First published in Asian Age and Deccan Chroncile, on 27 Sept 2009 as ‘The Wisdom of Ravan’
Ravan abducted Ram’s wife, a crime for which he was killed by Ram himself. So says the Ramayan. The epic makes Ravan the archetypical villain. And since Ram is God for most Hindus, Ravan’s actions make him the Devil incarnate. This justifies the annual burning of his effigy on the Gangetic plains during the festival of Dassera.
But on the hills of Rishikesh or in the temple of Rameshwaram, one hears that tale of how Ram atoned for the sin of killing Ravan. Why should God atone for killing a villain? One realizes that, like most things Hindu, the Ramayan is not as simplistic and pedestrian an epic as some are eager to believe.
Ravan was a Brahmin, the son of Rishi Vaishrava, grandson of Pulatsya. Ram, though God incarnate, was born in the family of Kshatriyas. In the caste hierarchy, Ram was of lower rank. As Brahmin, he was custodian of Brahma-gyan (the knowledge of God). Killing him meant Brahma-hatya-paap, the sin of Brahminicide, that Ram had to wash away through penance and prayer. Another reason why this atonement was important was because Ravan was Ram’s guru.
The story goes that after firing the fatal arrow on the battlefield of Lanka, Ram told his brother, Lakshman, “Go to Ravan quickly before he dies and request him to share whatever knowledge he can. A brute he may be, but he is also a great scholar.” The obedient Lakshman rushed across the battlefield to Ravan’s side and whispered in his ears, “Demon-king, do not let your knowledge die with you. Share it with us and wash away your sins.” Ravan responded by simply turning away. An angry Lakshman went back to Ram, “He is as arrogant as he always was, too proud to share anything.” Ram comforted his brother and asked him softly, “Where did you stand while asking Ravan for knowledge?” “Next to his head so that I hear what he had to say clearly.” Ram smiled, placed his bow on the ground and walked to where Ravan lay. Lakshman watched in astonishment as his divine brother knelt at Ravan’s feet. With palms joined, with extreme humility, Ram said, “Lord of Lanka, you abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now, you are no more my enemy. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world.” To Lakshman’s surprise, Ravan opened his eyes and raised his arms to salute Ram, “If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy. Standing at my feet as a student should, unlike your rude younger brother, you are a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learnt in my life. Things that are bad for you seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things are actually good for you fail to attract you; you shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but avoided meeting you. This is the wisdom of my life, Ram. My last words. I give it to you.” With these words, Ravan died.
With ten heads, twenty arms, a flying chariot and a city of gold, the mighty Ravan is without doubt a flamboyant villain. His sexual prowess was legendary. When Hanuman entered Lanka, in search of Sita, he found the demon-lord lay in bed surrounded by a bevy of beauties, women who had willingly abandoned their husbands. Ram, by comparison, seems boring – a rule-upholder who never does anything spontaneous or dramatic. He is the obedient son, always doing the right thing, never displaying a roving eye or a winsome smile. It is not difficult therefore to be a fan of Ravan, to be seduced by his power, to be enchanted by his glamour, and to find arguments that justify his actions.
One can’t help but wonder: why does the poet, Valmiki, go out of his way to make his villain so admirable, so seductive, so enchanting?
Valmiki describes Ravan as the greatest devotee of Shiva. In many folk versions of the epic such as Ram-kathas and Ram-kiritis, we are informed that Ravan composed the Rudra Stotra in praise of Shiva, the ascetic-god. He designed the lute known as Rudra-Vina using one of his ten heads as the lute’s gourd, one of his arms as the beam and his nerves as the strings. The image of Ravan carrying Mount Kailas, with Shiva’s family on top, is an integral part of Shiva temple art.
Perhaps, say some scholars, that this expresses the legendary battle between Shiva-worshippers and Vishnu-worshippers. Ram, who is Vishnu on earth, kills Ravan who is Shiva’s devotee. But this argument falls flat when one is also told that Ram’s trusted ally, Hanuman, is a form of Shiva himself. Valmiki is clearly conveying a more profound idea by calling Ravan a devotee of Shiva . And to understand the thought we have to dig a bit deeper.
Shiva is God embodying the principle of vairagya, absolute detachment. He demonstrates his disdain for all things material by smearing his body with ash and living in crematoriums. The material world does not matter to him. Ravan may be his great devotee; he may sing Shiva’s praise, and worship Shiva every day, but he does not follow the path of Shiva.
In reality, Ravan stands for everything that Shiva rejects. Ravan is fully attached to worldly things. He always wants what others have. He never built the city of gold – he drove out his brother, Kuber, and took over the kingdom of Lanka. Why did he abduct Sita? Avenging his sister’s mutilation was but an excuse; it was the desire to conquer the heart of a faithful wife. And during the war, he let his sons die and his brothers die before entering the battlefield himself.
Ravan has ten pairs of eyes, which means he can see more. Ravan has ten sets of arms, which means he can do more. Ravan has ten heads, which means he can think more. And yet, this man with a superior body and superior mind submits to the basest of passions. Despite knowing the Vedas and worshipping Shiva, he remains a slave of his senses and a victim of his own ego. He arrogantly shows off his knowledge of detachment but is not wise enough to practice detachment. Deluded, he gives only lip-service to Shiva. This pretender is therefore killed by Ram, who like Shiva, is another form of God.
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Vijay
Too good ..Mind blowing.. Amazing!!!
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Sep 30, 2009 @ 5:44 pm
Krishna
Sir,
Wish to comment on this line “Rama never displayed a winsome smile”.
If nothing, Rama is supposed to have had a beatific smile always.
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Oct 01, 2009 @ 4:28 pm
Ganesh.V
Dear Devdutt G.,
A nice narration of an unknown event in Ramayana to eveyone.I want to share few things which i learnt.
1. Ravana has another name called “Sangeetha Ravanan” since he created a raga named `Kambothi’.
2. The drove out of kuber from lanka has another backround. It is narrated in one of the temples of Nava-Thrupathis in Tamil nadu(It is the narration on which the temple is built).
The narration states that Kuber, the wealth god, once went to kailash to visit Shiva, but he was seeing Parvathi with bad intention so Shiva cursed him to loose his wealth. After being cursed he felt guilty apologized for his act. But curse once let cann’t be taken back so shiva adviced Kuber to go to ask help from vishnu., so kuber went to vishnu. Vishu told kuber that he will measure the wealth of kuber during measuring what ever spils from the measuring equipment he may have it.
The temple has a vast big statue of Vishnu on sesnag with a measuring equipment below his head(maraka).
Due to the curse that Kuber has to lose Lanka to his very own brother
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Oct 02, 2009 @ 5:25 pm
Ganesh.V
dear Devdutt G.,
I have a small objection to one of your point regarding Ravana “he gives only lip-service to Shiva”.
Ravana was a great devotee of Shiva. The mistake he does is that he did not respected Lord Hanuman the 11th incarnation of Shiva.
During one of his visit to Kalish he devotes so much that shiva ask him to get what ever he wants. for that he asks for Parvathi. Shiva replies “so be it as you wish” (shiva is called bolenath from this incident) buy that time parvathi had gone to take bath.
When the shiva gana’s take the message to her.
Paravathi took a frog from the pond and made it to a women resembling her and left the palace. that woman is no other than Mandodari(chaste wife & queen of Ravan). Ravana marries her.
Ravana gets a Jyothitha Linga from Shiva himself for his worship in Lanka. That Linga disaappers into earth when Ram enters Lanka.
In one of the narration Ramayana it is narrated that while Hanuman entering Lanka he at first he saw Mandodari the chaste of Mandodari towards her husband is so strong that he gets of dilemma whether she is sita.
finally 2 point i want to tell.
1. After the death of Ravana Mandodari cries on his body saying that at Youth age, you performed many rituals taking no time to worldly pleasure. that why the worldly pleasure overcame you after you got boons.
2. Even though he abducted Sita. He over powered her He tried to win her. I am not prasing Ravana. what he did was wrong. But my point is that in Ashoka vanam he never mistreated her like dushashan or Kichaka treated Panchali in Mahabharata.
When you go through “Ravana Kaviam” by Poet Kuzathai pulavar. you will know many good dees about Ravana
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aarthi raghavan Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 10:30 pm
ravan couldn’t misbehave with sita as he had a curse that if he tries to misbehave with any woman without her wish then his sead will into pieces.
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Oct 02, 2009 @ 5:45 pm
Sandeep
What an in detail explaination, in very thoughtful way, of glimpse of the two core personalities in Indian history.
Great work, and please keep it up !
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Oct 02, 2009 @ 9:30 pm
santosh
what is the connection of shiva and hanuman?… and why did Ravana not practice what he learnt/
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Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Hanuman is considered a form of Shiva in many parts of India. …….Practicing and learning are two different things altogether as we all know.
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Oct 02, 2009 @ 10:24 pm
Subhasis Pujapanda
Amazing explanation!! One should really redefine & understand the character of RAVANA. He has shown persistence in acting wrong with SITA as he knows its’ a sin. In this way he has shown the extremist of tolerance. In another way he has shown the ill impact of procrastination. Once he thought of creating a ladder to the heaven so that he can send his lineal ascendant & descendant to heaven and rule over there despite the fact they deserve or not, at last he couldn’t able to do that till dying.
There is a lot to learn from his character.
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Oct 03, 2009 @ 11:40 am
Neil
amazing article … i think more abt RAVANA instead of RAMA … he was more powerful bt ego & other things took over … & GODS have always fooled ASURAS …
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Oct 09, 2009 @ 4:49 pm
Balakrishnan Muniapan
Dear Sir,
The above is not found in Valmiki Ramayana and it is probably from other versions of Ramayana. As Tulsidas, the author of Ramcharitamanas said, `Ramakatha kai miti jaga nahi` – It is impossible to keep count of Ramakathas (Ramayana versions) in this world. Ramayana is also now also being used for management and leadership development.
Similar to the above, T. Gokulan in his book “Management by Commonsense” narrated a story of King Ravana at the last stage of his life.
In this story, Sri Rama asked King Ravana, “O Great King, you have been ruling all the three worlds with full powers. Tell me; what is the art and craft of efficient and effective state administration? I am a prince inexperienced. I am eager to learn from you.” King Ravana was gasping for breath – he was dying. He explained: “O Sri Rama, you know everything about everything. Yet you ask me with humility, as a person who does not know! I had all the powers and wealth and also the blessings of Lord but still; I did not try to transcend my ego (ahamkara). On the other hand, I did everything that boosted my ego”.
“I had many plans to develop my self, and also my people to attain liberation (moksha), but I postponed that excellent plans and desired to have your wife, what a wretched thought it was. I made it my first priority and acted on it with full speed. O Sri Rama, you know what sufferings I went through and I am now paying for my mistake with everything I have, including my life.” “I learnt the lessons from you; it was too late though, I would answer your question about efficient and effective state administration”.
“Act TODAY on your good thoughts, plans and projects. DO NOT DELAY for a moment. Postpone your evil thoughts for tomorrow. Both good and evil thoughts come everyday – such is the mind.” This is why the leadership and management of mind is essential and the mind needs to be controlled by the use of our intelligence in an effective manner.
Bala
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Oct 20, 2009 @ 9:31 am
Shanmugam
I don’t think in ancient times they considered Kshatriyas to be inferior to brahmins. They were just different but not inferior. How can a king be considered inferior to an ordinary brahmin?
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ramya Reply:
August 8th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
The four Varnas in the ancient caste system Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra, were made not to divide the society and alienate one from other. it was more on simpler lines of thought. just like how one would allocate work at home.. father acts like the kshatria ruler,looks out for the house and protects it. mother, the devoted Bhramin, prays for the family’s safety, and feeds the others. the son earns for the family by doing trade, like a vaishya and the humble daughter keeps her house and surrounding clean and hygienic… there is nothing wrong if these roles are reversed, after all the home(society) and family needs to be and work like a single strong unit.
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Nov 04, 2009 @ 9:30 am
Sanket Sunand Dash
Valmiki Ramayan never describes Hanuman as a form of Shiva. Rama was also a Shiva Bhakt as indicated by the Rameshwaram temple.
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Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Valmiki Ramayan has no reference to Laxman Rekha either……there are many Ramayanas….and many faiths based on Ramayana…
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Nov 23, 2009 @ 2:53 am
pragyesh shrivastava
sir,
this is a great explanation about the nature of the the protagonist of ‘ramayana’. its true that what ravana did was wrong but according to some stories sita was the daughter of ravana and about the golden lanka their is another story prevalent too.
its said that once parvati ji said to lord shiva of getting some fixed house rather than keep wandering inspite of being the god. lord shiva as he is rightly called ‘bholenath’ agreed. since the lanka was being made for her wife it had to be special and thats how golden lanka came into being designed by vishwakarma.
at the time time of grihapravesh a yagna had to be organized for which none other than ravana himself was called for, as he was the greatest and most learned brahman of that time. after the yagna was completed and he was asked for his dakshina he demanded the lanka.
their was another yagna organized by lord shiva again when he again called for ravana as the priest. when it was completed then he was offered a fruit by lord shiva which had the power to make mandodari his wife pregnant and give him a child. while they were on their way back he felt hungry and ate that fruit unknowingly and went to sleep. when woke up he found himself impregnated and his neck getting choked. he tried to cough because of that choke and as a result his daughter (later called ‘sita’) threw away to some far off land.
it was then she was found by janaka, the future father-in-law of lord rama, while tilling the field for a child when she found sita.
who knows whether ravana knew of this truth and abducted sita as her child contrary to what is known though it hasn’t been written anywhere.
also in some forms of ramayana they consider ravana as the protagonist.whatever maybe the truth it is still true that he was the most learned scholar of his time and one the greatest devotees of lord shiva.
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Nov 26, 2009 @ 9:11 am
Raj Arora
Sir,
Ravana was no doubt a learned Brahmin – devotee of Lord Shiva. During one of his visit to Mt.Kailash, he was asked to wait as Lord Shiva was in deep meditation. While waiting, Ravana met Nandi. Nandi has a face of monkey. During conversation, Ravana made fun of Nandi and haughtingly chided Nandi that why he asked for a monkey face as a boon from Shiva while he could have asked anything. Added that when Shiva had asked him (Ravana) he had asked for ten heads (double of Shiva who has five), twenty hands (double of Shiva who has ten). This infuriated Nandi who chided Ravana of his intelligence and cursed him that monkey-faced persons would be responsible for his down-fall and death.
Besides, it is also said that Lord Shiva humbly gives anything to his devotees. But after taking his boon, if they become proud and haughty (abhimani); he takes away everything.
Raj
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Dec 30, 2009 @ 4:05 pm
Nitin Mathur
Dear Devdutt,
I bumped into your site only after reading your article in TOI new sunday initiative of The Speaking Tree. Pls accept my heartiest congratulations on the good research work which you have conducted and is reflected in the articles posted on the site. IF it is not inconvenient can you please share with me the source from which Ramayan you have taken the Ram-Ravan teaching episode. I could not find this in Valmiki Ramayan , Ved Vyas’s Adhyatma Ramayan or Tulsidas ShreeRamcharitmanas.
Thanks and Regards,
Nitin
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Mar 25, 2010 @ 7:08 pm
thequark
Nice. Good to know people are talking not just a bad vs good story in these epics. I had heard another story in Ramayana. To start the war against Ravan, Ram needed to perform Pooja to ensure his victory. Being a Kshatriy he could not do it, neither could any one from his troops as they were not Brahmins. Who else fitted the role better than Ravan, a great Brahmin and a learned man. So the legend goes that Ram asked Ravan to perform the pooja and good Brahmin Ravan was he performed it, as was his duty even if it meant his own defeat.
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Jun 18, 2010 @ 3:47 pm
Debasish Roy
This is the first time I have heard that Hanuman is a form of Shiva. I thought he was the son of the God of wind. (No pun intended) and the fact that Sita provoked Lakshman to follow the voice of demon Marich, which mimic-ed Ram’s voice and said “brother Lakshman save me” so that Sita would be alone as Marich was posing as the golden deer, shows Sita’s faith in her own husband’s prowess as a warrior. Lakshman had entreated with Sita not to allow her to be alone as Ram’s express intructions were not to leave her alone. Sita rebuked Lakshman and said “you want me for yourself, don’t you?”
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Jun 22, 2010 @ 5:44 pm
pravin
Why do so many Ramayana’s Exist ?
What’s there important ?
Which one we should believe and follow ?
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Devdutt Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 7:49 am
Should there be only ONE way? Whose way?
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Aug 03, 2010 @ 10:14 am