Surpanakha beheld the destruction of fourteen thousand rakshasas, along with their generals, Khara, Dooshana and Trisira. She saw Rama perform the impossible and Janasthana saw the end of the dreaded power of evil. Rama had achieved it all alone and with ease. Awe struck and terrified at the carnage, Surpanakha took to her heels and reached Lanka.

There she saw Ravana on his throne of gold, holding court with his ministers. Radiant as the blazing sacrificial fire fed by oblations, invincible to gods, gandharvas and all creatures he looked as fierce as death. Bearing scars from the many wars between devas and danavas, robed lavishly, wearing burnished gold earrings and gem-studded ornaments he was all dazzle and splendor. Surpanakha saw Ravana, the tormentor of devatas, who could lift mighty mountains, violate every form of dharma and whose roving eye spared no woman. He abducted Takshaka's wife and forcefully took away Pushpaka, Kubera's aerial chariot. His contempt for every code of conduct and his disregard for discipline were total rendering him an embodiment of evil. He ruined Kubera's garden Chaitraratha, Indra's Nandanavana and many other garden groves of the gods, for destruction was his joy. After ten thousand years of austerities he unflinchingly severed his ten heads and offered them as sacrifice to Brahma. Ravana was then granted a boon that made him inviolable to the gods, the devatas and to all other creatures of the world. But of man there was no mention. A flaw not over-looked, but disregarded out of sheer disdain for lowly beings born human! "Mortals of insignificant strength are unworthy of concern", deemed Ravana. Even the Lord of Death shrank from his ruthless cruelty to Brahmins, mendicants and men. Surpanaka found her brother's magnificence befitting a proud descendant of the Paulastyas. His might with which he is able to obstruct even the Moon and Sun was intimidating. Finely robed and bejeweled, he was a spectacular figure with a brilliant luster.