Narantaka's death

Narantaka's death is a turning point in the battle between the Vánar Army and the giant host: Sugríva identifies Narántak as a threat to his troops and sends Angad to confront him. Angad's first missile does not pierce the giant, but he brings down Narántak's horse and finishes the fight with a crushing blow of his fist.

Position in the Battle

The episode is presented as a renewed engagement. The princes leave the gate and lead their troops into battle, and the Vánar legions charge again. Amid that movement, Narántak's advance stands out for the destruction along his path: Sugríva sees warriors falling or fleeing as the giant's horse approaches, and sees Narántak moving over heaps of the dying and dead. The account thus introduces the duel not as an isolated contest but as a response to an immediate danger to the army.

Sugríva Sends Angad

Sugríva answers that danger by ordering the royal Angad to face Narántak, described as the bravest of the giant race. The command gives Angad a specific task within the wider clash: confront the fighter whose advance is breaking the Vánar ranks. The episode establishes the contrast between Narántak's momentum through the battlefield and the deliberate assignment of a champion to stop him.

The Fight and Narántak's Death

Angad's missile strikes Narántak's breast, but breaks without penetrating it. The failed blow does not end the encounter. Angad instead rushes at the giant and kills his horse with a strike; the narrative specifies that the blow crushes through flesh and bone. Narántak is momentarily faint, then returns stronger and more furious than before. Angad meets him at close quarters and strikes with a fist that nothing can withstand, crushing the giant to death.

The sequence makes the reversal concrete: the missile cannot overcome Narántak's body, and the horse's fall alone does not kill him; Angad's final, direct blow does. The episode closes with Narántak dead, and the poem proceeds to the next canto, devoted to the death of Trisirás. The transition keeps this victory within the continuing battle rather than presenting it as the end of the larger conflict.