Ravana Attacks with Ushanas Formation
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 could not contain his rage. His invisible ambushers had been slaughtered—every one of them killed by the monkeys before they could strike. He marched out with his entire army and arranged them in a battle formation known as ushanas—a configuration named after the sage Ushanas, designed for overwhelming force and rapid penetration.
The rakshasa army advanced, darkening the field.
Rama saw them coming. He did not retreat. He emerged with his own army and arranged them in a formation recommended by Brihaspati, the preceptor of the gods—a formation built for defense and counterattack, designed to meet force with discipline.
The two armies collided.
The battle that followed was not a skirmish. It was a war in miniature, fought between champions who had chosen their opponents as equals. Rama faced Ravana. Lakshmana faced Indrajit, Ravana's son. Sugriva, the monkey king, faced Virupaksha. Nikharvata faced Tara. Nala faced Tunda. Patusha faced Panasa. On that field, using the strength of their arms, every warrior fought another whom he considered a worthy match.
Ravana attacked Rama first—a shower of spears, lances, and swords, hurled with the full force of his ten arms. Rama answered with sharp iron arrows, each one finding its mark.
Lakshmana drove an arrow into Indrajit's heart. Indrajit, wounded but not broken, pierced Lakshmana back with many arrows of his own.
Vibhishana and Prahasta—brothers once, enemies now—exchanged showers of arrows with bird-plumed shafts, neither giving ground.
The weapons that clashed that day were not ordinary. They were powerful and great—divine in origin, terrible in effect. The encounter afflicted all three worlds—the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. Everything that was mobile and immobile felt the tremor of that battle.
It was like the ancient war between the gods and the asuras—the war that had split the cosmos once before. This battle kept extending, kept growing, feeding on the rage of its combatants. It increased the fear of those who were cowards and the resolve of those who were not.
The field of Kurukshetra was still years away. But on this field, under this sky, the same pattern was already visible: two armies, two champions, and a war that would not end until one of them was dead. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 566