Shloka 6.100.49
रावण–रामयुद्धप्रारम्भः (The Intensification of the Rama–Ravana Duel)
तदस्त्रंनिहतंदृष्टवारामेणाक्लिष्टकर्मणा ।।6.100.49।।हृष्टानेदुस्ततःसर्वेकपयःकामरूपिणः ।सुग्रीवप्रमुखावीराःसम्परिक्षिप्यराघवम् ।।6.100.50।।
rāmavṛkṣaṃ raṇe haniṣyāmi sītāpuṣpaphalapradam |
praśākhā yasya sugrīvo jāmbavān kumudo nalaḥ ||6.100.4||
“In battle I shall fell the ‘tree’ that is Rāma—whose blossoms and fruit are Sītā—of which Sugrīva, Jāmbavān, Kumuda, and Nala are the great branching limbs.”
Sugriva and other leaders, heroes who can change form at their will and all monkeys rejoiced.
The verse frames war as an attack not only on a person but on a righteous moral order (Rāma as the sustaining ‘tree’). It highlights how adharma seeks to uproot dharma by targeting its supports (allies and purpose).
Rāvaṇa, in the midst of the great battle, declares his intent to destroy Rāma and thereby end the hope of restoring Sītā.
By contrast (implicitly), Rāma’s steadfastness in dharma is emphasized: he is portrayed as a life-giving ‘tree’ whose aim is the rightful restoration of Sītā.