How did Ram lift Shiva’s bow and defeat the invincible Ravana

All the four sons of king Dasratha had received their combat training from the best of the warriors in their time. All four brothers were scholars in the Vedas, were extremely valiant and skilled in handling chariots, mounting elephants and horses, and handling all kinds of weapons, with Ram excelling in all the fields (Bala Kanda – Sarga 18). In fact, Ram became so good at fighting, that sage Vishwamitra personally approached king Dasratha in order to borrow Ram for some time for slaying demons. In exchange, Vishwamitra also agreed to train Ram further in advanced combat using celestial weapons (Bala Kanda – Sarga 21).

King Dasratha gets alarmed at this request of sage Vishwamitra and states that Ram is still an adolescent, how then can he slay demons. The king offers a giant army of 1 Akshowni** to eliminate the powerful demons and even offers to go himself. But sage Vishwamitra says that Ram alone would be enough, given how skilled he was (Bala Kanda – Sarga 20). After much debate, the king agrees after consulting his ministers and his royal sage Vashishta. This goes to show that Ram was not a push over, but was stronger than the combined force of 1 Akshowni.

**1 Akshowni = 21,870 chariots , 21,870 elephants, 65,610 cavalry and 109,350 foot soldiers

When Sage Vishwamitra reached the city of Mithila, he requested king Janaka to show the celestial bow of Lord Shiva to Ram. The king hesitates at first, seeing that Ram is only a young boy and recalling that the greatest of the Demigods, Yakshas, Demons, Gandharvas, Nagas etc. were unable to even lift the great bow, let alone string it and take aim. But since he was commanded directly by the illustrious sage Vishwamitra, he agrees to show the bow and orders to bring it forth. The bow was transported to their location on an eight wheeled casket cart, pulled by five thousand strong men, who were trying to pull the cart with great difficulty (Bala Kanda – Sarga 67). 

Ram grabs the bow right from the middle handgrip and lifts it up like a toy. He exerts absolutely no effort at lifting the illustrious bow and starts to string it while the crowd is still trying to understand what just happened. He then pulls the string with one hand and stretches it up to his ear just to check the tightness and rigidity of the bow. The bow snaps in half right at the middle, near the handgrip, and creates a huge shockwave with a thunderous sound that renders everyone unconscious. Only Sage Vishwamitra, King Dasratha, Ram and Laxman were able to remain in their senses and the rest of the crowd just faints (Bala Kanda – Sarga 67). Absolutely no tricks were used in the process of lifting the bow as the masters of magical arts, warriors with celestial weapons and divine beings with superhuman abilities had already tried and failed at this task. Ram broke this bow purely with brute strength without even breaking a sweat.

Killing Ravana was also not a fluke. Laxman alone was able to subdue Ravana in a one-on-one battle, chopping off the head of Ravana’s charioteer and also breaking Ravana’s bow with a single arrow in the middle of battle. When Ravana in turn manages to cause a fatal injury to Laxman, Ram attacks Ravana with great fury and makes Ravana flee for his life from the battlefield out of fear (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 100). On another occasion, Ram completely defeats Ravana by obliterating his Chariot and destroying all his weapons, thereby rendering him helpless and allowing him to return to Lanka (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 59).

While fighting Ravana, Laxman was wounded and his life was in danger. Ravana starts approaching him with the intention of harming him. Seeing Laxman in that state, Hanuman gets enraged and rushes towards Ravana with the speed of the wind. Striking a thunderous punch on the chest of Ravana, Hanuman manages to fatally wound him. The blow was so intense that blood started oozing out from the mouth, ears and eyes of Ravana. The punch literally bought Ravana to his knees and he was unable to move for some time. (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 59 – Verse 114 to 116). While Ravana is subdued, Hanuman carries Laxman to safety. 

Had it been a one-on-one battle between Ram and Ravana, the battle would've ended the first day with Ram coming out victorious, as Ravana was absolutely no match for the brute strength, swift dexterity and skill of Ram. If we compare the armies of both sides, the troops of Ravana were afraid of him and were mostly his slaves. Where as every single troop in the army of Ram loved him like their own brother. 

Its a common misconception that Ram was very soft on his enemies and he barely fought in the great war. This is mainly due to the different versions of Ramayana floating in the market, including what is shown on popular television shows. The original version written by Valmiki thousands of years ago portrays Ram as an unparalleled warrior. He acquired great strength, knowledge of Vedas and unmatchable skill from the best teachers in the world including the great Vashistha and the illustrious Vishwamitra. In fact, Ram first became a Rathi (warrior capable of fighting 5000 troops), then Atirathi (warrior that can battle 12 Rathi's) and then a Maharathi (warrior that can battle 12 Atirathi's), all of that in his teenage. Although Ravana was also a Maharathi class warrior, he was outdone by Ram while fighting mid-air in a one-on-one battle.

These points show us that despite the great strength of Ravana, he was powerless against the great army of Shri Ram. I will cover some of Ram's great battles in a different section.