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As advised by ocean deity,
Nal and Nil spearheaded the construction of bridge. Monkey army collected
stones, trees and helped enthusiastically. The bridge was ready in no
time. Before beginning their epic march towards Lanka, Ram established a
Shivalinga (a sacred stone of Lord Shiva) at Rameshwaram and offered his
worship.
Ram and Laxman along with
the army of monkeys reached Lanka. Ravana was astonished to hear the news
of their arrival as he never thought in his wild dreams that monkeys would
cross the ocean and come to Lanka. Mandodari once again requested Ravana
to surrender Sita to Ram but Ravana remained nonchalant.
Before attacking the enemy,
Ram tried to convince Ravana to surrender Sita. Angada, son of Baali, was
chosen as an envoy. Angada introduced himself to Ravana and informed about
the greatness of Ram. He tried every means to convince Ravana for
submission and peaceful way out of crisis but Ravana was adamant on facing
war rather than conceding. Angad then threw a challenge to everyone
assembled in Ravana's parliament if they could budge his feet, but no one
succeeded. Failure made Ravana angry and he started defaming Ram. Angad
could not withstand it and hit the ground with his hands causing tremors
in earth. Even Ravana's crown fell down to earth. The meeting thus ended
fruitlessly.
Plan was discussed to attack
Lanka from all the four fronts. The war began and with each passing day
countless warriors laid down their lives. Meghanad, displayed magical
powers and hit Laxman with an arrow and made him unconscious. Physician,
named Sushen asked for Sanjivani, a herb available in Himalayas before
next sunrise. Hanuman once again displayed his might and intelligence.
When he reached Mount Kailash, he could not identify the herb so decided
to carry the whole mountain! With sanjivani, Laxman was cured.
Ravana lost most of his top
line warriors, so he decided to take help of his brother Kumbhkarna - a
sleeping monolith. At first, Kumbhakarna declined to fight for unjust
cause but Ravana made him agree. With his enormous might, Kumbhakarna
proved very destructive. At last, Ram cut his head in such a way that it
flung far off and fell in front of Ravana.
Meghanad tried his best in
the battlefield but could not succeed in defeating or demoralizing the
enemy camp. So he opted to perform yagna for gaining extraordinary powers
and become invincible. He was however stopped and killed mid-way by Laxman.
Distressed by the loss of
his son Meghanad, Ravana was left alone to fight and win the war with Sri
Ram. The final battle began between Ram and Ravana. Vibhishan told Ram
that the secret of his immortality lie in the source of nectar inside his
body. Ram at once attacked Ravana and destroyed his ten heads, twenty
hands and the source of nectar. Ravana finally breathed his last.
Vibhishan was crowned as
King of Lanka. Ram met Sita after she passed though a fire pyre to prove
her chastity. It was time for Ram, Laxman and Sita to return to Ayodhya as
the time of exile was about to finish. In beautiful Pushpak Vimana
(plane), triumphant Ram, Laxaman Sita and monkey warriors headed towards
Ayodhya, where Bharat was waiting impatiently for their return.
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