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Revisiting Mythology
Ravana - Was He Really All Bad?
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 It's Dussehra season. And on October 21, the D-day, not one, not two, but 10 heads - all belonging to Ravana - will roll. It's a ritual we've been following for decades and will continue to follow for decades to come. No questioning that.
The question, however, is: Was Ravana ALL Bad? Or was he somebody like Pran - The gifted Bollywood actor who has been described as the legendary 'Villain of the Millennium'? An accompalished human being only playing the part expected of him. Perhaps, Ravana was closer to our Bollywood 'villian' than to the demon king who is described as evil personified. Here's why...
- Firstly, let's take a closer look at those 10 heads. Was the Lanka Naresh born with those? Actually no. The 10 heads are symbolic. Ravana was a great scholar and master of many arts. He had thorough knowledge of the four Vedas and the six Shastras which is why he is portrayed with 10 heads. Those are not the symbol of a demon, but of a man who is an expert.
The only problem: Ravana could not keep his senses under control. That's why Valmiki described him as a fool.
- Secondly, what kind of a king was Ravana? For one, he didn't inherit Lanka from his father. Born to a Brahmin sage Vishrava and Daitya Princess Kaikesi, Ravana had to win himself a kingdom to be called a King. If we give the man a chance, we'll realise that he really did earn that idyllic kingdom.
After an intense penance to Brahma, which lasted several thousand years, the God of Creation granted him a boon. At this point, alas, Ravana bungled and asked for immortality - a boon which Brahma refused to grant. Then, Ravana asked for absolute supremacy over Gods, demons, beasts and heavenly spirits. He didn't think mortal men counted and left them out - a foolish mistake he paid for dearly.
Now, armed with the boon, Ravana set his sights on Lanka - a city created for Kubera, the treasurer of the Gods, by the celestial architect Vishwakarma. Aware that Ravana was now undefeatable, Kubera gave up Lanka easily.
And what did Ravana turn it into? Records have it that Lanka flourished under Ravana's rule. The kingdom knew no hunger. The poorest of the poor ate and drank in vessels made of gold. All in all, Ravana was regarded as a benevolent ruler. Some would call him an enlightened dictator, but then how many kings weren't dictators and how many of them were truly enlightened?
- It is also said that Ravana had fallen from the yogic heights he had reached in his previous births. And deep within his consciousness, he was aware of this. He also knew that Rama was Narayana in human form. He was aware that for him, the only path to nirvana was through death at the hands of Narayana. And so he had to become wicked and hateful in order to invite Rama to kill him.
If we were to believe this, then a whole new picture emerges: that of an evolved being desperate to be known as wickedness personified so as to be able to cross the ocean of birth and death.
Perhaps this is the reason that in some parts of South India and Southeast Asian countries, Ravana is worshipped as a hero. Kanpur even has a 140-year-old temple dedicated to Ravana. It's doors open only on Dussehra.
Most modern-day scholars consider Ravana to be a great Brahmin and a scholar. And he would have remained so, had it not been for that one, unpardonable blunder: that he went after a married woman. With that one mistake, a great warrior, a great scholar and a benevolent king fell to his doom.
It is this portrayal of a King who fell from grace that Dussehra focuses on. The festival is not about Ravana, the Evil One. It is the celebration of the defeat of the Evil in Ravana. Similarly, on this auspicious day we must look not to defeat so called 'bad' people, but the evil that exists within each one of us.
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