Ravana

Bhima asks the ape to reveal his true identity. The ape speaks: he was born from Kesari and Vayu, the wind god — the same wind that gave Bhima his own strength. He is Hanuman, the monkey who served Rama, who leaped across the ocean to find Sita, who burned Lanka and returned. He tells Bhima that he asked Rama for a single boon: to live as long as Rama's deeds were sung on earth. Rama agreed. And so Hanuman is still here.

Bhima, awestruck by his brother's power, asks why Hanuman did not simply kill Ravana himself and end the war before it began. Hanuman's answer is not about ability — it is about glory, and whose story this was meant to be.

Bhima asks to see the form Hanuman took when he leapt across the ocean to find Sita. Hanuman obliges — and grows into a mountain-sized being with copper eyes and sharp teeth, covering the plantain grove and darkening the directions, leaving even the mighty Bhima overwhelmed.

Markandeya tells Yudhishthira that Rama faced incomparable misery — his wife Janaki was abducted by the rakshasa Ravana, who killed the vulture Jatayu with his maya. Yudhishthira asks for the full account: Rama's lineage, Ravana's birth, and the enmity between them. Markandeya agrees to narrate it.

Markandeya tells Yudhishthira the full story of Rama's exile: Dasharatha's plan to instate his eldest son, Kaikeyi's demand for Bharata's throne and Rama's banishment, Rama's departure, Dasharatha's death from grief, Bharata's refusal of the crown, and the events that led Ravana to set his sights on Sita.

Ravana arrives at Maricha's hermitage and demands his help to lure Sita away. Maricha knows Rama's power and refuses — until Ravana's anger forces his hand. He performs his own funeral rites, then follows Ravana to execute the plan that will destroy them both.

With Lakshmana gone, Ravana appears at the hermitage disguised as a gentle ascetic. When Sita refuses his advances, he reveals his true form, grasps her by the hair, and rises into the sky — carrying her away as she cries out for Rama.

Rama and Lakshmana encounter Kabandha, a rakshasa like a cloud or a mountain with a single eye on his chest and a giant mouth on a giant belly. He seizes Lakshmana in his arms. Lakshmana despairs, lamenting their misfortunes — Sita abducted, Rama exiled, their father dead — but Rama remains undaunted. He commands Lakshmana to slice off Kabandha's right arm while he severs the left, and they hack at the rakshasa until he falls dead. From his body emerges the gandharva Vishvavasu, freed from Brahma's curse, who tells Rama that Ravana took Sita to Lanka and advises him to seek Sugriva's help at Lake Pampa near Mount Rishyamukha.

As Ravana carries Sita through the sky, the vulture king Jatayu — an old friend of Dasharatha — sees his daughter-in-law in the rakshasa's arms. He attacks with talons, wings, and beak, drawing blood from the lord of rakshasas. But Ravana draws his sword and slices off the vulture's wings, killing him. As she is carried away, Sita drops ornaments and a garment to leave a trail for Rama.

Rama returns after killing the magical deer, rebukes Lakshmana for leaving Sita, and rushes to the hermitage. There he finds the fallen vulture and mistakes him for a rakshasa — until Jatayu speaks, identifying himself as Dasharatha's friend and telling how Ravana killed him for Sita's sake. With his last strength, the vulture nods toward the south and dies. Rama performs his last rites, then heads south with Lakshmana into Dandakaranya.

Imprisoned in Lanka and guarded by terrifying rakshasis who threaten to eat her, Sita declares she will starve rather than accept Ravana. After the rakshasis leave, the rakshasi Trijata comforts her with a prophetic dream — Ravana will be destroyed, Rama will come, and Sita will be reunited with her husband.

Ravana, burning with desire, approaches Sita in the ashoka grove where she sits sorrowful and guarded by rakshasis. He adorns himself splendidly and offers her his wealth, power, and lineage — only to be rejected so utterly that even he, the rakshasa king, cannot bring himself to take her against her will.

Rama, despairing, asks the returning monkeys if they have succeeded. Hanuman steps forward and delivers his report: the cave of Maya, the vulture Sampati who revealed Lanka's location, the leap across the ocean, and the moment he found Sita in Ravana's inner quarters — alive, fasting, and waiting.

When two months have passed, the southern search party is seen enjoying Madhuvana — a sign of success. Hanuman and the monkeys prostrate before Rama, Sugriva, and Lakshmana, and Hanuman delivers his full report: the cave, Sampati, the ocean crossing, and Sita found alive in Lanka with her jewel as proof.

Vibhishana, the righteous brother of Ravana, meets Rama with his advisers after the bridge is built. Sugriva suspects he is a spy, but Rama satisfies himself about Vibhishana's truthfulness through his actions and conduct. He instates Vibhishana as king of the rakshasas and makes him Lakshmana's adviser. Following Vibhishana's instructions, Rama and his army cross the ocean within a month — and the campaign against Lanka begins.

Ravana orders Angada seized. Four rakshasas grab him by his limbs — but Angada leaps onto a palace terrace with them still hanging on, and the force of his jump shatters their hearts. He then clears the entire city of Lanka in a single bound and returns to Rama's camp.

With Angada's report delivered, Rama orders the walls of Lanka breached. Lakshmana, Vibhishana, and Sugriva demolish the southern gate, and the monkey army pours in — destroying turrets, catapults, and war implements, hurling them into the heart of the city. But the rakshasas rally under Ravana's orders and counterattack from the walls.

Rama's army has reached Lanka, and he sends Angada as his messenger to deliver an ultimatum to Ravana. Angada enters the city fearlessly, walks into the midst of Ravana's court, and speaks Rama's words directly: release Sita, or face destruction.

Enraged by the slaughter of his invisible ambushers, Ravana leads his full army against the monkeys, arranging them in the fearsome ushanas battle formation. Rama counters with a formation recommended by Brihaspati, and the two armies collide in a battle that shakes the three worlds.

Ravana's followers—pishachas and rakshasas—attack the monkey army while remaining invisible. But Vibhishana knows their trick and strips their concealment away. The monkeys see them clearly, and the ambushers become the ambushed.

The rakshasa Dhumraksha charges at the monkey army after seeing Prahasta killed, and the bulls among the monkeys lose heart. Hanuman rallies them, then faces Dhumraksha in a duel of clubs and trees — and kills him, along with his horses, chariot, and charioteer. The shattered remnants of the rakshasa forces flee to Lanka and report to Ravana, who decides it is time to awaken Kumbhakarna.

Ravana hears that Prahasta and Dhumraksha have been killed by the monkeys, sighs deeply, and arises from his seat. He declares the time has come for Kumbhakarna to act, uses musical instruments to awaken his brother from prolonged sleep, and instructs him to march out and kill Rama. Vajravega and Pramathi accept Ravana's orders, and Kumbhakarna leads them out from the city.

Kumbhakarna has fallen, and the rakshasa army flees in terror. But Dushana's younger brothers, Vajravega and Pramathi, rally the fleeing warriors and turn to face Lakshmana in a furious assault. The battle is brief and terrible — and ends with a mountain peak and a boulder.

Ravana learns that Kumbhakarna, Prahasta, and Dhumraksha have been killed in battle. He summons his son Indrajit and commands him to kill Rama, Sugriva, and Lakshmana, reminding him of his past victory over Indra himself. Indrajit agrees, dons his armour, mounts his chariot, and proceeds to the battlefield.

Flush with victory, Indrajit returns to battle before performing his daily rites. Lakshmana, recovered and advised by Vibhishana, attacks him and kills him with three arrows — slicing off his bow-arm, his arrow-arm, and his head. When Ravana sees his son's corpse dragged into Lanka, he rushes to kill Vaidehi, but Avindhya calms him with reasoned counsel.