Atikāya

In the Valmiki Ramayana (Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Sarga 71) Vibhīṣaṇa introduces Atikāya as a son of Rāvaṇa and Dhanyamalinī who rides out in the Lanka battle; narrative tradition and modern summaries also record that Atikāya (with his step-brother Triśira) is identified in some retellings as an incarnation of the primordial asuras Madhu and Kaiṭabha, linking him to earlier cosmic antagonists slain by Viṣṇu. The Valmiki prose summary confirms his filiative place in Rāvaṇa’s household and his role as a princely warrior in the climactic war episode.

Valmiki’s Yuddha Kāṇḍa prose summary and episode listings describe Atikāya as "the colossal demon" (mahā) arriving at battle on a chariot; sources repeatedly stress his great bodily size. The supplied materials do not provide further iconographic detail (such as skin colour, additional heads/arms, or ornaments), and such specifics are not recorded in the quoted excerpts.

Narrative sources depict Atikāya as a formidable martial combatant who confronts Rāma’s forces and engages Lakṣmaṇa in single combat (episode summaries note "Lakshman fights with Atikaya"). Later popular retellings and encyclopedic summaries (attributed in tradition to Vibhīṣaṇa’s account) add an anecdote in which Atikāya, in rage, attempts to uproot Chakravālgiri; Śiva hurls his triśūla, which Atikāya allegedly catches, leading Śiva to teach him the secrets of archery. The Valmiki-derived narratives and modern summaries further report that Brahmā granted Atikāya a kavaca (armour) that rendered him effectively invulnerable except to a Brahmāstra; informed by Vāyu (at Indra’s behest), Lakṣmaṇa uses a Brahmāstra and thereby kills Atikāya.