Indrajit

(“Conqueror of Indra”) In the Ramayana,
the earlier of the two great Indian epics,
Indrajit is the son of the demon-king
Ravana by his wife Mandodari. In some
later versions of the Ramayana, he is
portrayed as the son of the god Shiva
himself, born after his mother had married Ravana. Like his father, Indrajit is a
great devotee (bhakta) of Shiva, and
because of his devotion Shiva teaches
Indrajit how to make himself invisible.
For a warrior, this power is obviously
very valuable, and through it Indrajit is
able to conquer Indra’s heavenly realm
and take Indra as a prisoner back to
Lanka, hence his name.
The god Brahma goes to Lanka, the
kingdom of Ravana, to arrange for Indra’s
release, in return for which Indrajit
demands physical immortality. When he
is told that this is impossible, Indrajit
requests a different power—that when he
performs a certain sacrifice he will
receive horses and a chariot so that he can
kill whatever enemy he faces, and while in
the chariot he cannot be killed.
When the god-king Rama and allies
are storming Lanka, in an effort to
regain Rama’s kidnapped wife Sita,
Indrajit begins to perform this sacrifice.
Warned about this danger by Brahma,
Rama sends his brother Lakshmana to
interrupt it. Lakshmana successfully
disrupts the sacrifice, and in the ensuing
battle kills Indrajit.