Just Like That | Ravaan’s leela: The scholar, the devotee, and the fallen king
Ravaan was a brilliant scholar and a devout devotee of Shiva, revered in parts of India. Yet, it was his refusal to heed wise counsel that led to his downfall
Dussehra saw huge crowds celebrating the burning of the effigy of Raavan, symbolising the victory of Shri Ram over him, and the triumph of good over evil. In the common imagination, Raavan is the epitome of evil, and Ram, is the very personification of good. But the Hindu faith never ceases to surprise, rejecting absolute polarities. Raavan was arrogant, cruel, conceited and self-obsessed, apart from having committed the sin of abducting Sita, yet he had his redeeming qualities.
According to several ancient texts, he was the most revered devotee of Shiva, including the composer of the very popular and irresistibly rigorous, Shiva Tandava Stotra. He was a great scholar, well-versed in the six shastras and four Vedas. He was also a skilled musician, who invented the instrument Rudra Veena and played it to perfection. Raavan, who, as per mythology, is supposed to have sat in unwavering meditation dedicated to Shiva for thousands of years, is worshipped in many temples. The Dashanan Temple in Kanpur is dedicated to the worship of Raavan. He has devotees in other parts of India as well. For instance, Kanyakubja Brahmins in the Ravangram village in the Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh, do a daily puja to worship him.
What is interesting is that within his own family, Raavan had staunch detractors. His youngest brother, Vibhishana, belonged by birth to the family of ‘rakshasas’, but he had a noble character and a sattvic mind, and was against Raavan’s hubris and lack of ethics. It is said that, as a child, Vibhishana became a devotee of Lord Vishnu. He would spend all his time meditating on the Lord Brahma. Pleased with his dedication, Lord Brahma appeared before him and offered him any boon he wanted. Vibhishana said that all he wanted was to receive a darshan of Vishnu. The prayer was fulfilled, and Vibhishana gave up all his wealth, renounced his family, and lived a life of piety and devotion.
Raavan’s chief queen, Mandodari, was also a critic. She was the daughter of Mayasura, king of the asuras or demons, but notwithstanding this lineage, was herself beautiful, pious and moral. Mandodari is extolled in our mythology as one of the five ‘panchkanyas’ (or five great women, the other four being Ahalya, Draupadi, Tara and Kunti), the recital of whose name dispels sin. Mandodari was a good wife to Raavan. She bore him three sons, Meghnad, Atikaya and Akshaykumara.
In the Ramcharitmanas, both Vibhishana and Mandodari counsel Raavan to give up his evil ways. Vibhishana’s dialogue with Raavan is significant for its ethical intensity and remarkable words of wisdom. Apart from telling Raavan to not fight against Ram, who is the very ‘ocean of compassion’, Vibhishana also admonishes his brother for not choosing the right counsellors to advise him. Tulsidas’ lines in this context, are immortal:
Sachiva baida guru teeni jau bolahin bhay aas
Raj, dharma, tana teeni kar hoi beginhin naas
(When a minister, a physician and a religious guru — all three become yes men for fear of hope of reward, the net result is that all three — nation, health and faith go forthwith to the dogs)
Mandodari tries to reason with Raavan that it was futile to take on Ram.
In doing so, she describes the grandeur, power, omnipotence and omniscience of Ram, and these lines must rank as one of the most powerful and compelling praises of the Lord. Significantly, she has the courage to convey this tribute to Raavan directly, since she is well aware of his undying hostility to Ram. Predictably, Raavan scoffs at her and her eulogy for his arch-enemy.
A third person to advise Raavan against waging war against Ram, was Angad, a legendary vaanar or warrior monkey. He was very close to Ram, and, according to legend, his strength was such that none could lift his leg if he planted it firmly on the ground. Angad demonstrated this in Raavan’s court, where he had gone as Ram’s envoy to give diplomacy a last chance. His advice has a nugget of practical wisdom so typical of Tulsidas’ literary genius:
Priti birodha saman sana karia niti asi aahi
Jaun mrigapati badha medukanhi bhala ki kahai kou tahi
(Make friends or enter into hostilities only with your equals: this is a sound maxim to follow. If a lion were to kill frogs, will anyone speak well of him?)
As is known, Raavan did not heed any of this advice. The war with Ram led to his death, and the crown of the kingdom of Lanka was placed on the head of Vibhishana by Ram himself, who also persuaded Mandodari to marry Vibhishana.
But even as we burn the effigy of Raavan on Dussehra, do we pause to think, that, at another level, Raavan was playing his own leela. He wanted to achieve moksha, and he knew that only if he was killed by Ram would he attain it.
Shri Ram granted his wish. Happy Dussehra!
Pavan K Varma is author, diplomat, and former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). Just Like That is a weekly column where Varma shares nuggets from the world of history, culture, literature, and personal reminiscences. The views expressed are personal
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