Indrajit and the Nikumbhilā Yajña

Meghanāda was the son of Rāvaṇa and Mandodarī. His cry at birth was so loud that it silenced the directions. He grew into the strongest warrior of Laṅkā, did tapas (austerity) for Brahmā, and received a divine chariot, a bow and the gift of invisibility in battle. In a great battle he captured Indra himself and won the name Indrajit. Brahmā freed Indra, and in return Meghanāda received a vara (a boon) of strength in battle, tied to the Nikumbhilā yajña (fire ritual). In the war at Laṅkā, Lakshmaṇa broke that yajña before it was finished, and Indrajit was killed.

Birth and the thunderous cry

When Mandodarī gave birth to Rāvaṇa’s son, the baby gave a cry like no other. At the moment of birth the sound rolled through the sky like thunder. It was so huge that it silenced all the directions (diśaḥ). The devas, the gandharvas and all beings were struck silent for a moment by the baby’s cry.

Because his cry was like the roar of a megha (a thunder-cloud), the child was named Meghanāda, “he whose voice is like thunder”.

He was the eldest son of Rāvaṇa by Mandodarī. From his first moment, the whole creation knew that someone extraordinary had arrived. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 37)

Tapas and the gifts of Brahmā

As Meghanāda grew, his natural power showed. The best teachers trained him in war. His strength, his speed and his skill in māyā (war by illusion) had no equal, even among the rākshasas. He was not content with his natural gifts, and he did hard tapas for Brahmā.

Brahmā appeared and gave him a set of extraordinary varas:

• A divine chariot, pulled by horses of a higher world, that could travel through the sky at the speed of thought
• A special bow with divine arrows
• The gift of antardhāna (invisibility in battle), the power to fight while fully hidden from the enemy

These gifts made Meghanāda the most dangerous warrior in all Laṅkā. With his natural brilliance and his mastery of māyā-yuddha (war by illusion), he was beyond ordinary measure. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 38–39)

The capture of Indra and the name Indrajit

Meghanāda’s greatest deed came when he took the battle to Svarga itself and fought Indra, the king of the devas, who holds the vajra. In a huge battle Meghanāda used his divine weapons and his power of invisibility to the full. He outwitted Indra at every turn. At last, with the Brahmāstra (or a divine weapon given by Brahmā), he captured Indra. He bound the king of the devas in his own chariot and brought him to Laṅkā as a prisoner.

The news that a rākshasa warrior had taken Indra shook the three worlds. Nothing like it had happened before. The devas came to Laṅkā to plead.

Brahmā himself came down to settle the matter. He could not allow Indra to stay a prisoner, because the order of creation needed the king of the devas to be free. Brahmā asked Rāvaṇa and Meghanāda to set Indra free. In return, Brahmā gave Meghanāda the greatest vara he wanted: strength in battle that could not die. This held in any battle for which he first performed the Nikumbhilā yajña.

For the capture of Indra, Meghanāda received the name Indrajit, “he who conquered Indra”. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 40–41)

The Nikumbhilā yajña

The condition for Indrajit’s strength was exact. Before going into battle he had to complete the Nikumbhilā yajña, a special fire ritual done in the Nikumbhilā grove, which is sacred to the deva he had chosen. If the yajña was finished before the battle, Indrajit was almost impossible to harm in that fight.

The vara carried a limit within it. If the yajña was broken off before it was complete, the divine armour would not come into being. Vibhīshaṇa knew this weak point, and it became the key to Indrajit’s death. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 41)

The war at Laṅkā

In the war, Indrajit was Rāvaṇa’s greatest weapon. He used the Brahmāstra to bind Rāma and Lakshmaṇa with serpent-arrows (nāgāstra). Because he fought while invisible, it was almost impossible to meet him head on. From his hidden place he brought down the vānara army with his divine arrows.

On his last day of battle, Indrajit went to the Nikumbhilā grove to do the yajña before his final fight. Vibhīshaṇa knew that the yajña was needed and where its weak point lay, and he led Lakshmaṇa to the grove before the rite was finished. Lakshmaṇa’s arrival broke off the unfinished yajña. Without the divine protection that the finished yajña would have given, Indrajit fought as a great warrior, but no longer as one who could not be beaten. Lakshmaṇa killed him in that battle. (Yuddha Kāṇḍa)

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 37–42 (birth, Chapter 37; tapas and gifts, Chapters 38–39; capture of Indra, Chapters 40–41; the Nikumbhilā yajña, Chapter 41)
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa (the war at Laṅkā and the death of Indrajit)