Ravana saw the loss of his best chiefs and became mad with anger. He told his charioteer “I will kill Rama and Lakshmana and avenge the loss of my army’s chiefs”. He described Rama as the tree with all the Vanara chiefs as its various branches, with Sita as its flowers and fruits and he said that he was going to cut that tree off. He rode his chariot making a very loud noise. The whole earth along with its mountains, rivers, and all the flora and fauna trembled by that noise. Ravana sent a powerful Astra called ‘Tamasa’ given by Lord Brahma to him and burnt the Vanaras who started running for their lives. Then he saw Rama who was standing with his brother Lakshmana and holding his famous bow called ‘Kodandam’. Rama got ready to use his bow and Lakshmana too started his fight. Ravana intercepted Lakshmana’s arrows on its path. Ravana could go past Lakshmana and approach Rama and shower his arrows on him. Rama too replied with his sharp and accurate arrows. They both moved about in the field fighting. The sky was filled with their arrows and it was like a sky covered with clouds during the rainy season.
Ravana sent a series of arrows aimed at their forehead of Rama but Rama was not hurt by them as he took them on his head. Rama chanted some mantras and sent his Astra on Ravana but he too was not hurt. They both were well versed in many astras and were great archers too. Rama sent ‘Divyastra’ which was made useless by Ravana and he sent ‘Asurastra’ on Rama which was also turned not effective against Rama. Rama and Ravana exchanged several astras but none had an effect on either of them. They used arrows with the faces of lions, tigers, eagles, and so on. It is strange to read that they had several arrows with the faces of various animals and birds.
In the next chapter, We'll see Lakshmana hit by Shakti's weapon.
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