Virúpáksha

Virúpáksha is one of the giant combatants defeated in the battle for Lanka. The account gives him a brief but distinct place in a series of duels: he fights on the giants’ side against the Vánar warriors and falls among three of their champions whose defeat Ravana sees.

Place in the Battle

Virúpáksha appears in a sequence of three single combats, one described in each of three consecutive cantos. The Vánar fighters are Sugríva and Angad; their opponents are Virúpáksha, Mahodar, and Mahápárśva. The poem presents the encounters as part of the wider fighting between the two armies, rather than as a separate episode centered on Virúpáksha alone.

Combat and Defeat

The combatants’ weapons distinguish the opposing forces: the Vánars fight with trees and rocks, while the giants wield swords, axes, and bows and arrows. The narrative does not identify which opponent Virúpáksha faces or specify the weapon or blow that defeats him. It does state his end plainly: stained with gore, he drops on the plain and does not rise again.

Narrative Role

Virúpáksha’s fall is one of three giant defeats that close the sequence of duels. The account then turns to Ravana in the field, noting that he sees the three overthrown. Virúpáksha’s defeat therefore contributes to the battle’s accumulating losses and forms part of the sight confronting Ravana as the narrative moves into the next canto.