The Cruel Illusion

 The Cruel Illusion

Indrajit realised that Rama planned to kill him. So, he hatched a cruel plan meant to break the enemy's morale and make him even more powerful than ever before.

Indrajit became aware of Rama's resolve to kill him and withdrew from the battlefield. He returned to Lanka and ruminated over the deaths of his kin at the hands of Rama, Lakshmana, and the Vanara army. His eyes turned red with anger and he re-entered the battle through the western gate, determined to decimate the brothers.

Indrajit's trickery

He saw Rama and Lakshmana, bows in hand, ready for battle, and decided to use his maya. the powers of illusion, to confuse the enemy. He placed an illusory image of Sita on his chariot and rode out to meet the Vanaras.

Hanuman charged towards him with a large rock, when he saw the woman. He realised it was Sita in faded garments, her hair loosely braided, wearing no ornaments. His eyes filled with tears and he thought, "What has he decided?"

Indrajit saw Hanuman and grabbed the woman by her head and hit her. She cried out for Rama and Hanuman, distraught, yelled out, "You have touched her hair and ensured your death. Despite being born in a lineage of Brahmarshis, you act like a Rakshasa. Have you no shame? What has she done to you that you wish to kill her? If you kill her, you will not live, and when you die, you will go to the realms of those wretches who kill a women."

The illusion of Sita continued to weep and Indrajit said, "As you watch, I will kill the one for whom you, Sugriva, and Rama have come here. Then, I will kill you, Sugriva, Rama, Lakshmana, and that ignoble Vibhishana. As to whether women can be killed - one should do whatever it is that will hurt one's enemies."

So saying, he raised his sword and sliced the illusion's torso. She fell on the ground, dead, and Indrajit told Hanuman cheerfully, "Behold! She was Rama's and I have killed her."

The outraged Vanaras

He stood in his chariot and roared. The distraught Vanaras ran helter-skelter, until Hanuman called them back.

They uprooted trees and mountains and attacked the Rakshasas who retaliated. After Hanuman warded them off, he told the Vanaras that it was time to turn back. "The one for whom we light is gone. We should inform Rama and Sugriva, and ask them what to do next."

When Indrajit saw Hanuman and the Vanara army retreat, he left for Nikumbhila as well, to offer oblations.

Rama's despair

Meanwhile, Rama heard fierce cries from the western gate and realized that Hanuman was in the midst of

a great battle. He requested Jambavan to help Hanuman and the other Vanaras. The king of bears agreed and left with his terrible army, which resembled a dark cloud. They turned back when they saw Hanuman and the other Vanaras returning.

Hanuman went to Rama and gave him the news. "As we watched, Rama, Indrajit killed Sita in the battlefield. We stand before you utterly lost."

Rama, faint with grief, fell to the earth like a tree cut at the root. The Vanaras surrounded him and sprinkled fragrant water on him, as he burned like a raging fire.

Lakshmana, drowning in sorrow, pulled an unsteady Rama into an embrace and said, "Dharma has to be meaningless, if it is unable to ward misfortunes off someone like you, who are firm on its path and have won over your senses, revered brother. If either dharma or f adharma did exist, Ravana would have gone to hell and adversity would not have afflicted you again and again. 

"Or, perhaps, dharma is weak and attaches to strength, in which case it is strength which should be sought. It seems that all things proceed from artha (economic and political strength), and your troubles began when you abandoned the kingdom. A person deprived of artha is in his or her energy. Faults arise when somebody desirous of pleasure abandons artha.

"Arise, Rama, and watch me counter with my actions the grief that Indrajit's actions have brought."

As Lakshmana comforted Rama, Vibhishana arrived and was shocked to see Rama immersed in grief.

The truth revealed

Lakshmana told him what Hanuman witnessed, but Vibhishana stopped him almost mid-sentence. He said, "What Hanuman has seen is impossible. I know Ravana and he will not kill Sita. Everyone begged him to let her go so that we may avoid this calamitous war, but he refused. Rest assured. Sita is alive. Indrajit has deluded the Vanaras. He used this as a distraction so that be may

complete his oblations that will render him invincible, it completed. Stand steady, Rama, and send Lakshmana to fight him. If Indrajit completes the sacrifice he will be invisible to the gods and Asuras. There will be great danger to even the gods." 

Rama composed himself and asked Vibhushana to repeat his words. He considered what he knew of Indrajit and his battle strategy and realized that Vibhishana was right. He asked Lakshmana to take an army with him and fight Indrajit

Lakshmana grabbed his bow, wore his armour, and clasped his word cheerfully. He touched Rama's feet and saud, "Today, the arrows from my bow will pierce Indrajit's body and destroy him."

Two mighty warriors

Lakshmana, surrounded by the army of Vanaras and bears, flanked by Hanuman and Vibhishana, reached Nikumbhila. He saw Indrajit's army before him, thick and dense, like darkness.

Vibhishana told Lakshmana that Indrajit would become visible if they shattered his army, so the Vanaras and bears fought vallanıly with trees and boulders The Rakshasas fought back with swords, arrows, and spears, but the Vanara army was stronger and larger.

Indrajit beard the sounds of battle and of the destruction of his army. He left the rituals nudway and climbed his chariest to join the battle. 

He saw Hanuman destroy the Rakshasa armies and showered him with battle-aves, words, and javelins. Ax he raised his bow and arrow to slay Hanuman, Vibhishana alerted Lakshmana who challenged Indrajit.

Ravana's son noticed Vibhishana by Lakshmana's side and grew angry. "Have you no shame, uncle? How can you cause me harm? You do not understand dharma. and you have no love for your family, Kin, even if devoid of virtues, should be valued over virtuous outsiders."

Vibhishana retorted, "You are an ignorant child. and yet you presume to instruct me in dharma I do not rejoice in adharma and abductions of other people's wives. Ravana has many vices, and soon, neither you, nor him, not this city will survive. Come fight Lakshmana-you will not live long after challenging him.”

The battle of the champions 

Indrajit grew senseless with rage and stood in his chariot, pulled by black horses, like Death himself.

"Behold my valour, I will release showers of my invincible arrows from my bow," he said with pride 

The battle between Indrajit and Lakshmana began. They were well matched. both strong, valiant, were unassailable, and knew all there was to know about weaponry. They resembled planets striking one another. 

Lakshmana sent a volley of sharp arrows towards Indrajit, which made him feel faint for a moment He retaliated and shot 100 arrows at Vibhishana.

Lakshmana smiled and said, "Heroes desirous of victory do not fight this way As the battle continued, Indrajit also fought Vibhishna before he turned back to attack Lakshmana again. However, neither grew tired as the two exchanged a flurry of arrows.

"Lakshmana calmly went forward to meet it, recalling that he himself was Vishnu, the presiding deity of the astra... Instead of coming at his body, that missile went around him worshipfully... and shot up to the air, where it lost its fire and smoke."

It is said that Ravana worshipped the Divine Mother, and she granted him protection in battle. When Rama saw Ravana on her lap, he realised that the war was lost. However, that night, he was encouraged to invoke the mother, and he began to worship her with 108 blue lotuses, which he had asked Hanuman to bring. Offering a single lotus at each completion, he went through all the lotuses but one. At that moment, the goddess made that last lotus disappear. Determined to complete the practice, Rama raised an arrow to pluck his eye to offer to her, but the goddess intervened, granting him her blessing. This is narrated by the medieval Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha, and a version of this story is rendered into modern Hindi in 20th-century poet and novelist Suryakant "Nirala" Tripathi's "Ram ki Shakti Puja" (Rama's Worship of the Divine Feminine).