A pure and steady mind is his quiver, filled with the arrows of quietude, restraint and religious observances. Homage to the Brahmans and to one’s own preceptor is his impenetrable buckler, there is no other way to ensure victory than this.

He, my friend, who rides upon such a chariot of righteousness has no enemy to conquer anywhere.

Listen, my resolute friend; he who owns so powerful a chariot as this is a hero who can vanquish even that mighty and invincible foe, birth and death.’

Hearing the Lord’s exhortation, Vibhishana clasped his lotus feet in his joy and cried, ‘You have taken this occasion to teach me a lesson of supreme wisdom, O Rama, storehouse of all grace and bliss!’

On the one side Ravana was bidding defiance to the foe, and on the other Angad and Hanuman. The demons marched to war with the bears and the monkeys, each host swearing allegiance to its lord.

Mounted on their celestial cars, Brahma and all the other immortals and adepts and sages watched the contest from the sky. I too, Uma, was in that company, beholding Rama’s exploits replete with martial zeal.

The champions on both sides were maddened with a passion for war; the monkeys led the field through the might of Rama. With shouts of defiance they closed in single combat, each crushing the foe and hurling him to the ground.