Ravana decided to pray to the warrior-goddess Kali for protection. With Kali's help, he could become completely invincible, safe even from humans and monkeys.

"You must stop him!" Vibhishana said to Hanuman and Angada, so they flew to Lanka and found Ravana deep in meditation. The monkeys pelted Ravana with fruits and flowers he had offered to the goddess, but they could not break Ravana's meditation.

Then they began stripping off Mandodari's clothes. "Help me, husband!" she screamed.

This broke Ravana's meditation. He came to Mandodari's aid, and the monkeys flew away, mission accomplished: Ravana received no boon from Kali.

Overwhelmed by all his failures, Ravana grabbed a sword and ran to the ashoka grove. "SHE did this!" he screamed. "SHE killed my brother. SHE killed my sons. I am going to cut that wretched woman's throat myself!"

Sita prepared for death calmly, with some regret that she had not let Hanuman carry her away. "Perhaps I am to blame," she thought.

At the last moment, one of Ravana's ministers, an honorable rakshasa named Suparshva, restrained him. "This woman is not the enemy," he said. "Your enemy awaits you on the battlefield."

So Ravana went to challenge Rama at last.

Ravana rode into battle, armed with the Tamasa, Bringer-of-Darkness. "I will destroy Rama and Lakshmana," Ravana shouted, "and all their army!"

He then launched the Tamasa, incinerating thousands of Rama's soldiers, and his chariot ran over their ashes.

Meanwhile, Rama and Lakshmana stood firm. They nocked their arrows, invoking the gods to destroy the Tamasa. Their arrows dissipated the darkness, but Ravana kept coming, hurling weapons at the princes.

Lakshmana then fired an arrow that shattered Ravana's bow, while Vibhishana killed Ravana's charioteer and horses, and Rama launched mighty weapons of fire.

Defeated again, Ravana retreated behind Lanka's golden walls.

Next, the god Indra sent his chariot to Rama, driven by his charioteer Matali, who gave Rama the Brahmastra.

"Death awaits you, Ravana!" Rama shouted, and Ravana once again rode out into battle.

Rama's arrows broke Ravana's flag-staff, and the flag fell to the ground. Rama then sliced off one of Ravana's heads, and another, and another, but a new head appeared for each head Ravana lost.

"Use the Brahmastra," Matali urged. "Aim at his navel!"

Rama fired the weapon directly into Ravana's navel, thus shattering the pot of immortality Ravana concealed there.

Ravana then toppled from his chariot, dead.

Vibhishana grieved for his dead brother.

"Ravana died in battle," said Rama, "as a great warrior should. Do not mourn. Honor him instead with funeral rites."

As Vibhishana prepared the funeral pyre, Ravana's wives came forth from Lanka and kneeled in grief around his body, still lying in the dust of the battlefield. Mandodari unbound her hair in grief.

After Vibhishana conducted Ravana's funeral, Rama crowned Vibhishana as King of Lanka.

Matali saluted Lanka's new king as he soared aloft in Indra's chariot, returning to the abode of the devas.

And then, at last, Rama sent Vibhishana to fetch Sita.

"Your husband awaits," Vibhishana said to Sita. "Bathe and adorn yourself; then we will go."

"I would go now," Sita replied, "just as I am."

"No, Sita," Vibhishana told her. "Let it be as Rama commands."

Sita bathed and adorned herself, and then Vibhishana brought her to Rama.

Rama was torn between love for Sita and the shame of public scandal. She had been in another man's house, and everyone knew it.

"For the insult Ravana did me, I have killed him," Rama said. "The war is over. I wish you well, and now you may go where you like."

Rama's words made Sita feel angry and ashamed. "How can you treat me with such contempt?" she said, sobbing. "How can you have so little regard for womankind? Ravana overpowered and abducted me, but I was forever faithful to you, and I will prove it."

Sita turned to Lakshmana. "Build a fire!" she ordered.

Lakshmana obeyed.

Sita then prayed to Agni, the fire-god. "Demonstrate my faithfulness for all to see, and do not burn me."

Sita entered the fire.

It did not burn her.

Agni himself emerged from the fire, carrying Sita in his arms.

Rama received her with joy.

Some say that it was not Sita who entered the fire, but Maya-Sita, a double of Sita. Ravana never actually brought Sita to Lanka. Instead, the devas snatched Sita from Ravana's chariot when he wasn't looking, replacing the real Sita with Maya, an illusion.

Ravana took Sita's double to Lanka, and it was Sita's double who came to Rama on the battlefield at the end of the war.

When she stepped into the fire, the Maya-Sita was destroyed, and Agni restored the real Sita to Rama.

So it was Maya-Sita who entered the fire, but the real Sita who emerged.

Indra then appeared, descending from the heavens in his celestial chariot.

"You have done well, Rama," he said, "and the devas have sent me to grant you a boon. Tell me what you wish."

"Restore life to all my monkey and bear soldiers who fell in battle so that their mothers and wives may rejoice in their return," Rama replied. "Let them rise up stronger than before!"

Indra nodded and as he ascended into the sky, the monkeys and bears were restored to life, staring at one another in amazement.

"Let's hurry now to Ayodhya," Rama shouted. "Bharata awaits us."

"Take Ravana's flying chariot," Vibhishana said, and Rama did so, sending Hanuman ahead with a message for Bharata: "The exile is over, and Rama is coming!"

Receiving this news, Bharata rejoiced and began preparations for Rama's coronation.

When Rama reached Ayodhya, Bharata placed the royal sandals at his feet. "These sandals sat on the throne in your place," he said. "Now you will be our king."

When Rama and Lakshmana returned, even their own mothers didn't recognize them. Fourteen years had changed the princes; the boys were now men. Kaushalya embraced Rama, Sumitra embraced Lakshmana, and both mothers embraced Sita.