if you shoot?”
Rama said, “I have already drawn my arrow and I cannot take it back. Tell me where I should shoot it.”
The sea god said, “There are lots of creatures in the north who are troubling me, please shoot your arrow towards them.”
After Rama shot his arrow, the sea God said, “One of the Vanaras, Nala, will be able to help you build a bridge out of stone and rock across the Ocean. Then you can all walk across the bridge.”
So Nala started the building of the bridge with the help of all the monkeys and bears. They put all the rocks and stones into the ocean and built a bridge all the way to Lanka. Before leaving for Lanka, Rama prayed to Shiva on the seashore.
When the bridge was completed, Hanuman carried Rama and Lakshmana on his shoulders and, with the rest of the army, walked across the bridge to Lanka.
One of Ravana’s spies saw the army coming and went to warn Ravana. “The army of huge monkeys and bears led by Rama has come to Lanka. I saw Rama myself and there is no way we can defeat him. Couldn’t you just tell Rama that you are sorry, and ask him to forgive you and give Sita back?”
Ravana said, “How dare you speak to me like that? If Rama wants a fight, then I’ll give him a fight and I will prove to you that I will win.”
Ravana went on top of his palace and saw Rama and his army. Rama saw Ravana too, and angrily shot an arrow which chopped off Ravana’s crowns and the umbrellas giving him shelter.
Ravana was ashamed of what happened and he went inside his palace and told his army to get ready to fight. Rama also told his army to get ready to fight. Both the armies went to the battlefield and began the war. It was really noisy, with Rakshasas beating drums and blowing horns. The rakshasas rode on animals like camels, donkeys, and tigers. They looked scary and held big weapons.
The monkeys and bears were huge and fought with big rocks and trees and their bare hands.
At first the monkeys were winning but seeing this, Ravana’s son Meghanada, came to the battlefield with a special weapon and killed lots of monkeys. Seeing this, Rama got very sad and upset and asked Hanuman to go to the Milk Ocean and get Mount Drona with its medicine plants.
Hanuman flew off and got the mountain. They used the medicine from the mountain to make the Vanaras live again. Then Hanuman took the mountain back to the milk ocean and the battle kept going.
Ravana came to the battlefield to fight. There, Ravana saw Vibheeshana and tried to attack him. Lakshmana saw Ravana attacking, and tried to protect Vibheeshana. Instead of hitting Vibheeshana, the weapon hit Lakshmana, and he fell to the ground.
Seeing Lakshmana had fallen, Hanuman rushed towards Ravana and punched him hard, and Ravana got dizzy and fell to the ground bleeding from his ears, nose, and mouth.
Later, Ravana got into his chariot and attacked Rama with his bow and arrows. Hanuman carried Rama on his shoulders and Rama shot an arrow which attacked Ravana.
Seeing that Rama was on Hanuman’s shoulders, Ravana thought he would attack Hanuman so that Rama would fall and be easier to attack.
Ravana shot sharp arrows at Hanuman. When Hanuman got hurt, Rama got really angry and shot many arrows at Ravana and his chariot. Ravana got really dizzy and he was not able to fight back.
Rama said, “Seeing that you know how powerful I am, you can go back to Lanka and have a rest. Come back when you are ready to fight again.
Then Rama turned and saw that Lakshmana was still lying on the ground. He asked Hanuman to go and get the Medicine from Mount Drona to fix Lakshmana.
Hearing that Hanuman was on a mission, Ravana went to an asura called Kalanemi. He said, “Hanuman is going to get the medicine plant, Sanjeevani, to help Lakshmana get better. I want you to go to the mountain disguised as a holy man, and do something to stop Hanuman.”
Kalanemi did as Ravana said, and went to the mountain. He magically put an ashram in the mountains and disguised as a holy man, waited for Hanuman.
Hanuman flew over the mountains and saw the Ashram. He thought, “I didn’t see that ashram before. I’d better stop here to get a drink of water before I go on to get the medicine.”
Kalanemi met Hanuman and he said, “Stay for a while. Have a rest and get some fruit and water.”
Hanuman said, “I am so thirsty, one pot of water will not be enough. Please show me where there is a lake.” So Kalanemi showed Hanuman the lake.
Hanuman went to take a drink and a fierce crocodile came and tried to eat Hanuman. Hanuman split the crocodile in two and killed it. The crocodile turned into a beautiful woman and she said, “I was cursed to be a crocodile, but you have broken the curse. I must tell you that this isn’t a holy man, it is the asura Kalanemi. He is trying to stop you from completing your mission.”
Hanuman went back to Kalanemi and gave him a punch. Kalanemi tried to stop Hanuman by using magic, but Hanuman killed Kalanemi.
Hanuman landed on Mount Drona, but he could not find the medicine plant anywhere. Hanuman became giant in size and carried the mountain back to Rama. Hanuman said, “I have brought you the whole mountain, My Lord. You can do whatever you want with it!”
Soon the medicine was given to Lakshmana, and he was fixed and woke up. Rama was so happy that he gave Hanuman a hug and said, “You really did a great job. Now we can keep going with the battle.”
Meanwhile, Ravana decided to wake up his brother Kumbhakarna who had been asleep for a long time. The rakshasas went to wake Kumbhakarna with sharp sticks and loud noises, and he finally woke up.
Ravana explained to Kumbhakarna what had happened, that he had grabbed Sita and now Rama had come to fight him. When Kumbhakarna heard this, he laughed out loud and said, “Oh, you silly, foolish Ravana. Why did you do this? Why did you steal Sita from Rama and make Rama angry?”
Ravana said angrily, “I didn’t come here so you could tell me what to do! Are you going to fight?” Kumbhakarna got ready to fight. He went to the battlefield, and like an elephant moving through the battle, he killed many Vanaras.
Seeing this, Rama shot an arrow and cut off one of Kumbhakarna’s arms. Kumbhakarna kept coming and kept killing, so Rama shot an arrow to cut off Kumbhakarna’s other arm. Still Kumbhakarna kept coming so Rama cut off both his legs. Then Kumbhakarna opened his mouth wide and kept on coming, so Rama shot lots of arrows into Kumbhakarna’s mouth and then Kumbhakarna died.
Ravana was really sad that his brother Kumbhakarna had died. Ravana’s son Indrajit came and said, “Don’t worry, you still have me to fight.” So Indrajit got ready to battle, and hearing that Indrajit was coming, Rama told Lakshmana to get ready to fight.
There was a fierce battle between Lakshmana and Indrajit. Both of them had many arrows shot into them and a lot of blood was pouring out of them. But finally, Lakshmana cut off Indrajit’s head and Indrajit was dead. Rama said, “Lakshmana, you have done really well. I am so pleased with you.”
When Ravana heard that Indrajit was also dead, he was really sad about losing his son, and that all the great warriors in his army had died. Ravana decided to do a special Homam so that he would win the war.
Hearing about the homam, Rama asked some of the Vanaras to disturb Ravana so he would not finish the homam. The monkeys went and destroyed the place where Ravana was doing the homam, throwing things around and made a mess of the place. Then they saw Ravana’s wife Mandodari, and pulled her hair and pulled her jewels.
Mandodari cried to Ravana, “Why did you do this? Just by stealing Sita all this happened. Your brother is dead, your sons are dead. All this is your fault. Give Sita back to Rama and stop this war.” Ravana could not finish the homam because of the monkeys disturbance and destruction.
Ravana said to Mandodari, “This war has already started. If I give up now, Rama will win. I cannot stop it now, I have to keep going.”
Ravana sat in his chariot and went to the battlefield. Seeing Ravana in his chariot, Rama asked the gods for a chariot. The Gods gave Rama a huge chariot and Rama sat in it and went to fight Ravana.
There was a fierce battle between Rama and Ravana. Ravana threw a snake weapon at Rama which turned into a lot of hissing snakes that were breathing fire at Rama. Seeing this, Vishnu’s vehicle, the giant eagle Garuda came and attacked the snakes. Garuda killed the snakes and saved Rama.
Then Ravana sat in his chariot and faced Rama. Ravana was huge, with ten heads and twenty arms, holding a bow and arrow in each hand. Rama held up a huge bow and they both fought against each other for a long time.
Rama shot arrows at Ravana’s heads and chopped off his heads. Blood poured from the heads and they fell to the ground like enormous fruits falling from an enormous tree. Ravana’s heads kept growing back and Rama shot more arrows to chop off the heads.
Rama thought, “I have cut off all of Ravana’s heads but they keep growing back. How should I kill Ravana?” Then Vibheeshana came and said to Rama, “Ravana has a special life giving drink under his belly button. If you burn that drink you will then be able to kill Ravana.”
Hearing this, Rama took a fire arrow and shot it at Ravana’s bellybutton. The drink burned up and they began to fight again. Rama shot many arrows at Ravana, and Ravana shot many arrows at Rama.
Finally, Rama shot one arrow right through Ravana’s lungs and into his heart, and Ravana died. The sky was filled with happiness and celebration from the Gods that Rama had killed Ravana.
Vibheeshana was sad that Ravana had died but Rama came to him and said, “Ravana had to be killed, but now there is no one to look after the people of Lanka, so I think you should be the king of Lanka.”
After Rama spoke to Vibheeshana, they burned Ravana’s body and then they had a big ceremony to make Vibheeshana the king.
Later, Rama asked Hanuman to go to the Ashoka garden and ask Sita to come to him. Hanuman went to Sita and Sita recognised him. The both went back to where Rama was waiting.
Rama saw Sita for the first time in a very long time. He said to her, “With the help of the Vanaras and Bears, and my friends Sugreeva and Vibheeshana I came to Lanka and killed Ravana and his army.” Sita was very happy to hear that news.
Rama looked at Sita and thought, “If I take Sita back to Ayodhya now, all the people will think that I haven’t seen Sita for so long that she should not be with me. How can I take her with me?”
Rama asked Sita to go into the sacred fire to prove that Ravana had not touched her. Sita stepped into the fire and the God of Fire, Agni, protected her so that she could not get burned. Agni brought Sita out of the fire and said, “Sita has always been your wife Rama. She has never forgotton you, and Sita has never been touched by anybody in Lanka. Please take her back with you.”
Rama took Sita from Agni and there was great celebration everywhere that Sita was with Rama and that Ravana had been killed. Rama decided it was time to return to Ayodhya because his fourteen years of living in the forest was finished.
Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman, Sugreeva, Angada and Vibheeshana, along with all the vanara army went in the flying chariot, Pushpaka Vimana, to Ayodhya.
Rama said to Hanuman, “Go to Bharata and tell him all that has happened. Tell him that I am coming back with Sita and Lakshmana and our friends. Listen to him, and come back and tell me what he says.”
Hanuman, disguised as a man, went to Bharata and told him the whole story of what had happened to Rama. Bharata said, “You have brought me great news that my brother Rama is coming back.” Bharata went with Hanuman back to where Rama waited, and took Rama and all the others back to Ayodhya.
There was great celebration in Ayodhya that Rama had come back. Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana were taken to the palace and everything was prepared to have a ceremony to make Rama the king. Wearing beautiful clothes and jewels Rama became the King of Ayodhya.
Rama said to Hanuman, “I am very happy with you. Tell me what you want and I will give it to you.”
Hanuman said, “I am only happy when I am with you. Please give me the wish that I will always live on this earth, for ever and ever, saying your name. Sri Rama.”
Sri Rama