Nāgāstra and Garuḍa (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa)
In the Laṅkā Kāṇḍa of Tulasīdāsa’s Rāmacaritamānas, Meghānāda (Indrajit) fights from his invisible chariot. He strikes down the commanders one by one, and then he binds Rāma and Lakshmaṇa with the Nāgāstra. The brothers fall to the ground wrapped in serpents while the vānara host stands helpless. Only the old Jāmbavān dares to face Meghānāda, and he drives him back into Laṅkā. The brothers stay bound until Garuḍa, sent by Nārada, arrives.
Indrajit fights from the invisible chariot
His trick of the māyā-Sītā had failed. Meghānāda came back to the battlefield full of rage. He mounted his Māyā-ratha, the divine chariot that he got from the Devī after twelve years of hard tapas, and rose into the sky. From this hidden place he began a fierce attack that no one could see. Arrows, śūlas (spears), parigas (iron bars), gadās (maces) and paṭṭisas (flat-bladed swords) rained from the unseen heights onto the vānara army. The commanders, Nala, Nīla, Aṅgada, Hanumān, Vibhīshaṇa and Sugrīva, were struck and fell. Rāma and Lakshmaṇa themselves entered the fight.
Then Meghānāda showed himself in the sky and loosed the Nāgāstra. The missiles of this astra were real serpents that wound around their targets in tight coils. Out of respect for the dharma of war, and to honour the battle itself, the all-powerful Bhagavān Rāma accepted this binding. He and Lakshmaṇa fell to the ground wrapped in serpent-coils (nāgapāśa-baddhulai).
Jāmbavān’s challenge
The vānara forces stood frozen in shock and grief. Their two masters lay bound on the ground. From among the commanders, one voice rose in defiance. It was the aged Jāmbavān, the king of the bears, who at the shore of the ocean had reminded Hanumān of his powers. Jāmbavān called out to Meghānāda with scorn: “Old as I am, you thought nothing of me. But now I have found you!” He leapt at the rākshasa with fierce strength.
Meghānāda hurled his great trident, his śūla, at the old vānara. Jāmbavān caught the śūla in mid-air and threw it back, straight into Meghānāda’s heart. The son of Rāvaṇa reeled, grew dizzy, fell from the sky, and, unconscious, was carried back into Laṅkā. Then Jāmbavān seized Meghānāda’s feet and flung him into Laṅkā once more.
Garuḍa arrives
But Rāma and Lakshmaṇa were still bound. No weapon in the vānara army could undo the serpent-bonds of the Nāgāstra. The armies stood in sorrow and helplessness around their fallen masters.
Then Garuḍa came down from the sky. Nārada Maharshi, who watches over the welfare of the worlds, had sent him. Garuḍa is the great king of the birds, the eternal vehicle of Vishṇu, and by his very nature the destroyer of serpents. As his wings moved the air above the battlefield, the serpents of the Nāgāstra were seized by a terror that no magic could overcome.
nāga-kāntakuṇi vāsana sokaganē sarpa mulū vāṭantatavē vīḍaja joċcenu
At the very scent of the enemy of the nāgas, the serpents began to loosen their hold of their own accord.
Garuḍa gathered the remaining serpents and took them away. Then he came to the side of Rāma, his master and his own ātmā (self), and bowed down to him in full devotion. He walked around Rāma, bowed again and again with tears in his eyes, and then went away without a word, because the moment called for silence and not speech.
Rāma and Lakshmaṇa rise
With the serpent-bonds gone, Rāma and Lakshmaṇa raised themselves from the ground like men waking from sleep.
nidranuṃḍi mēlkonna varila yathāpūrva tejo virājitulai paiki lēci kūrcuṃḍiṃri
They rose as from sleep, shining with their full tejas (radiance) as before, and sat up. The vānara army burst into joy, leaping and shouting the cry of victory. The fear of the Nāgāstra, which had seemed to threaten everything, had lasted only until Garuḍa came.
Why Rāma accepted the binding
The text says clearly that Rāma accepted the Nāgāstra out of respect for the dharma of war.
yuddhamunu gauravincuṭakāi sarvashakti sampannuḍagu Śrīnivāsamūrti nāgapāśamunaku badduḍai nela koṃrigennu
Out of respect for the war, Śrīnivāsamūrti (Bhagavān Rāma, the form in whom Śrī dwells), who has all power, let himself be bound by the serpent-noose and fell to the earth.
Garuḍa came without being asked and without any word from Rāma. He came through devotion, sent by Nārada.
Sources
- Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa (Rāmacaritamānas), Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, the section on Rāma and Lakshmaṇa bound by the Nāgapāśa (Rāma Lakshmaṇulu Nāgapāśa Baddhulaguṭa)