Rama’s army besieges Lanka

Rama’s army besieges Lanka is the turning point at which Ráma’s campaign, carried across the sea with the Vánar monarch’s aid, becomes a direct threat to Ravana’s fortified city. The encirclement challenges Ravana’s confidence in his forces and prompts an ordered defense of the walls, entrances, and the Aśoka Grove, where Sítá is held. The siege is presented not only as a clash of armies but as pressure on the city’s defenses and on the captive whose presence gives the conflict its immediate human stake.

The Campaign Reaches Lanka

Ráma has won a passage across the sea, and his troops are arrayed around Lanká with the support of the Vánar monarch. These details establish how the confrontation has changed: the opposing force is no longer distant or approaching, but positioned at the city itself. The sea crossing marks the achievement that makes the siege possible; the surrounding host turns that achievement into a direct military danger for Ravana.

The account gives the encirclement weight through Ravana’s own assessment of the fighting. He insists that his Rakshasa forces have never been known to yield in battle, yet acknowledges that the bravest among them have already fallen to the Vánars. His confidence and his admission sit side by side. The former asserts a tradition of resistance; the latter shows that this resistance has not prevented serious losses. The siege therefore begins from an unsettled balance: Lanka’s defenders retain their reputation and resolve, but Ráma’s army has already demonstrated its capacity to inflict harm.

Ravana’s Defensive Orders

Ravana’s response is practical and specific. He sends his warriors to their stations and calls for the city wall to be defended. He also orders the Aśoka Grove to receive special protection because Sítá is there. The instruction places the captive within the military geography of the siege: safeguarding her is made part of the city’s defense, rather than treated as an issue separate from the coming battle.

The precautions extend beyond the wall. Ravana orders every lane and passage barred and assigns a selected guard to each gate. The detail conveys a defensive effort organized around access and vulnerability: entry routes are to be closed, and the gates watched by chosen troops. His command to deploy forces wherever danger calls further presents defense as a matter of readiness across the city, not merely a single stand at its perimeter. These orders establish the siege as a test of Lanka’s ability to secure both its boundaries and the places inside them that Ravana considers essential.

The City’s Defense Takes Shape

The preparations do not leave the conflict static. Kumbha and Nikumbha, described as among the bravest, emerge through the gates together, with Kumbha at his brother’s side. Their appearance gives the defensive posture a human and familial dimension: named champions move from the protected city toward the besieging force. The passage does not state the outcome of their sortie, but its placement after Ravana’s commands makes clear that the defense includes action beyond the walls as well as guarding them.

The movement from orders to the brothers’ advance also sharpens the contrast between controlled preparation and the uncertainty of battle. Ravana can assign guards, bar passages, and identify the garden as a place to protect; he cannot, through those commands alone, determine how the fighters sent through the gates will fare. The siege’s tension lies partly in this gap between the city’s organized defenses and the losses its ruler has already acknowledged.

Military and Personal Stakes

Lanka’s encirclement is decisive because it concentrates the campaign’s military and personal stakes in one place. Ráma’s sea crossing and the Vánar host’s position around the city create the immediate pressure; Ravana’s losses and defensive orders show the consequences already unfolding. The command to protect Sítá in the Aśoka Grove links the military crisis directly to her captivity, making her location a guarded part of the besieged city.

The episode also gives the conflict a clear reversal without claiming that Lanka has already fallen. Ravana’s forces are represented as renowned for standing firm, but their bravest have been killed; the city responds with disciplined defenses, while its champions venture out through the gates. The siege thus holds resistance and vulnerability together. It is an active contest over a defended city, with the outcome still open in the account of these preparations and advances.