Before the battle begins, the demon seer Pipeck rides out to parley with his brother.  His attempt to win Kumpagan over is ridiculed, however, and Pipeck is sent back to Phra Ram with the following riddle:

     "A foolish monk*, a woman sly,
     A tusker and a turncoat vile;
     Just name these four—and naming, smile,
     And we in war shall never vie."

Phra Ram declines to solve the riddle, and it is Ongkot who reveals that the monk is Phra Ram, the woman Samanaka, Totsagan's sister, the elephant Totsagan and the turncoat Pipeck, and that unless the royal brothers are prepared to concede the justice of these appellations, war is inevitable.

A whole series of battles follows this exchange.  In the first, Kumpagan tricks Sukreep into a trial of strength.  When the guileless commander in chief has exhausted himself, Kumpagan takes him prisoner, and only Hanuman is able to save him as he is being dragged, more dead than alive, from the field.

Following this, Kumpagan retires to a secluded place to endow his spear with even greater potency than it already possesses.  Hanuman and Ongkot save the situation by transforming themselves respectively into a decomposing dog floating down a river and a vulture perched on and feeding from the stinking corpse, causing the demon to break off his ceremonies in disgust before they are complete.  Kumpagan returns to the battlefield, and the two forces once more engage each other.

This time, Kumpagan succeeds in wounding Phra Lak with his magic spear, and for a time it seems that the wound must prove mortal.  But once again the Son of the Wind saves the situation by flying to a distant mountain and there, with great difficulty, collecting herbs that heal Phra Lak completely.

Now the demon hits on a likely scheme.  He finds the source of the stream supplying the monkey camp with water, turns himself into a dam across it, and prepares to remain in that position until the monkeys either die of thirst or call off their campaign.  This time Hanuman transforms himself into a demon maiden and joins a party of the pleasure girls of the Longka court as they go out to amuse Kumpagan during his long and boring wait.  Having found the demon, Hanuman quickly provokes him to a fight, and the waters are consequently released.  The fight is inconclusive, but the demon has failed in his final stratagem and is brought to his last battle.

*  It is not entirely clear why Phra Rain should be referred to as a monk, though during his stay at the hermitage by the Kotawaree River, he observed certain abstinences that perhaps entitle him to this appellation.  He is foolish, of course, for having failed to protect Nang Seeda adequately.