Virādha

Virādha was a fearsome rākshasa who lived in the Daṇḍakāraṇya forest. He was the first foe that Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa met when they entered the deep forest.

In his rākshasa form he was huge and ugly, and no weapon could harm him. His true form was that of the gandharva Tumburu, a celestial musician. Kubera had laid a śāpa (a curse) on him. Virādha was set free when Rāma and Lakshmaṇa buried him.

Appearance and nature

Virādha was an enormous rākshasa with a terrifying form. His body was vast and dark. His eyes burned, his mouth was like a cave, and his voice was like the roar of thunder. He carried a great trident, and he had impaled creatures of the forest on it.

A vara (a boon) had made his body safe from all weapons. No arrow, sword or spear could pierce him or kill him. In an ordinary fight he could not be destroyed. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa describes this in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapter 2.

The attack on Rāma and Sītā

Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa were making their way through Daṇḍakāraṇya when Virādha appeared before them. At once he seized Sītā and lifted her in his arms. He mocked Rāma and Lakshmaṇa. He called them weak men who had no business in his forest.

Both brothers shot a volley of arrows at him. The arrows struck Virādha, but they did not kill him. They only wounded him and made him angrier. Rāma and Lakshmaṇa cut off his arms, but new arms appeared and he kept fighting. This is told in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapters 2–3.

Freed by burial

Rāma saw that weapons could not kill Virādha, so he found another way. Together with Lakshmaṇa he dug a great pit in the earth. They threw Virādha into it alive and buried him. This burial ended Virādha’s life in his cursed form. The account is in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapter 4.

His true identity

As Virādha sank into the earth, he changed. He told Rāma that he was really the gandharva Tumburu, one of the celestial musicians of the court of the devas.

Kubera had laid a śāpa on him. Tumburu had neglected his service in the gandharva assembly because he was taken up with the apsarā (celestial dancer) Rambhā. Kubera had ordered that Tumburu must live in a rākshasa body until Rāma freed him. Rāma’s burial of him with his own hands met the condition of the śāpa.

Now free, Virādha-Tumburu rose in his bright original form and went up towards the worlds of the devas. Before he left, he sent Rāma on to the āśrama of the great ṛshi Śarabhāṅga. This is told in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapter 4.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapters 2–4