Virādha Vadha

Virādha was a fearful rākshasa who attacked Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa as soon as they entered Daṇḍakāraṇya. This is the first main episode of the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa. Virādha seized Sītā. He had a vara (a boon) that no weapon could kill him, so the brothers buried him alive. As he went down, he showed who he truly was: the gandharva Tumburu, who had been under a śāpa (a curse) from Kubera. Freed, he told them to go to the āśrama of Śarabhaṅga.

The setting

Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa left the āśrama (hermitage) of the ṛshi Atri, at the edge where the settled lands meet the great southern forest. They entered Daṇḍakāraṇya, the huge and fearful forest of the south. Great ascetics live there, and so do dangerous rākshasas. The change from the calm of Atri’s āśrama to the dark heart of Daṇḍakāraṇya was sudden and sharp. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapter 1.)

The attack

The rākshasa Virādha burst upon them soon after they went in. He looked terrible: huge and dark, wearing garlands of dead animals, and carrying a great trident with creatures stuck on it. He saw Sītā and seized her, lifting her in his arms. He jeered at Rāma and Lakshmaṇa as weak men who had no business in the forest of the rākshasas. He called himself unbeatable, because Brahmā’s vara kept all weapons from harming him. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapter 2.)

The fight

Rāma and Lakshmaṇa shot a volley of strong arrows. The arrows struck Virādha and went into him, but they did not bring death, and so his claim held true. The brothers then attacked harder and cut off his arms. The arms grew back, and he went on fighting as strong as before. Arrows, swords and every usual way of killing had no effect on his body, which the vara protected. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapter 3.)

The burial

Rāma saw that weapons could not kill Virādha, and he thought of another way. The two brothers dug a great pit in the earth together. They threw Virādha into the pit and buried him alive, covering him fully with earth. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapter 4.)

Who Virādha really was

As Virādha sank beneath the earth, his true nature showed. He was not a rākshasa by birth. He was the gandharva Tumburu, one of the musicians of the court of the devas. Kubera, lord of the yakshas and of the treasures of the devas, had put a śāpa on him. Tumburu had neglected his duties as a gandharva musician because he was in love with the apsarā Rambhā. The śāpa had put him into the dark body of a rākshasa. Rāma’s act ended the śāpa and set him free.

Tumburu rose up in his own shining gandharva form. He thanked Rāma and told him who he was. He told the party to go next to the āśrama of Śarabhaṅga Muni, a great muni who was waiting for them. Then he went up toward the worlds of the devas. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapter 4.)

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapters 1–4