Makaraaksha's battle and death

Makaráksha's battle and death is a briefly reported episode in the war against Ráma: after Kumbha and Nikumbha fall, Rávaṇ sends Khara's son into battle, where Ráma kills him with a fiery dart. The account identifies the episode's place in the sequence but omits the battle itself, which occupies two cantos in the source text.

Place in the Battle

Makaráksha enters the conflict after Kumbha and Nikumbha have been killed. Rávaṇ then sends him out against Ráma, extending the sequence of successive champions dispatched from the city as the fighting turns against Rávaṇ's forces.

Makaráksha is identified as the son of Khara, whom Ráma had killed in the forest before Sítá's abduction. His appearance therefore brings an earlier defeat into the later war: the fallen forest adversary's son now faces Ráma in the battle for Sítá.

The Battle and Death

The account says that Makaráksha sallies forth, fights Ráma, and dies by the hero's fiery dart. It gives no further details of their encounter, so the decisive fact is its outcome: Rávaṇ's new champion is killed, and the narrative moves on to the next phase of the conflict.

Omission in This Account

The source text devotes two cantos to Makaráksha's sortie, battle, and death, but this account says it passes over them entirely. The episode is consequently preserved as a compact link in the chain of Rávaṇ's military losses rather than presented as a developed combat scene. Its placement and outcome remain clear, while the battle's particulars are left untold.