Lakshmana Struck by Ravana's Shakti Falls Senseless to the Earth

Rama's warriors take the field and Ravana marches out of Lanka with his army. When the Rakshasas press the Kapidhvaja (monkey-bannered) army, Nala and Nila drive them back; Ravana sends Maricha and other champions and then comes himself, and Vibhishana, steadying the Vanaras, steps forward to face his elder brother.

Ravana scorns him: ‘Boy, you are my younger brother and not fit to be killed; who is a greater fool than one born of Vidyadharas who takes refuge with land-dwellers?’ Vibhishana replies that nothing is lost yet: if Ravana wants to live he should befriend Rama, return Sita, give up pride and not stain the clan for a woman, for moha (delusion) is the mightiest of all forces and otherwise his death is near.

The brothers duel fiercely: Vibhishana cuts down Ravana's banner with a crescent-headed arrow, Ravana breaks Vibhishana's bow, and Vibhishana seizes another and breaks Ravana's. Indrajit, devoted to his father, rushes at Vibhishana, but Lakshmana holds him back as a mountain holds back the sea, while Rama surrounds Kumbhakarna.

Champions of equal strength pair off, among them Shambhu against Nala, Maya against Angada, Sumali against Sugriva and Ketu against Bhamandala, with Kumbhakarna's son Kumbha also in the fray. The warriors' code is recalled: they never strike the fleeing, the fallen, the poor, children, the old, ascetics, women, those seeking refuge, the mad, beasts or birds, and some gravely wounded souls give up the passions, take sannyasa (final renunciation) and die meditating on the imperishable state.

Indrajit's Tamasa (darkness) arrow is dispelled by Lakshmana's Surya (sun) arrow, and his venomous serpent arrows coiling round Lakshmana's chariot are driven off with a Garuda arrow; then Lakshmana's own serpent arrow brings Indrajit down senseless. Rama strips Kumbhakarna of his chariot, foils his Surya arrow and wraps him in serpent arrows, so that Kumbhakarna too falls to the ground.

Gautama explains to King Shrenika that these god-given weapons leave the bow like meteors and turn into serpents on touching the enemy, a staff one moment and a noose the next. At Rama's command Bhamandala places the bound Kumbhakarna in his own chariot, and Indrajit, seized by Lakshmana, is placed in Viradhita's chariot.

Ravana challenges Vibhishana to bear a single blow and hurls a trident at him, but Lakshmana burns it to ash midway with his arrows. Furious, Ravana takes up the dreadful shakti (spear-missile) given him by the Nagendra (serpent lord), called Amoghakshepa because it never misses, and as the weary Lakshmana puts Vibhishana behind him and rushes forward, Ravana strikes his broad chest and he falls like a mountain struck by a thunderbolt.

Suppressing his grief, Rama fights on from his lion chariot, makes Ravana chariotless six times and breaks his bow, yet cannot kill him; he says some days of Ravana's life remain, asks leave to perform his fallen brother's last rites and promises battle at dawn, and Ravana, unable to refuse a request, agrees. Ravana returns to Lanka glad that he has slain the stronger of his two foes, but is plunged into grief on hearing that Indrajit, Meghanada and his brother Kumbhakarna have been captured.