Lakshmana Slays Kumbhakarna with Brahmastra
Kumbhakarna has Sugriva in his grip. The monkey army's cries fill the air. Then Lakshmana moves — one arrow, perfectly aimed, that pierces armor and body and shatters the rakshasa's heart. But Kumbhakarna does not die quietly. He grows new arms, seizes a rock, and becomes something monstrous before the end.
Lakshmana saw Sugriva grasped in Kumbhakarna's hand and rushed forward without a word.
He was the destroyer of enemy warriors, the delight of his friends, and he moved with the precision of someone who had already decided what would happen next. He drew an arrow — extremely swift, extremely large, with golden tufts — and let it fly.
The arrow struck Kumbhakarna. It pierced through his body armor. It pierced through his body. Covered in blood, it continued through and penetrated the earth beneath him.
Kumbhakarna's heart was shattered.
The great archer among rakshasas released Sugriva. But he did not fall. He seized a large rock as a weapon and rushed at Lakshmana, his body already beginning to change.
Lakshmana drew again. With arrows sharp as razors, he sliced off two of Kumbhakarna's upraised arms. The rakshasa grew two more. Lakshmana sliced those off too. The body did not stop — it swelled, assuming a gigantic size, sprouting many legs, many heads, many arms, until Kumbhakarna looked like a mass of living rock, a mountain that had decided to fight.
Lakshmana set the brahmastra to his bow — the celestial weapon, the ultimate recourse — and loosed it.
The divine fire consumed the giant form. Struck by that weapon, the immensely valorous Kumbhakarna fell in battle like a tree that has been burnt and uprooted by a stroke of lightning. He crashed to the ground and did not move again.
The rakshasas who had watched their champion fall fled in terror. And in the silence that followed, Dushana's younger brothers gathered what courage remained and turned to face Lakshmana. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 568