Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 64: Rāma Discovers Some Clues About Sītā’s Whereabouts
Text 3.64.43
तस्या निमित्तं वैदेह्या द्वयोर्विवदमानयोः।
बभूव युद्धं सौमित्रे घोरं रक्षसयोरिह॥
tasyā nimittaṁ vaidehyā dvayor vivadamānayoḥ
babhūva yuddhaṁ saumitre ghoraṁ rakṣasayor iha
tasyāḥ nimittam vaidehyāḥ = over Vaidehī; dvayoḥ = between two; vivadamānayoḥ = disputing; babhūva = has taken place; yuddham = duel; saumitre = Saumitri; ghoram = [or else] a terrible; rakṣasayoḥ = rākṣasas; iha = here.
Saumitri, [or else] a terrible duel between two rākṣasas disputing over Vaidehī has taken place here.1
[1]. Lord Rāmacandra considered that perhaps a verbal dispute might have erupted between two rākṣasas over Vaidehī, and that they ended up terribly fighting with each other with weapons.
[A terrible duel between two rākṣasas] disputing over her, that is, with a desire to take sole possession of her, [might have taken place] just as Sunda and Upasunda [disputed over Tilottamā, Lord Rāma thought].
NOTE. Sunda and Upasunda were two asura brothers who had performed austerities, pleased Lord Brahmā and obtained a boon that they could not be killed by anyone other than each other. Since they were unanimous in their dealings and because they tormented the three worlds, the devas and ṛṣis begged Lord Brahmā to do something by which Sunda and Upasunda could be killed. Lord Brahmā thought for a while and then had Viśvakarmā create a spotlessly beautiful celestial damsel whom he named Tilottamā. When she appeared before Sunda and Upasunda, a quarrel broke out between them and they killed each other. This history is narrated by Śrī Nārada to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira in the Ādi-parva of Mahābhārata.