Indrajit, Meghanada and Mandodari Take Diksha

Rama tells Bhamandala, Sugriva and Hanuman that the enmity of great men lasts only until the death of the foe; Ravana was a great man and his noble body deserves the last rites. With Vibhishana, Rama and Lakshmana go to the eighteen thousand weeping queens, who break their bangles and ornaments at the sight of them, and Rama comforts them with many gentle words.

On the shore of the Padma lake the Prati-narayana Ravana is cremated with camphor, ghee, Malaya sandalwood and other fragrant substances. Rama then orders Kumbhakarna, Indrajit, Meghanada and all the captive lords released with their armies. When some warn that such angry foes should die in their chains, Rama answers that a kshatriya never strikes the sleeping, the bound, the frightened, one who seeks refuge, one who flees, one who is eating, a child, an old man or a woman.

Kumbhakarna, Indrajit, Meghanada, Maricha and King Maya are brought in heavy chains, and the Vanara warriors fear their wrath at the sight of Ravana's pyre. Bhamandala keeps them bound, not yet trusting even Vibhishana. But the captives come with calm faces and eyes on the ground, vowing that if they are freed today they will take the Digambara form and eat only from their own palms.

The captives praise the patience, depth and judgement of Rama and Lakshmana, before whom even Ravana, unconquerable by gods, has fallen. Rama tells Kumbhakarna to go on enjoying his wealth and splendour exactly as before, but Indrajit and the others reply that pleasures are like poison, the cause of great delusion, leading to hell and nigoda (the lowest life). Rama unties their bonds and bathes with them in the Padma lake, and the Vanara and Rakshasa kings return to their camps.

All Lanka mourns, young and old weeping as if the rainy season had come. People speak of Ravana's pride, Rama's virtue, Lakshmana's strength and the power of merit; some fall silent on the ground, some throw away weapons or ornaments, and some resolve to take diksha. The common lesson on every tongue is that the lord of three continents threw away his life for a little sensual pleasure, so one should be content with what one has.

Towards evening the sage Anantavirya arrives in Lanka's Kusumayudha garden with fifty-six thousand munis, shining like the moon among stars. Had he come while Ravana lived, Ravana would not have died and would have become Lakshmana's friend, for wherever a Kevali stays, the land for a hundred yojanas around is free of strife. That very night, seated on a stone slab in shukla dhyana (pure meditation), Anantavirya attains Kevala Jnana.

All four orders of gods, who had just celebrated the birth of a Tirthankara in Dhatakikhanda with a bath on Mount Sumeru, come to worship him. Rama and Lakshmana ride on an elephant with Vanaras, Rakshasas, Indrajit, Meghanada and Kumbhakarna to hear him. The divine sermon describes beings bound by the eight karmas wandering through four states of life, the seven hells from Ratnaprabha to Mahatamaprabha, and the path of vows, restraint and austerity that leads through heaven to moksha (liberation).

Asked about their past lives, the Kevali tells Indrajit and Meghanada that they were once two poor brothers of Kaushambi, Prathama and Pashchima, who became kshullakas (junior renunciants) under the sage Bhavadatta. Seeing the honour King Indra paid to the devout merchant Nandi, the younger made a nidana (a wish for a worldly reward) to be born as Nandi's son, and was born to Nandi's wife Indumukhi as Rativardhana, honoured by kings from birth.

The elder brother, reborn a god, came to awaken him in the guise of a kshullaka, but the proud Rativardhana barred him at the door. The god revealed himself, laid waste to his city and told him their story, and Rativardhana gained right faith and became a muni with Nandi and many kings. After lives as the princes Urva and Urvasa, sons of King Narendra and Queen Vijaya, and again as gods, the two were born as Indrajit and Meghanada, while Indumukhi, after many births, became their mother Mandodari, which is why her love for them is so great.

Hearing this, Indrajit and Meghanada take the Jina's diksha, and Kumbhakarna, Maricha, King Maya and many great kings also become munis, wandering the earth with many riddhis (spiritual powers) in the tirtha of Munisuvrata. Mandodari, bereft of husband, sons and father, faints and laments, until the aryika Shashikanta tells her that in endless births she has had countless fathers, sons and husbands. Mandodari puts on a single white sari and becomes an aryika, and Ravana's sister Chandranakha and forty-eight thousand women take the same vows that day.