Vibhishana

Kubera, knowing his father Vishrava is angry with him, sends three rakshasis to serve the sage. They rival each other in dancing and singing to please him. Vishrava is pleased and grants each a boon — and from these three women are born the lords of the rakshasas: Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana, Khara, and Shurpanakha.

Jealous of Kubera's prosperity, Ravana and his brothers undertake terrible austerities to win boons from Brahma. Ravana stands on one foot for a thousand years, then cuts off his own heads and offers them into the fire. Brahma grants him invincibility against all beings except men — and Ravana, in his arrogance, ignores the exception.

Ravana defeats his elder brother Kubera in battle and seizes the Pushpaka vimana, the flying chariot that moves at the speed of thought. Kubera leaves Lanka for Gandhamadana, but before he goes, he speaks a curse: the vimana will not carry Ravana — it will carry the one who kills him.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Prahasta rushes at Vibhishana and strikes him with a mace, but Vibhishana does not stagger — he stands firm like the Himalayas. Then Vibhishana invokes a mantra on a gigantic spear and flings it at Prahasta's head with the speed of the vajra, slicing it off. Prahasta falls like a tree struck by wind, and Dhumraksha charges forward in response.

Ravana's son Indrajit binds Rama and Lakshmana with boon-granted arrows, trapping them like birds in a cage. Sugriva and the monkeys stand guard helplessly until Vibhishana arrives with the prajna weapon to revive them, and Kubera sends consecrated water to grant them the power to see invisible beings.

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.

Enraged by the death of his son, Ravana marches out with his rakshasa army and attacks Rama with terrifying maya — creating illusory soldiers and even false forms of Rama and Lakshmana. But when Indra sends his own chariot, driven by Matali, Rama mounts it and invokes the brahmastra, an arrow that envelops the lord of rakshasas in a mass of blazing flames from which nothing remains — not even ash.

Rama has killed Ravana and rescued Sita. But when she is brought before him, he does not embrace her. He tells her she is free to go — that he cannot accept a woman who has lived in another man's house, comparing her to oblations licked by a dog. Sita collapses as if struck dead.

After the gods depart and Sita is vindicated, Rama arranges Lanka's protection, crosses the bridge, and begins the journey home. He installs Angada as heir in Kishkindha, sends Hanuman ahead to Bharata, and arrives at Nandigrama to find his brother still living in bark garments with Rama's sandals before him.