Indrajith- The warrior unknown
A warrior is judged to be powerful in many aspects not only his physical strength. A warrior’s skill, prowess, determination, the ability to counter-attack, and dealing with weapons are the factors that decide whether he is powerful or not.
Atimaharathi: A warrior capable of fighting 12 Maharathi class warriors or 8,640,000 warriors simultaneously; circumspect in his mastery of all forms of weapons and combat skills; expert in designing and destroying all strategies (vyuhas); able to fight against all illusions and win against opponents in such situations.
Meghanada aka Indrajit is one of the most powerful negative characters of Hindu mythology. Heavily underestimated and just because the main antagonist of Ramayana was his father, he is severely undermined. Let me add that he was an Atimaharathi warrior, one amongst the elite.
Let me start with the epithet of Meghanada’s name. Meghanada was named “Indrajit” by Brahma because he was the warrior in Devasura battle who defeated the king of gods Indra, and not other great warriors like Ravana, Atikaya and Kumbhakarna. Many great asura warriors before Meghanada had defeated Indra in different timelines.
Asuras like Mahishasura, Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu, and Vali (Grandson of Prahlada and son of Virochana) had defeated the king of gods.
But they were not given the epithet of “Indrajit” by Brahma. The epithet means the one who won over Indra. Meghanada not only defeated Indra, but he also imprisoned Indra with enchanted ropes which he obtained from Brahma after severe penances. He seized Indra in the battle and brought him as a prisoner to Lanka. No other asura ever performed this unthinkable feat.
Time and again, asuras defeated Indra in battles and annexed Indraloka the abode of Indra. But those asuras simply drove Indra away from Indraloka. They dared not to think about seizing Indra, capturing him seemed impossible. One of the reasons was Indra’s thunderbolt. Even though defeated, Indra would have burned them to ashes with his thunderbolt (Vajrayudha) if they ever tried to seize him. The asuras feared Indra’s thunderbolt deeply. Another reason could be that Indra always knew when he was defeated and always lived to fight another day stronger and allied with Trimurthi’s by his side. I consider this one of the best qualities of a leader or a king, know when you are defeated and live to fight another day, retreat may not always be incidental, it could be tactical as well.
But Meghanada’s ropes were so powerful that Indra could not free himself from those ropes even though he shook with all his might. Eventually, Indra tired out and gave up his anger. He submitted himself to Meghanada’s prowess and allowed the asura to seize him in the battle.
That was the reason Brahma conferred the epithet of “Indrajit” to Meghanada, and not to other great asura warriors of different eons.
Meghanada was the only warrior who defeated Indra’s son Jayanta in battle. Prelude to the battle, Indra himself mentioned the fact that his son Jayanta was an undefeated warrior. Meghanada gave Jayanta his first-ever taste of defeat in battle. Meghanada did it without the boon of Tamasi Maya which was conferred to him by Lord Shiva.
In the same way, Meghanada single-handedly defeated all the classes of gods in battle. Those classes of gods included Adityas, Rudras, Saddhyas, Maruts, Vasus, Vishwadevas, Ashwinis, and Kumaras.
Meghanada was the only warrior ever who performed all the seven sacrifices mentioned in the texts. The names of these sacrifices are Agnishtoma, Ashwamedha, Bahusuvarnaka, Gomedha, Rajasuya, Vaishnava, and Maheshwara. No other warrior whether mortal or immortal ever performed all the seven sacrifices together.
I would like to bring to the attention that many kings have done Rajasuya and Ashwamedha but completing all seven of them takes an epic level of skill.
Meghanada received a unique boon known as Tamasi Maya from Lord Shiva owing to the severest of austerities which he performed to become completely invincible. With the boon of Tamasi Maya, Meghanada could make himself completely invisible to other creatures in battle.
Unseen by the enemy, Meghanada used to defeat them in no time. However, Meghanada won many battles of his life without the boon of Tamasi Maya which he received from Lord Shiva.
Meghanada received another unique boon from Brahma in return of setting Indra free from Lanka. Brahma gave him the boon that he would always be undefeated in battle as long as he would fight after performing worship to the deity named Nikumbhila.
Hanuman was the most powerful in Lord Rama’s army. He received a boon from Brahma in childhood that he would be immune to all the celestial weapons. When Hanuman attacked Lanka for the first time, he wrecked a massive havoc in Ravana’s garden called Ashoka Vatika. He killed a lot of powerful warriors including one of Ravana’s sons named Akshayakumara. Meghanada captured Hanuman by invoking Brahmastra and imprisoning him with enchanted ropes. Hanuman surrendered to show respect for Brahma’s weapon.
Indrajit, who knew the true nature of missiles, feeling certain that he was incapable of being killed, bound Hanuman, the son of Vayu (wind-god). Fastened with the weapon discharged by Indrajit, Hanuman became motionless and fell down on the ground.
Meghanada had some eye-catching feats in the war against Lord Rama. He was the only warrior who defeated Lord Rama and Lakshmana armed together in the battlefield. Ravana too defeated Laxmana, but he didn’t ever achieve the feat of defeating Lord Rama in the battlefield.
Ravana was defeated in battle by Sugriva and Hanuman. However those two could not defeat Meghanada even for a single time. Meghanada fought in the midst of clouds and pierced Lord Rama and Laxmana repeatedly with showers of arrows himself being unhurt by the arrows of the two brothers.
Meghanada eventually imprisoned the two brothers with enchanted ropes made of virulent snakes. Indrajit, the victorious in battle, transfixed Rama and Lakshmana with those arrows that lacerated their flesh in great measure. The bodies of both those warriors, Rama and Lakshmana were densely transfixed with serpentine arrows by the enraged Indrajit.
Garuda had to come from his abode to rescue Lord Rama and Laxmana from Meghanada’s snakes.
Thus Meghanada achieved the incredible feat of capturing the three best warriors of the enemy, namely Lord Rama, Laxmana and Hanuman.
He was the only warrior of Lanka who performed that unthinkable feat.
There’s more to Meghanada’s supreme prowess.
The destructive potential of Meghanada’s Brahmastra was far more than the destructive potential of Brahmastras of other great warriors of Lanka. Meghanada’s Brahmastra was so destructive that it took away the lives of sixty seven crores ape soldiers in a matter of minutes, in the fifth and last period of the day.
Even Ravana who conquered all the three worlds could not achieve that feat in battle.
As a son, he was loyal, obedient and true to his family. He was one of the most powerful antagonists in epics, one of the most underrated warriors.
