Lavaṇāsura Vadha (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa)

Lavaṇāsura was a rākshasa, son of Madhu and Kumbhīnasī. His father Madhu had received a divine śūla (spear) from Bhagavān Śiva. The boon of this spear made its holder unbeatable in battle while he carried it, and open to death if he went out without it. Lavaṇāsura terrified the ṛshis of his region and ate brāhmaṇas and ṛshis.

Bhagavān Rāma sent his brother Śatrughna to kill Lavaṇāsura and to found the sacred city of Madhurā, now called Mathurā. Śatrughna waited outside the city for a year. He then challenged Lavaṇāsura on a day when Lavaṇāsura had left his śūla at home and gone hunting. Śatrughna killed him, built Madhurā into a great city, ruled it for twelve years, and went back to Ayodhyā, leaving his son Subāhu as king.

Who Lavaṇāsura was

Lavaṇāsura was the son of Madhu, a powerful rākshasa who had once pleased Bhagavān Śiva by his tapas (austerity). Bhagavān Śiva gave Madhu a divine śūla with a great boon: as long as Madhu carried the śūla into battle, no being in the three worlds could defeat him. This made Madhu almost unbeatable.

The śūla then passed to his son Lavaṇāsura. The boon belonged to the weapon itself. Whoever held it and carried it into battle could not be harmed. Lavaṇāsura therefore had both his father’s strength and this weapon that could not be matched.

Lavaṇāsura’s mother was Kumbhīnasī, of Rāvaṇa’s family. This made Lavaṇāsura Rāvaṇa’s nephew. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 81)

The cruelty of Lavaṇāsura

Lavaṇāsura made his home at Madhurā, on the bank of the Yamunā, and turned the region into a place of terror. He hunted ṛshis and ate brāhmaṇas, and he made the forest around unfit for anyone who lived righteously. At last the ṛshis of the region came to Rāma’s court at Ayodhyā and asked him for help. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 82)

Rāma sends Śatrughna

Rāma could not go himself. The Aśvamedha yajña was being planned, and his duties as king needed him in Ayodhyā. He chose his youngest brother Śatrughna for the task. Śatrughna was a great warrior and a devoted servant of Rāma.

Rāma told Śatrughna the key fact: the śūla made Lavaṇāsura unbeatable only when he carried it. If Lavaṇāsura could be met when he had gone out to hunt or to gather food without the weapon, he could be killed. So Śatrughna was to wait until Lavaṇāsura had left his śūla at home, and then challenge him.

Rāma blessed Śatrughna and sent him south with an army. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 83)

The night at Vālmīki’s āśrama

On his way south, Śatrughna stopped for the night at Vālmīki’s āśrama, where Sītā was living after her banishment. In the night Śatrughna heard a wonderful song. Two boys were singing the Rāmāyaṇa with great skill and beauty. He learned that they were Kuśa and Lava, Rāma’s sons, singing the story of their father’s life as Vālmīki had composed it. Śatrughna wept. He saw how much the boys looked like Rāma.

He did not go to Sītā, because he knew how painful her situation was. In the morning he left for Madhurā. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 84)

The year of waiting

Śatrughna reached the region of Madhurā and at once saw the terrible śūla, which stood outside the city gate as a sign of Lavaṇāsura’s power. It reminded him of Rāma’s instruction not to challenge Lavaṇāsura while he held the weapon.

Śatrughna camped outside Madhurā and waited for a whole year. He ordered his camp, kept his army ready, and watched and waited. Each day he saw how Lavaṇāsura came and went. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 84)

The challenge

On the chosen day Lavaṇāsura left the city in the morning to hunt, without his śūla, which stayed at the city gate. Śatrughna was watching. In the afternoon Lavaṇāsura came back from the hunt without his divine weapon, and Śatrughna stepped forward and challenged him.

“I am Śatrughna, son of Daśaratha, brother of Rāma. The ṛshis of this region have been tormented; brāhmaṇas have been eaten. This ends today.”

Lavaṇāsura was surprised but not afraid. Even without the śūla he was a rākshasa of huge natural strength. He fought Śatrughna. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 85)

The battle and the death of Lavaṇāsura

The battle was fierce. Lavaṇāsura fought with his own rākshasa power: great strength, fury and rākshasa ways of fighting. Without the śūla to guard him, he was a strong enemy but not beyond death.

Śatrughna used the training Rāma had given him and the divine weapons he had been given. After a long fight, Śatrughna killed Lavaṇāsura. The rākshasa who had terrified the region of Madhurā for so long fell.

The ṛshis of the region rejoiced, and flowers fell from the sky. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 86 and 87)

The founding of Madhurā

With Lavaṇāsura dead, Śatrughna built the city of Madhurā (Mathurā). It was a city that would become sacred as the birthplace of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, an avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu, in the Dvāpara yuga. Śatrughna made it a great capital with walls, gates, palaces and all that a city needs.

He ruled Madhurā as king for twelve years and governed the region with justice. In that time he heard Kuśa and Lava recite the Rāmāyaṇa when Vālmīki and his students visited.

After twelve years he made his son Subāhu king of Madhurā and returned to Ayodhyā. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 88 to 90)

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 81 to 90