Meghanada was the son of Mandodari and Ravana. In Ramayana, he could be seen as a loving and devoting elder son of the demon Ravana and he has been widely populated as Indrajit for his past achievements. He had a younger brother Aksha, whom his mother called as Akshayakumara.
Demons always wanted to conquer the realm of Indra. After his education, Meghanada in desire to get victory over Indra, wanted to procure more weapons from the creator Brahma. He got Brahma Astra from him and guided him to do more penance on God Shiva to get Indra Astra. Hence, Meghanada, with greater concentration, started penance on Shiva. Due to his powerful Tapasya actions and the force of penance activities, God Shiva had to appear before him and asked what boon he required. Meghanada requested for Indra Astra in order to kill anybody, as per his will and desire, whoever comes in front of him.
Then, a serpent was sleeping around the neck of God Shiva like a neck lace and due to the lamenting speech of Meghanada, he got awakened. He thought in future this demon may do harmful works and it may be better to lay terms and conditions before releasing the boon. He whispered into the ears of God Shiva. Shiva put up the condition that, in future, Meghanada would not disturb any serpent or insult any living creature which has got a rebirth after living as a snake or even if the biggest of all, Adishesha himself incarnates as a man. Meghanada promised him, that he would never misuse the power of the boon, but use it only for the protection of Dharma. Then he got Indra Astra.
Meghanada waged a war over Indra and got victory. He grabbed all the assets of the heaven. Hence, he was praised and people called him as Indrajit, meaning, the person who established victory over Indra of heaven. Ravana felt proud of him and conducted his marriage. Later, he had a son. He was allotted a beautiful and strong chariot, bearing the flag of a lion, and had four lions to pull it.
When Ravana ordered the capture of Hanuman, the messenger of Rama, only Indrajit was able to arrest him with his Brahma astra. Initially, during the war, his brother Aksha fought with Rama but got killed by Hanuman. Then, Indrajit decided to face the army of Rama. Indrajit had acommander in chief called as Prahasta. The name of the assistant commander in chief is Durmukha. The military weapons of Ravana were well stocked by Vajradamstra. There were many demon soldiers trained in serpent darts and that regiment was led by Jambumali. Ravana ordered Indrajit to watch the main entrance of Lanka with the well-equipped army. The main gate was closed.
From the side of Rama, Lakshmana, standing over the shoulder of Hanuman, started charging his arrows over the demons and Indrajit appeared in the front. Centric to the closed gates, at both sides, the armies started the war and when demons set back with a wink of eyes, Hanuman pushed the closed gates and like the force of water from a flooding river, the monkeys’ troops marched into the fort of Ravana, continuously throwing the darts towards the demons. Angada was very active with Indrajit and striking found mutually also. Jambumali supplied the serpent darts to Indrajit and then the soldiers of Sugriva entered into the weapons store house of Ravana and picked up more reserves for them. There were brave soldiers on the side of Ravana also and the battle had become fiercer.
The serpent darts containing the venom of various snakes, thrown by Indrajit, caused unconsciousness in most of the soldiers of Sugriva and due to the heavy assaults, Lakshmana also slipped to ground. Rama had momentarily become motionless but Jambava had sprinkled water and both of them became immediately active. Hanuman managed to carry the bleeding body of Lakshmana into their secret military camp. Later, Jambava and Rama also joined them in the camp. Then, the night fell and the weary demons felt hungry and fled to rest. Indrajit also escaped into the palace and reported the fallen status of Lakshmana to his father, Ravana.
The achievements of Indrajit made Ravana happy but he was puzzled to know the gates were broken and the monkeys have entered his palace. Indrajit discussed more about the capacities of Rama, Lakshmana and Hanuman. Indrajit decided to use manthrik methods to defeat Rama and started preparations inside his secret chambers with required experts.
Jambava ordered Hanuman to bring four types of medicinal plants from the Vrishabha hill situated on the way to the Mountain Kailash, for treating the sick Lakshmana and the wounded soldiers. Hanuman immediately sprang to the sky in search of them.
Rama discussed with Vibhishana. Vibhishana knew everything about Lanka and Indrajit. Rama and Angada arrived near the secret chamber of Indrajit. Angada had completely stopped the black magic works of Indrajit and it was nearly getting dawn of the next day when Angada successfully returned and joined their military camp, with Vibhishana and Rama.
Hanuman arrived at night, near the Kailash Mountain. By the fragrance and the radiance emitted by the medicinal plants, he could recognize the Vrishabha hill but there were hundreds of such plants over the hill and he could not confirm which one is the Sanjeevini or the other three required ones. Since the time was pressing, only one remedy came to flash in his mind and that was to lift the entire Vrishabha hill up to the military camp in Lanka. Thus, he did it at once.
Due to the medicinal fragrance and radiation of many qualities of the Vrishabha hill, the entire soldiers of Sugriva’s army immediately recovered from their fatigues. Also, Lakshmana awakened up and became active and fully healthy within a few moments. Hanuman carried backthe Vrishabha hill and replaced it in the original place intact. They prepared for the next day of war with Ravana.
Indrajit used many crooked methods to threaten Sita and soldiers of Sugriva. In the Ashoka Vana, Trijata was consoling Sita. Jambava was encouraging the monkeys and when assaulting started again, the demons appeared with darts. Indrajit appeared with Indra Astra. He also had a boon that, death would happen to him only by a person who had been observing hunger fast for fourteen years. This gave him a false notion and with pride, he thought nobody on earth could be able to live without eating anything for such a long time.
Indrajit threw the Indra Astra like a dart on Lakshmana. Indrajit could not believe his eyes, since till that day, nobody had lived after getting hit by the serpent dart. Lakshmana memorized Rama and aimed his arrow on the chest of Indrajit. Like a land slide of a hill, Indrajit lamented and fell down to earth. Lakshmana had not taken any food for the last fourteen years. Lakshmana is also the incarnation of the serpent god Adishesha. Indrajit has broken his promise with God Shiva, acting against Dharma. Hence, he lost the honor of holding the name as Indrajit and reverted as a common ugly demon, Meghanada, and died.
The news reached Ravana and he planned for strengthening the war against his enemy, Rama. Vibhishana guided Lakshmana towards Ashoka Vana.
Rama and Hanuman planned to face Ravana. Indrajit has showed his sincerity towards his father but due to illegal motivations, death embraced him.
Lanka had a flag marked with a lion, from the time of Ramayana itself.
राम राम राम राम राम राम
It is humbly prayed for the blessings of God Rama upon us.
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