The city of Lanka woke the next morning surrounded by millions of monkey soldiers. Ravana also had vast armies of demons at his disposal, and a great battle ensued.

At one point, hundreds of serpentine arrows were shot into Rama and Lakshman, who lay on the battlefield appearing to be dead. The great eagle Garuda arrived to rescue them. Garuda is Lord Vishnu’s carrier. He desired to serve his Lord in his Lord’s pastime as Lord Ramachandra.

Serpentine arrows are really serpents, mystically turned into arrows. But Garuda eats snakes, and the serpentine arrows became afraid upon seeing him. The serpents all regained their original snake forms and quickly slithered away. Garuda then touched Rama and Lakshman, healing them from their wounds.