Lavaṇāsura Vadha in the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa

In the Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, a group of ṛshis asks Bhagavān Rāma to slay Lavaṇāsura. This asura has been tormenting the three worlds with the power of a trident given to him by Śiva as a vara (boon). Vibhīshaṇa tells Rāma Lavaṇa’s family: he is the son of Madhu and Kumbhīnasā, and so a distant grandnephew of Rāvaṇa. Rāma gives the task to his youngest brother Śatrughna. He gives him a divine weapon and its secret. Śatrughna marches south with the aśvamedha horse. In a fierce battle Śatrughna and his sons slay Lavaṇa, Kaiṭabha and their forces. Śatrughna then makes his sons rulers of the freed lands.

The ṛshis’ petition

The aśvamedha horse was being made ready for its dik-vijaya (round of conquest). A group of ṛshis led by Bhārgava, of the line of Bhṛgu, came to Rāma’s court. They told of the harm done by Lavaṇāsura. He was an asura who carried a trident of Śiva given as a vara. He had caused unending suffering to the suras, the bhūsuras (brāhmaṇas, the devas of the earth) and all beings. They asked Rāma, the destroyer of rākshasas, to free the three worlds from this trouble.

Vibhīshaṇa tells of Lavaṇa’s birth

Rāma was moved by the ṛshis’ plea. He called Vibhīshaṇa and asked him to tell where Lavaṇa came from. Vibhīshaṇa gave the family line.

Rāvaṇa’s step-mother had a daughter named Kumbhīnasā. Rāvaṇa had arranged her marriage to an asura named Madhu, a rākshasa king. Kumbhīnasā and Madhu had a son, Lavaṇāsura. So Lavaṇa was the son of Rāvaṇa’s half-sister, and a grandnephew of Rāvaṇa by a side branch of his family.

Vibhīshaṇa then told where Lavaṇa’s power came from. Śiva had given him a divine trident, the triśūla, as a vara. While Lavaṇa held this weapon he could not be beaten. Vibhīshaṇa warned Rāma plainly that defeating Lavaṇa while he held the Śiva-śūla would be very hard.

Rāma’s charge to Śatrughna

Rāma turned to his youngest brother and gave him the task. He called him “Śatruhantaka”, destroyer of enemies. He gave Śatrughna a divyāstra (divine weapon) with the secret mantras for using it, calling it up and drawing it back. He blessed him with victory and sent him out.

Śatrughna gathered his forces: his own sons and a large army of chariots, elephants, horsemen and foot soldiers. With the aśvamedha horse, and three thousand war-drums sounding a good omen, the force set out to the south.

The campaign and the battle at Mathurā

After twelve nights of marching, Śatrughna’s force reached the Yamunā. There he honoured Yamunā-devī and offered pūjā to Mahādeva. Then he moved on Lavaṇa’s city of Mathurā and laid siege to it with a great ring of troops.

The thunder of the battle-drums reached Lavaṇāsura inside the city. He burst into rage and roared back. He marched out with sixty thousand picked warriors, dark as mountains and hardened in countless battles, to meet the attackers. The two armies clashed in fierce fighting.

Lavaṇa’s sons Mātaṅga and Akhaṇḍaketu were strong fighters. They attacked Śatrughna’s sons Subāhu and Yūpaketu in a fierce duel. In this fight Subāhu and Yūpaketu proved the stronger. They slew Mātaṅga and Akhaṇḍaketu, cut their bodies to pieces and roared in triumph.

The slaying of Lavaṇa and Kaiṭabha

Lavaṇa was enraged at the death of his sons and entered the battle himself with terrible force. He crashed into the Ayodhyā forces with his many weapons. At one point he struck Śatrughna in the chest with his Śiva-triśūla and knocked him from his chariot to the ground. Subāhu stepped in, broke Lavaṇa’s chariot and horses, and made him fall back for a while to carry his unconscious brother Kaiṭabha to safety.

Kaiṭabha woke and advised Lavaṇa to ask for peace, but Lavaṇa would not listen. The next day Lavaṇa came back in new fury with his brother, his sons and all his asura forces. Another terrible battle followed, fought on the ground and in the sky, with ordinary weapons and with māyā (magic).

At last Śatrughna recovered. He took up the divine weapon given by Rāma and remembered the mantras to call it up. With full focus, and with his mind fixed on Bhagavān Rāma, he loosed it at Lavaṇāsura. Two blazing arrows struck Lavaṇa and cut him apart. The asura fell to the earth, slain.

When Lavaṇa fell, his brother Kaiṭabha tore up a great tree and flung himself at Śatrughna. Subāhu stepped in again. He fired a hundred arrows in a single instant and cut through the tree and Kaiṭabha’s arms. He then cut down Kaiṭabha’s huge body, and Kaiṭabha too fell dead.

The devas celebrated the slaying of Lavaṇa and Kaiṭabha. They came down to honour Śatrughna and his sons with a shower of flowers and many words of praise. Indra and Bṛhaspati themselves came down to congratulate them.

The new rule

After the victory, Śatrughna divided Lavaṇa’s former kingdom:

• Mathurā was given to his son Subāhu as its new king.
• Viśvagiri (also called Vidīśā) was given to his son Yūpaketu.

Śatrughna stayed several days. He taught his sons how to rule by dharma, blessed them and made sure the new rule was firm. He then set out again with the aśvamedha horse and went on with the dik-vijaya to the south.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa, Chapter 8 (Lavaṇāsuruni Vadhiñchuṭa)