As Dūṣaṇa lay fallen and slain upon the battlefield, all the assembled beings honored Kakutstha—Rāma—exclaiming in awe, “Well done! Well done!” Their voices echoed the glory of his victory. Yet, even as this praise filled the air, three furious leaders of the rākṣasa army, as if bound by the very noose of death, gathered their strength and rushed at Rāma with united force. Mahākapāla, Sthūlākṣa, and the mighty Pramāthī led this charge. The demon Mahākapāla raised his massive spear, Sthūlākṣa seized a fierce pattiśa, and Pramāthī brandished a deadly battle-axe. Seeing these warriors charging toward him, Rāghava—Rāma—met them head-on, welcoming them as one would unwelcome guests, with sharp, keen-tipped arrows. In an instant, Rāma cut off Mahākapāla’s head. With torrents of arrows, he crushed Pramāthī, and with his shafts, he filled the large eyes of Sthūlākṣa. Struck down, Sthūlākṣa fell to earth like a vast tree whose branches have been lopped. Enraged, Rāma then destroyed Dūṣaṇa’s five thousand followers, sending them all to the abode of Yama, the lord of death. News of Dūṣaṇa’s demise and the slaughter of his followers reached Khara, who was seized by fury. He ordered the mighty generals of his army, “Dūṣaṇa has been slain in battle, along with his attendants. Gather the great army! Fight Rāma, that mere man, with every kind of weapon. Let all the rākṣasas together slay him!” Unconquerable Karavīrākṣa, harsh Paruṣa, Kālakārmuka, Hemamālī, Mahāmālī, Sarpāsya, and Rudhirāśana—these twelve commanders of great valor, leading their troops, charged at Rāma, releasing excellent arrows. But the radiant Rāma struck down the rest of the army with arrows that shone like fire, adorned with gold and diamond. His arrows, with golden feathers, blazed like smoky flames, felling the rākṣasas as thunderbolts would fell mighty trees. On the battlefield, Rāma struck down a hundred rākṣasas with a hundred arrows, and a thousand with a thousand. Their armor and ornaments shattered, their bows broken and splintered, the night-wandering demons, stained with blood, fell to the earth. The ground was entirely covered, as if with sacred grass at a great altar, by those fallen in battle—hair unbound, drenched in blood. In that dreadful moment, the forest, filled with slain rākṣasas, became exceedingly terrible, resembling hell itself, muddied with flesh and blood. Fourteen thousand rākṣasas of terrible deeds were slain by Rāma alone, a man fighting on foot. Of that entire army, only Khara, the mighty chariot-warrior, Triśiras the rākṣasa, and Rāma, destroyer of foes, remained. All the rest, fierce and formidable, were slain by Rāma, elder brother of Lakṣmaṇa, in the midst of battle. Seeing his formidable force destroyed by Rāma’s might in the great conflict, Khara approached Rāma in his grand chariot, like Indra with the thunderbolt raised. Now begins the twenty-seventh chapter of the glorious Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇyakāṇḍa. As Khara advanced toward Rāma, his commander Triśiras, a rākṣasa by name, confronted him and spoke, “Appoint me, who am valiant, and you withdraw from this rashness. Behold Rāma, mighty-armed, struck down in battle. I pledge to you the truth, and I take up arms: I shall slay Rāma, who deserves death among all the rākṣasas. Either I shall be death to him in battle, or he to me; restrain your eagerness for combat for a moment and be a witness. If Rāma is slain, you will joyfully return to Janasthāna; or, if I am killed, you will go forth to fight Rāma.” Khara, persuaded by Triśiras and driven by desire for vengeance, granted permission, saying, “Go, fight.” Triśiras advanced toward Rāma, riding a radiant chariot yoked with swift horses, rushing at Rāma like a three-peaked mountain. He released streams of arrows like a great cloud, the sound of his bowstring resounding like a drum wetted with water. Seeing Triśiras approach, Rāma readied his own bow, shaking sharp arrows and preparing to meet him. A tumultuous clash arose between Rāma and Triśiras, both exceedingly strong, like the battle between a lion and an elephant. Struck on the forehead by three arrows from Triśiras, Rāma, enraged and indignant, spoke in fury, “Ah, what strength this valorous Rākṣasa possesses! I have been wounded on my forehead by his arrows, as if by flowers. Now accept from me too these arrows loosed from my bowstring.” Greatly enraged, Rāma took up arrows like deadly serpents and, in his fury, struck Triśiras in the chest with fourteen arrows. With four more, sharp and well-feathered, he struck down Triśiras’s horses. The mighty Rāma brought down all four steeds, and with eight arrows, he felled the charioteer onto the floor of the chariot. Rāma then cut down Triśiras’s raised banner with a single arrow; and as the night-stalker leapt from his ruined chariot, Rāma struck him in the heart with arrows, making him senseless. With immeasurable spirit, Rāma furiously pierced that Rākṣasa with yet more shafts, bringing his assault to a thunderous end.