Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.4489

c9.4489

VĪRADHA. A fierce Rākṣasa (giant) whom Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa killed in the Daṇḍaka forest. Vīradha was the rebirth of Tumburu, a Gandharva who had been cursed to become a Rākṣasa. The story about Śrī Rāma's liberating the Gandharva from the curse and sending him back to the world of Gandharvas, occurs in Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇya Kāṇḍa, Sargas 2 to 4, as follows.