01Ravana on the Battlefield
Ravana fights with powerful weapons and strikes several of the allied champions. Hanuman meets him directly and later bears Rama in combat. These encounters establish the opposing king’s danger before the final confrontation: the threat cannot be understood only through the moment in which he is defeated.
02The Final Arrow
At the decisive stage Matali reminds Rama to use the weapon presided over by Brahma. Rama takes up the blazing arrow and releases it with focused intent. It pierces Ravana’s vital region and brings him down from his chariot. The advice of the charioteer is part of the victory, not incidental background to it.
03The End of Hostility
Vibhishana grieves for his brother and recalls the qualities of the ruler who has fallen. Mandodari’s lament also acknowledges Ravana’s greatness alongside the disastrous wrong of taking Sita. Their sorrow preserves the humanity of those left on the defeated side.
Rama directs that Ravana receive funeral rites, stating that enmity ends with death. The completion of those rites changes the scene from destruction to the obligations owed to the dead. A victory that can relinquish hatred is given a different moral character from one that continues humiliating its enemy.
