Kumbhakarna Battles the Monkey Army
Kumbhakarna marches out from the city and finds the victorious monkey army waiting for him. They swarm him from all sides, striking with trees, nails, and teeth — and he only laughs. He begins to devour them. Tara and the others cry out in terror, and Sugriva hears them.
Kumbhakarna marched out from the city gates with his followers behind him. Before him stood the monkey army — flush with victory, still riding the momentum of Kumbhakarna's apparent fall. They saw the giant rakshasa emerge and did not retreat.
They attacked.
From every side they came — swinging gigantic trees, clawing with nails, biting with teeth. Panasa struck him. Gavaksha struck him. Vajrabahu struck him. Different monkeys used different weapons and different methods, all converging on the terrible Indra among rakshasas.
Kumbhakarna laughed.
He began to devour them. He scooped up monkeys and swallowed them, crushing others under his feet, tearing through the swarm as if they were no more than insects. Tara and the other monkey chiefs watched the harrowing sight and let out a loud lament — their voices rising in fear as their warriors were consumed.
Sugriva heard them.
The king of the monkeys did not hesitate. He rushed at Kumbhakarna without fear — the high-minded elephant among monkeys — and when he reached the rakshasa, he struck him on the head with a shala tree, putting all his force behind the blow.
The tree broke.
It shattered against Kumbhakarna's skull without hurting him. The rakshasa barely seemed to notice — as if the impact had only awakened him from a light sleep. He laughed again, roared, and seized Sugriva with enormous force.
The monkey king was in the rakshasa's grip. And Lakshmana saw it. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 568